Please join us in celebrating George Neary as recipient of the Hanns Ebensten Hall of Fame Award for 2019. This Honor, bestowed upon a longtime IGLTA member, takes its name from the man widely considered the father of LGBTQ+ travel and will be presented in New York City during our 36th Annual Global Convention. For 20 years, George was the Associate Vice President of Cultural Tourism for the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. His programs to increase visitors to the destination focused on culture, heritage and LGBTQ+ tourism. Even after his "retirement" last year, he continues to add sparkle to the travel industry. His extensive knowledge of Miami led to the creation of Tours 'R' Us, with George as the guide for culture, arts, city and LGBTQ+ group tours. Congratulations to this longtime supporter of LGBTQ+ tourism!
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Are you ready to Travel, Lunch and Connect? In response to the growing demand from IGLTA Annual Global Convention participants to increase networking opportunities, IGLTA is pleased to announce the launch of the TLC Showcase at the 36th Annual IGLTA Global Convention in New York City. The networking luncheon, open to all convention attendees, will be an opportunity for delegates to meet and mingle with exhibitors to learn more about their LGBTQ+ welcoming tourism products and services. Exhibitors can showcase their destination or tourism business with their choice of three attractive expo packages. Details and pricing available here or contact sponsorship@iglta.org for more information.
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Join IGLTA at the New York Times Travel Show, 25-27 January at the Jacob K. Javits Center, New York City. VP-Communications LoAnn Halden will moderate the trade day Focus on LGBTQ+ travel seminar with panelists Aurelio Giordano, Founder of Ace World Travel; Elio Lopez, Director of LGBT Sales and Director of Global Leisure Sales, Northeast USA for Belmond; and Tanya Churchmuch, Founder of MuchPR. The session is set for 25 January, 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. in room 1E12. For a $5 discount on a Trade Full Conference Badge or a free Trade Expo Only badge use the code: IGLTA19. There will also be an LGBTQ+ panel for consumers on 26 January at 12:15 p.m. in room 1E10 led by Ed Salvato of ManAboutWorld. For free consumer day tickets, valid either 26 or 27 January, use code: IGLTA36. Visit IGLTA throughout the show at booth #118 (in the LGBTQ+ travel section) or set up a direct appointment by emailing loann.halden@iglta.org.
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The issue of treating transgender travelers with dignity at airport security has reared its head several times in the last few years, amid a series of humiliating or distressing experiences of transgender passengers who felt they were harassed or misgendered by security staff. What training and management need to take place to ensure all passengers are treated fairly?
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Activists in Russia say there has been a new crackdown against LGBT people in Chechnya.
The Russian LGBT Network believes about 40 people have been imprisoned since December - two of whom they say have died under torture.
The group has been monitoring alleged abuses in the mainly Muslim Russian republic since 2017 when dozens of gay people were reportedly detained.
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At least 1 in 11 people in Japan identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to a survey conducted by advertising giant Dentsu Inc., while more than two-thirds of respondents were familiar with the acronym LGBT.
Of the 60,000 people aged between 20 and 59 who responded online in October, 8.9 percent self-identified as LGBT, a rise of 1.3 percentage points from the previous survey conducted in 2015, the company said.
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The Life Partnership Bill still has a long bureaucratic path ahead and an election and post-election uncertainty to endure before it could become law. But its recent approval in the Cabinet was an important initial step in making Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to legally recognize same-sex civil partnerships.
Brightening prospects further for Thailand's sizeable LGBTQ community is the government's interest in pursuing "pink dollars" – revenue derived from tourism programmes that appeal to LGBT travellers.
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After 16 years of attempts, the New York State Legislature has finally passed a bill that protects transgender people from discrimination.
In 100-40 and 42-19 votes on 15 January, respectively, the State Assembly and the State Senate voted to pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, or GENDA, which adds gender identity as a protected class in the areas of housing, employment, and public accommodations.
16 Jan 2019 14:36:39 CDT
"Look at the butt on that," said Harry.
"He must work out," Lloyd replied.
This iconic conversation from Dumb and Dumber marked the moment that Harry and Lloyd arrived in Aspen, but that might sound something more like "Look at the bud on that" during this week's fun at Aspen Gay Ski Week. Why the change in dialogue? The 2019 edition of AGSW has sizable support from Colorado's cannabis industry.
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Google has come under fire for featuring an app that encourages gay people to seek controversial conversion therapy in its online store.
The app, created by U.S. Christian group Living Hope Ministries, advises young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teenagers and adults to become heterosexual through prayer and therapy. The app also offers Bible study-style guidance.
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Singapore is looking to strengthen its adoption laws after a gay man won an appeal to legally adopt his biological son in a landmark court ruling last year, its social affairs minister said recently. The man, after learning he was unlikely to be able to adopt a child in Singapore as a gay man, paid US$200,000 for a woman to carry his child through in vitro fertilisation in the United States.
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A ban on conversion therapy by Israeli doctors will help protect gay people from treatments that claim to make them straight, but more work needs to be done with religious groups that support controversial "cures," activists said recently.
Members who perform conversion therapy could now be expelled from the Israel Medical Association (IMA), which represents 90 percent of the country's doctors, if a complaint is filed to its ethics committee, said IMA spokeswoman Ziva Miral.
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When the news broke that India's Supreme Court had struck down a colonial-era law making gay sex illegal, the reaction in Delhi was jubilant, with public celebrations erupting across the capital.
Fast forward four months, and HIV/Aids charities are finding the old stigma and prejudice against members of the LGBT+ community are stubbornly refusing to go away.
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