COMMUNITY
Gay travel association celebrates 25 years
Second annual LGBT travel
survey planned
by Will Billings . Contributing Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The International Gay
and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) gath
ered here for it’s global conference the first
weekend in May. The event commemorated 25
years of service to LGBT travelers across the
world, while simultaneously celebrating the
glory of its own success.
With more than 430 registrations, IGLTA
experienced a 67 percent increase over its
2007 convention in Montreal, as well as the
previous year’s gathering in Washington, D.C.
According to convention organizers, 25
countries were represented in Vegas. From
within the U.S., representatives from more
than 29 states attended the conference. The
largest state delegations were from California,
Florida, New York and Nevada.
Other national delegations included repre
sentatives from Argentina, Australia, Belgium,
Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia,
Curacao, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany,
Israel, Italy, Mauritius, Mexico, Peru, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey
and the United Kingdom.
“Las Vegas pulled out all the stops to host
us in their wonderful city,” said John
Tanzella, IGLTA executive director. “The ben
efit to our convention attendees was sub
stantial, both in terms of the fun factor and
in enhancing their experience as business
professionals during our convention.”
IGLTA is the world’s largest and oldest
travel industry association dedicated to grow
ing and improving gay and lesbian tourism
through education, promotion and network
ing. Members of the organization include air
lines, cruise lines, tourism offices, travel agen
cies, accommodations, tour operators, publi
cations, journalists, Pride events and more.
The gay travel conference was held concur
rently with Las Vegas Pride.
In related gay travel news, pollster Harris
Interactive is teaming up with gay media
expert Witeck-Combs Communications to
produce the partnerships’ second annual
study of LGBT travelers and their latest travel
trends, attitudes and brand awareness.
The study, expected to be released in June
or July, will break important new ground by
looking at the impact of LGBT microsites
(gay-specific travel sites created by large travel
companies), the importance of environmen-
tally-friendly brands and destinations and
social networking behaviors.
The report is also aimed to help identify
media sources that are most influential in
LGBT individuals’ research, shopping and trav
el booking. For the first time, this research also
will highlight and contrast business travel con
ducted by LGBT and heterosexual consumers.
The national online survey will be con
ducted among approximately 2,000 self-iden
tified U.S. LGBT adult travelers (ages 21 and
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Co-mom wins
from page 11
parties.. .Courts do not violate a parent’s con
stitutionally-protected interest by respecting
the parent-child relationships that the legal
parent — in accordance with her constitution
al rights — voluntarily chose to create.”
The court’s disclaimer notwithstanding, it
is significant that a North Carolina appellate
panel decided to treat a case involving lesbian
parents as no different from any other case
involving a custody dispute betw'een a legal
parent and a de facto parent.
By contrast, this ruling is sharply different
from the contrary approach New York’s Court
of Appeals took in a 1991 case, Alison D. v.
Virginia M., that remains the precedent in the
Empire State. In that case, the New York court,
treating the lesbian co-parent as a “legal
stranger” to the child, found she lacked legal
standing to get a hearing on her claim. I
— This piece originally appeared in New York’s
Gay City News (www.gaycitynews.com) and is
reprinted with permission.
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MAY I7.2008'Q-NOTES 17