Miss the Twitter party on travel for LGBT families a few weeks ago? It was an hour of non-stop stories and ideas — so much so that one of the hashtags was trending for some time. The Residence Inn team has recapped it on Facebook; Traveling Mom has culled some of the many responses to each question; and The Advocate has recapped it as well. Check them out for ideas to make your next trip a great one!
It’s tonight! Please join me from 9 to 10 p.m. EST. for a travel-focused Twitter party for LGBT families and friends. Over 600 people have preregistered for the event, and it should be a great evening of stories, tips, and fun.
My 10-year-old son loves to travel. I’m not sure how my spouse and I got so lucky. Perhaps it was that we started early, with a trip from the East to the West Coast to visit in-laws when he was only five weeks old. Perhaps it’s our own love of travel and the excitement we try to convey — or his innate sense of curiosity and adventure. Maybe it’s just that he can jump from one bed to the other in our hotel rooms, or stay up extra late when we go camping.
If you haven’t yet registered for the travel-focused Twitter party for LGBT families on Wednesday, November 6, please do! You can just join in at 9 p.m. ET — but if you register first and then leave a tweet during the party (with the hashtags #TMOM and #RIFamily), you’ll be eligible to win one of two signed copies of Iron Chef and lesbian mom Cat Cora’s Classics with a Twist: Fresh Takes on Favorite Dishes cookbook, or the GRAND PRIZE: a Residence Inn gift card valued at $250.
My spouse and I love to travel with our son, and we’re lucky that he’s adaptable and adventurous. While most of the problems we encounter along the way are things that could happen to any family — delayed flights, lack of convenient rest stops, forgotten teddy bears — we are also very aware that LGBT-headed families may have specific concerns when on the road. I’m therefore excited to invite you to a travel-focused Twitter party for LGBT parents on November 6, sponsored by Residence Inn by Marriott in partnership with Mombian, TravelingMom, and the Family Equality Council.
“Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet” goes the old ad jingle. I therefore felt rather all-American on a recent trip to the Pacific Northwest to test drive the Chevy Volt as part of the iconic brand’s outreach to the LGBT community.
I had the pleasure last weekend of spending a night at the Residence Inn Boston Harbor on Tudor Wharf, courtesy of Residence Inn by Marriott, which is reaching out to blogging parents for feedback and ideas.
I’m very picky when it comes to doing commercial promotions on this blog–probably more so because I’ve been in corporate marketing myself. I don’t want to blindly shill products and services. Having said that, I DO think it’s important for LGBT parents to be in the mix when companies are reaching out to attract families, and I’m delighted to help when companies truly seem like they want to be inclusive.
In my post yesterday about the new Amtrak ads, I mentioned that it was good to see same-sex parents of color in the media. In discussing the ads with a friend and educator who is Black and a lesbian, however, I came to realize my White perspective was only giving me part of the story.
Amtrak has just launched a lovely new advertising campaign featuring lesbian moms and gay dads. The company has marketed to the LGBT community for several years, but chugs into new territory with its latest two ads that focus on same-sex parents.
(The following is a guest post from Brent Wright, father of two and Director of Programs at Family Equality Council, a nonprofit organization that connects, supports, and represents the one million parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender in this country and the two million children they are raising.)
I truly believe that we are all the sum part of all our childhood experiences. Every backyard BBQ and schoolyard tussle—every campout under the stars and timeout in the principal’s office—every childhood friendship and teenaged broken heart.
