Marriott's business partners endanger LGBTQI lives

MEMO
TO: Marriott Hotels


FROM: 

William Rosen
-------------------- IL 60148
United States



Re: Marriott's business partners endanger LGBTQI lives



Dear Nell Williams, Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Customer Care,


Marriott has longstanding business relationships with many conservative Christian groups and their conferences, like the National Religious Broadcasters and Alliance Defending Freedom.


We aren't asking you to stop hosting these conferences. We know you even do a lot to support the LGBTQI community. But that’s why we are asking to meet with you to convey the impact of these groups, your guests, on the lives of LGBTQI people around the world.


The NRB, which you will be hosting again next February in Orlando, site of recent anti-LGBTQI shooting that killed 51 people and harmed many others, actually upholds explicit anti-gay beliefs into their code of ethics for all of its 1400+ global members.


To be honest, we probably wouldn't be writing you today if you didn't so effectively court LGBTQI customers.


Your #LoveTravels campaign features beloved LGBTQI activists, but your motto, "We believe that every guest, whoever they are, wherever they go, should feel comfortable and welcome the moment they walk through our door," doesn't square with reality.


When we stayed at your Nashville Gaylord Opryland hotel during the last NRB conference, their attendees treated our people, a same-sex couple, shamefully.


We know that's not what Marriott wants, and that's why we'd like to discuss our stories and community's needs in person with you.



What's true is this: our community is not safe at your hotels when of these conservative conferences is taking place. Moreover, our community, in the Global South in particular, is made unsafe every day because of the work of your guests.


We believe that if we sit down at the table and share information from our respective experiences, we can come to a collaborative solution that affirms safety, informed consent, and global solidarity.


Please take the time to meet with representatives from the Know Your Neighbors team (info@kynship.org) and the LGBTQI people who are directly affected by many of your important and longstanding guests.



Yours sincerely,


William Rosen

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