Gay friendly? meaning?

[LeroyOt]

Lately I have read some stuff regarding marketing for LGBTI people, these places are marketing themselves as gay friendly...For me is all about security and being able to be myself...So for you guys what's the meaning of a gay friendly place? what you consider gay friendly.

[Matt608]

I would consider a place to be gay-friendly if I were able to go there with a male partner and we were treated just like everyone else. If no one took any special notice of us. But, in truth, the "gay-friendly" designation makes me a bit queasy. They probably mean well - but IDK, it makes me think of hotels that advertise as "pet-friendly". It's just the idea that gays are somehow a different species.

Yeah, I know, I expect too much --- after all, "gay-friendly" is a lot better than the sign I saw in a dive bar in a small Alabama town ---"Faggot Free Zone".

[Camfer]

Typically at a gay-friendly hotel, you can expect to see other gay people staying there, but it will not be exclusively gay people staying there. You can expect that the staff will be courteous to gay people as well as anyone else.

As an example of a not-gay friendly hotel, my partner and I were recently in a small town and got a room for the night, reserving in advance a room with 1 king-sized bed. When the two of us together arrived the front desk clerk made a point to inform us we'd reserved a room with one bed, to which we replied, yes, that is what we wanted. Then he told us that the couch in the room we reserved was a pull out couch, if we wanted to use it. We told him we wouldn't need to use it as a bed. He responded that he could provide us with sheets for the pull out couch, completely ignoring the fact that we asked for reserved 1 bed, confirmed we wanted 1 bed, and intended to sleep together in 1 bed as we customarily do. He seemed completely baffled that we would want to do this. We were completely baffled that he didn't see us as a couple. That, to me is about the best experience you could expect at a not-gay-friendly hotel. It could be much worse from there.

[P.S. Ecuador is such a beautiful country! I spent a month there in Quito and high in the Andes, even hiking to the top of Cotopaxi. I'd love to see the coast someday.]

[LONDONER]

I think the best example of a gay friendly hotel was one time some years ago when I was driving through France qwith a friend. We stopped to find an hotel as it was fast approaching 10pm and so many hotels close their doors after that hour. We both went in to an hotel together and asked for a room and the middle aged female receptionist quite off handedly asked: "One bed or two?"

[Doc]

I would consider a place to be gay-friendly if I were able to go there with a male partner and we were treated just like everyone else. If no one took any special notice of us. But, in truth, the "gay-friendly" designation makes me a bit queasy. They probably mean well - but IDK, it makes me think of hotels that advertise as "pet-friendly". It's just the idea that gays are somehow a different species.

Yeah, I know, I expect too much --- after all, "gay-friendly" is a lot better than the sign I saw in a dive bar in a small Alabama town ---"Faggot Free Zone".

If that sign were serious and it could be, then its probably not a place to go. I fully support someones right to deny service based off of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or political affiliation as long as that person is owner and receives no public funding.

[Doc]

Typically at a gay-friendly hotel, you can expect to see other gay people staying there, but it will not be exclusively gay people staying there. You can expect that the staff will be courteous to gay people as well as anyone else.

As an example of a not-gay friendly hotel, my partner and I were recently in a small town and got a room for the night, reserving in advance a room with 1 king-sized bed. When the two of us together arrived the front desk clerk made a point to inform us we'd reserved a room with one bed, to which we replied, yes, that is what we wanted. Then he told us that the couch in the room we reserved was a pull out couch, if we wanted to use it. We told him we wouldn't need to use it as a bed. He responded that he could provide us with sheets for the pull out couch, completely ignoring the fact that we asked for reserved 1 bed, confirmed we wanted 1 bed, and intended to sleep together in 1 bed as we customarily do. He seemed completely baffled that we would want to do this. We were completely baffled that he didn't see us as a couple. That, to me is about the best experience you could expect at a not-gay-friendly hotel. It could be much worse from there.

[P.S. Ecuador is such a beautiful country! I spent a month there in Quito and high in the Andes, even hiking to the top of Cotopaxi. I'd love to see the coast someday.]

Thats so weird, the weekend before last three friends and I stayed in a hotel room with only two beds and the person at the desk thought nothing of it.

[drobs]

I've seen it with hotels, as mentioned, and bars.
There are some bars that might have been a gay bar at one time but the neighborhood or general clientele went mostly straight. That bar may advertise as gay friendly instead being a full on gay bar or club.

I've also seen small retail and antique type shops advertise they are gay friendly.
Usually that means the owners are gay or have gay family members.

If travelling somewhere on vacation, I'll look for gay friendly hotels and try to give them my business. Sometimes it's not cost effective.

[Pyromancer]

If that sign were serious and it could be, then its probably not a place to go. I fully support someones right to deny service based off of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or political affiliation as long as that person is owner and receives no public funding.

I strongly disagree with you on this...but we're each entitled to our opinions. How do they put it? Agree to disagree. As for the sign...*Sigh*...I've seen similar shit in rural southern areas...bravado and posturing...make yourself big by making someone else small...my own experience is that most of these guys wouldn't recognize the average "faggot" if he pissed on their shoes.

[Doc]

I guess we will have to agree to disagree, but I see it as an issue of freedom. People should be allowed to hate who they want and refuse service, so long as they dont receive public money.

So an example would be Kim Davis, she was wrong because she was a county employee, paid by tax dollars, she cant pick and choose, she has to follow the law that bitch was wrong. No Go

on the other side, I was denied entry into a very exclusive private gentleman's club in Chatham County GA, because of my mixed racial background and religion. That is ok because it is a private club.
(They told me to lie and they'd just let me in but I thought it wasnt keeping the spirit of the honor code, they were all really nice guys though)

But I think I have derailed this topic and Im sorry.

[TwisttheLeaf]

"if I were able to go there with a male partner and we were treated just like everyone else"

That's essentially what it means to me in the context of where I live.

Then again, if I were somewhere such as, say... near the Ozarks, I might consider it to mean that should I be open about my sexual preferences while visiting there, I probably wouldn't get my ass kicked by someone having a "homophobic moment".