Posted on 09/06/2012 6:00:40 AM PDT by scottjewell
BELLEVUE, Wash. — Online travel company Expedia.com on Tuesday announced its support for marriage equality and the efforts to approve Referendum 74 in Washington state, November ballot initiative asking voters to approve or reject the state’s new marriage equality law.
Supporting the ballot measure “is a natural extension of our ongoing commitment to the LGBT community,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, President and CEO of Expedia Inc., in a statement:
"As the world’s largest online travel company – with operations in well over 30 countries – we know firsthand that the world is a diverse place. Much like our customers, clients, partners, and suppliers, our employees represent a multitude of locations, cultures, and experiences.
We encourage Expedians to bring their collective intelligence and myriad skills to work every day to make travel more accessible for our customers. As such, we are committed to creating a workplace environment in which everyone thrives.
We strive to actively promote equality in our workplace and are committed to treating one another with respect and dignity. Part of our overall diversity efforts is providing a supportive environment for our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) employees.
Today, we add our voice to the topic of marriage equality. We thoughtfully engage in this public discussion because it has a significant impact on our employees, customers, and partners, all with whom we interact daily. Supporting the legislation recently passed in Washington State – which provides same-sex couples with the same right to civil marriage that opposite-sex couples already enjoy – is a natural extension of our ongoing commitment to the LGBT community.
Therefore, Expedia, Inc. is proud to declare support of marriage equality for same-sex couples everywhere."
Expedia, based in Bellevue, Wash., was founded in 1996 by Microsoft and later spun off as a multi-billion dollar company — its portfolio consists of several online travel brands, including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, and Hotwire.com.
Washington United for Marriage (WUM), the broad coalition working to defend the state’s marriage law, announced Wednesday that more than 5,000 new donors helped raise $1.758 million during the month of August, raising the total campaign treasury to $7.290 million.
Jimmy4Toes announces he will never use Expedia.
They had to be feeling pressure from some gay group to just come out of nowhere and announce this.
Do you think they have been carbonited?
Hope the CEO has fun explaining earnings to share holders next quarter.
I can't stand euphemism. They're announcing support for same-sex marriage, which has nothing to do with equality and everything to do with hedonism. Homosexuals already have marriage equality - they're allowed,just like the rest of us, to marry people of the opposite sex.
Said this before but, will there be anyone left for me to do business with?
As does Jersey117. And I used them recently.
What a great corporate move to turn off 98% of your customers to suck up to the other 2%. Must be a new course at Wharton on how to not succeed in business.
BREAKING NEWS: Barmag25 announces he will no longer use expedia. I use it a lot for my travel which is extensive. Check some pics on my freeper profile and just know I will no longer use expedia to get there.
Does Orbitz offer every thing you need? I have only used one of these services once.
I exclusively use travelocity. That are fantastic but again they all are probably good but that is the one that I started with and have never changed to something else.
Fully agreed!
Yeah, SLAVERY is still practiced in some countries! Will you accommodate a slaveholder to travel with his slaves???
Me, too. Never booked with anyone else. :-(
EQ is done with Expedia.
Frankly I don’t care who they do business with. If they didn’t tell me, I would not have known or cared.
The fact that they had to make a big deal over this is reason enough to stop using them. Would rather have heard from them about travel specials to Jamaica.
Gays spend a fortune in travel. They have no kids and child related expenses draining their disposable income. From a pure business perspective, I understand the temptation to go that way by an on-line travel company.
I agree. I just don’t know why these places have to advertise that. I mean JC Penny was going down the tubes anyway so for them it was a “hail mary” pass that didn’t work. But these other companies that aren’t in financial trouble should keep their mouths shut!
“They have no kids and child related expenses draining their disposable income.”
The first time I ever heard the term “DINKS” (Double income, no kids) was from two (still closeted at the time) poofs.
Bye, bye, Expedia.
That makes perfect sense, except that they’re turning inside out over 2% of the population.
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