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The Influence of Sexuality on Contemporary Travel through the Eyes of the LGBTQ+ Community.

The Influence of Sexuality on Contemporary Travel through the Eyes of the LGBTQ+ Community.
Author: Katie Shildauer
2 Commentries
Abstract:

Despite the perceived global progression in homosexuality acceptance, 72 countries still view same-sex relationships as immoral and criminalised (Wareham, 2020); leaving travel for many LGBTQ+ tourists a complex experience as opposed to one baring tranquillity. This report focuses on the direct way sexuality effects the contemporary travel experience, drawing emphasis to destination choice, integration, and relaxation.


Key Words:

- LGBTQ+, Homophobia, Contemporary Travel


Discussion Paper:

1992 marked a pivotal year for the LGBTQ+ community, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) declassifying homosexuality as a mental disorder. Seemingly, this advancement infers acceptance in international unison, however, Blasius (2001) emphasises this contradiction, inferring sexuality equality is not yet attained, and homosexual acts are still criminalised in 72 countries, and punishable by death in a further 12 (Wareham, 2020).
Complimenting this statistic, travel for LGBTQ+ tourists demonstrates a blatant prejudice; with Knell (2010) classifying locations worldwide as either pro-gay, those appealing because of legality and welcome, or anti-gay, locations where same-sex acts are illegal and fear of discrimination is ripe. In synonym to this acknowledgement, the tourism industry debatably views the LGBTQ+ community as one with financial and visible value, an arguably segregatory outlook, but one supported with over 70million international LGBTQ+ travellers arriving in 2000 alone (Robinson and Frost, 2017). When combining this coin alongside globalisation and increasing access to mobilities, it is predicted that LGBTQ+ tourists will only increase in prevalence and desire, allowing for the question to be asked: how does sexuality affect contemporary travel?
The interviews conducted within the report emphasise the importance of sexuality expression for LGBTQ+ tourists, in-turn justifying why anti-gay locations are less appealing, with affectionate behaviour towards same-sex partners having to be reduced or eliminated in fear of safety. Hall (2002) supports this notion, stating safety is vital component in modern-day travel, facilitating psychological tranquillity; however, this discredits Hookway’s ideology that embracing one’s authenticity achieves fulfilment and happiness. Thus, therefore providing clarification that LGBTQ+ tourists do not want to closet their sexuality on holiday out of embarrassment and fear of harassment (Mizieli?ska, 2016), so instead choose idyllic locations whereby homosexuality is accepted, and authentic expression can be displayed.
Regarding destination choice, Knell’s two-part classification is considered relatively simplistic, with homophobia not solely isolated to countries displaying criminalisation. This suggests immersivity between LGBTQ+ tourists and host communities is reduced, with attainment of acceptance being complex to forecast. Both interviewees reported of experiencing homophobia within the UK, a country that despite achieving same-sex equality in 2004 (Dryden, 2004), report of a fifth of the LGBTQ+ community having faced discrimination in the past 12 months (Stonewall, 2021). These emotive responses support the ideology of reduced integration and furthermore, reduced feelings of relaxation, showcasing that homophobia does not disappear in autonomy with decriminalisation, and in-fact, bares no pattern in prevalence. For contemporary LGBTQ+ tourists, this unpredictability results in travel baring sincere risk, with fear surrounding oppression and harassment reducing travel enjoyment and new connections being made, as in alignment with Fredline’s research (2003), relationships are made through similarity and an understanding of each other’s beliefs.
The interviewees answers bared a multiplicity of similarity, especially regarding the goal of equality; however, alike to Richardson and Monro’s philosophy, both participant’s desire ‘equality in sameness’ as opposed to ‘equality in difference’. In reference to travel, this portrays wish for their sexuality to not be of significance when travelling, and instead desire to be able to express themselves with complete authenticity, and alike to heterosexual couples, travel without fear and legally binding restrictions regarding their identities.
To conclude, using the responses from the interviews conducted and complimenting academic literature attained, it is clear sexuality adversely influences the modern-day travel experience. Thus, decision reached though the added complexity to LGBTQ+ traveller’s trips, and the contrast in their behaviour compared to heterosexual travel norms. Fears surrounding their safety via demonstrative behaviours and integrations leaves feelings of relaxation hugely reduced; in-turn causing many LGBTQ+ tourists to diminish their authentic expression in fear of unwanted harassment. The reduction of destination choice was another direct effect mentioned, with homosexuality subject to criminalisation in over 70 countries; however irrespective of this, homophobia is not irradiated through legality, and this removal of a pattern or trend, makes travel a daunting task for contemporary LGBTQ+ tourists.


References:

Pritchard, A., Morgan, N.J., Sedgley, D., Khan, E. and Jenkins, A., 2000. Sexuality and holiday choices: conversations with gay and lesbian tourists. Leisure studies, 19(4), pp.267-282.

Taylor, D., 2018. An Investigation into the Travel Motivations within the LGBT Community (Doctoral dissertation).

Usai, R., Cai, W. and Wassler, P., 2020. A queer perspective on heteronormativity for LGBT travellers. Journal of Travel Research, p.0047287520967763.
A commentary on: The Influence of Sexuality on Contemporary Travel through the Eyes of the LGBTQ+ Community.
Author: Emily Baines
I have chosen to comment on this paper regarding the influence of sexuality on contemporary travel, as this topic is of personal interest to me and also because the LGBTQ+ community are a growing market within the tourism industry.

The study reflects on previous academic literature surrounding the different risks and fear that members of the LGBTQ+ community face and how this influences their travel decisions. Their responses bared many similarities to that of previous studies, suggesting that despite progression and changes in society, there is still a long way to go in order for sexuality not to be something to consider when choosing travel destinations. Despite the risks and fears experienced within the LGBTQ+ community discussed within this study, it is also important to recognise that the accepting destinations that they do visit are often seen as LGBT havens, allowing them to fully relax and enjoy their travels despite having to be very selective of the places they choose to visit (Weeden, Lester & Jarvis, 2016).

The use of semi-structured interviews was extremely beneficial to this research as it allowed the researcher to gain a first-hand understanding of the experiences of members of the LGBTQ+ community. This therefore allowed them to identify the similarities and differences that occurred within their own set of data as well as previous academic literature – drawing conclusions and allowing a modern perspective on the tourism experiences of the LGBTQ+ community. In addition to this, a large amount of previous academic literature places heavy focus on the experiences of white, gay men, with few studies focusing on lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, therefore making this study of great use to gain a further understanding of different members of the LGBTQ+ society (Mumcu & Lough, 2017).

Overall, this study established that despite the progression towards equality in more recent years, homophobia is still very much prevalent within society, thus meaning that sexuality still plays a role in the decision-making of LGBTQ+ tourists. In the future, it would be interesting to see how the tourism industry as well as wider society progresses in order to make the LGBTQ+ community feel more included and reduce any uneasiness and apprehensiveness that an LGBTQ+ tourist may feel in regard to their travel decisions.

References:
Mumcu C. & Lough, N. (2017) Are fans proud of the WNBA's' pride' campaign? Sport Marketing Quarterly, 26(1), 42-54.

Weeden, C., Lester, J.A. & Jarvis, N. (2016) Lesbians and gay men's vacation motivations, perceptions, and constraints: A study of cruise vacation choice. Journal of Homosexuality, 63(8), 1068-1085.
A commentary
Author: Amy Greenhalgh
I chose this paper to comment on as I find it very interesting, and I am apart of the LGBTQAI+ community myself.

This paper talks about how safety when traveling is a big concern for the LGBTQ+ community and how it affects their travel experience. There were interviews conducted in which some of the participants spoke of homophobic things that has happened in ‘queer friendly’ countries such as the UK, which really added to the paper, essentially no country is safe if its people hold anti LGBTQ+ views. The participants also spoke about how they didn’t want their sexuality to be a big deal when traveling and wanted to be treated with the same respect that straight couples are.

I think some more intersectionality would be interesting, it could talk more about how disability, gender, race, neurodivergence etc. affect LGBTQ+ people who fit in to those categories, as the travel experience could be harder for people in multiple minority groups, I think this would highlight a lot of the issues faced by people in the community, for example trans people being misgendered because their passport says the wrong gender.
Another thing could be LGBTQ+ solo travellers and what they think of traveling, are they scared of harassment, interviews would be good for this, and it would be interesting to get lots of people from different backgrounds with lots of different identities. I think it would show more of what the community thinks of the travel experience.
This paper (from my understanding) is talking about same sex couples, an interesting point would be people who are apart of the LGBTQ+ community who are in ‘straight passing’ relationships and if the fear of harassment is lessened because of it.
I think embracing and celebrating queer culture (LGBTQAI+ culture) is important but so is safety and its hard for people in the LGBTQ+ community to balance both and can sometimes lead to people pretending it doesn’t exist or be less themselves to be more palatable to straight, cis etc. people and this is a big part of the queer travel experience. Something that could be looked into more could be queer culture in other countries, queer spaces in other countries and if LGBTQ+ people feel safer knowing there are/ where other queer people are vs spending time around potentially mostly straight, cis etc. people.

This paper could spark some more interesting conversations.