But how do you think yesterday’s election results will influence gay travel patterns? Will queer innkeepers in the very LGBT-friendly and gay-welcoming town of Ogunquit, Maine suffer thanks to the same-sex marriage defeat? Will you change your Ogunquit travel plans and head to Provincetown instead, since Massachusetts has legal gay marriage? Does that even make sense when planning your vacation?

Ben Finzel is senior vice president and head of the public affairs practice at Widmeyer Communications, and has specialized in LGBT communications practice and travel, working with tourism bureaus and following travel trends. “Travel is a personal decision, particularly for our community,” offers Finzel. “Maine is a naturally beautiful state with many wonderful attractions and lots of great people – many of whom are LGBT. I think gay travelers need to make up their own minds to either choose to travel to Maine to demonstrate the positive power of our travel or choose to stay away to demonstrate the negative financial impact we can have on destinations that oppose LGBT equality. You can make a strong case for either position.”

Finzel continues: “Whether or not gay travelers choose to visit Maine in the future, I think we should all make a point of being out, visible and vocal in our travel decisions. Choose service providers that engage with our community and tell them that’s why we chose them. Consider whether or not we feel comfortable visiting specific destinations and engage people in those destinations as we’re considering where to go.”

Need some new possible places to consider as a result of Tuesday’s elections? Quite a few cities saw some gay victories. Chapel Hill, North Carolina will have a gay mayor as the newly elected Mark Kleinschmidt takes office. And Houston, America’s fourth-largest city, could have an openly lesbian mayor; Annise Parker scored the most votes in her race against her opponent; she now faces a heated run-off come December. These are good steps.

Meanwhile, other gays candidates won never-before-held city offices in Detroit, Akron, Ohio and St. Petersburg, Florida. And bless Kalamazoo, Michigan for passing a highly debated ordinance protecting LGBT rights. Now in Kalamazoo it will be illegal to discriminate against gay, lesbian and transgendered individuals in the areas of hiring, housing and public accommodation in the Michigan city. And Washington State saw its domestic partnership laws upheld, too.

But what does this mean for LGBT travel. Do election results influence where you go?

Certainly, the LGBT community always pays attention to how gay-friendly a destination is, legislatively or culturally. And we’ve gotten quite good at picking out which companies we travel with based on their queer-friendly practices. That needn’t change.

“Increasingly, gay travelers are thinking much more strategically about where we spend our travel dollars,” says Finzel. “We look at the level of engagement that airlines and car rental companies have with our community, we consider the role of hoteliers in anti-gay ballot initiatives and we consider how gay-friendly a destination might be based on factors such as safety, role of pro-gay companies in their communities, etc. With so many travel providers and destinations taking an active role in proactively and positively seeking our business, we are realizing we have choices and can choose not to support anti-gay companies or destinations with our travel dollars.”

“I think the next big trend is going to be our community looking for, and demanding, that companies and destinations that want our business earn it with active involvement in opposing anti-gay ballot initiatives and related efforts,” Finzel says. “It won’t be enough for travel industry leaders (or other corporate leaders, for that matter) to say they are gay-friendly: they’ll have to demonstrate they mean it by actively supporting a No On 1 effort (Maine) or a Yes on 71 effort (Washington) and speaking out against attempts to legislate hate.”

Hear that gay-positive travel companies? We commend you on your great LGBT-supportive business practices. But, it’s time to take your gay investment up a notch. It’s getting personal.

So… See you in Maine next summer! Maybe.

Gay and lesbian activists think so – and they have a growing number of supporters in Congress, which opened debate Thursday on whether to change dozens of laws that define marriage as a union between a “man and woman.”

“We can’t expect social equality if the state is legitimizing inequality,” said Maria Rachid, president of Argentina’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Federation. “We now have the social and political context necessary to change the law.”

It remains to be seen whether they have enough votes to overcome opposition from religious groups. The Roman Catholic Church remains a driving force in Argentina, where presidents were required to be both married and Catholic until a 1994 reform.

Some Catholic and evangelical Christian groups have accused the government of trying to subvert the natural order of life, promote perversions and destroy the family as an institution.

“This should not be understood as the denial of anyone’s rights,” said Archbishop Jose Maria Arancedo of Santa Fe, who took a gentler tone in a recent radio address. “It’s possible both to be progressive and to defend the family, founded on the institution of marriage.”

Argentina’s capital established its gay-friendly reputation in 2002 by becoming the first Latin American city to legalize same-sex civil unions. Four other Argentine cities later did the same, and such unions also now are recognized in Mexico City and some Mexican and Brazilian states. Uruguay alone has legalized civil unions nationwide.

Canada is the only nation in the Americas where gay marriage is now legal; in the Spanish-speaking world, only Spain has taken this additional step.

The capital’s civil unions law was initially celebrated as a huge victory for gay and lesbian rights, but such partnerships don’t confer many rights exclusive to married couples, such as the right to adopt children in the name of both parents, to enable a partner to gain citizenship and to inherit wealth or be included in insurance policies.

“A civil union is a link that grants certain rights, but not those available to a married couple, which only a national law can grant,” the bills’ co-sponsor, Rep. Vilma Ibarra, told The Associated Press. “This is the first round in a long process, but it is already a success to have it out there.”

Rachid said more than 20 lawmakers have signed on as supporters of same-sex marriage, and they believe they have enough votes in committee for a full vote in the lower house. It would then go to the Senate.

Rachid and her partner, Claudia Castro, were among the first same-sex couples in Buenos Aires to form a civil union – and the first to test Argentine law by applying for a marriage license in 2007. Their suit over the denial is pending at the Supreme Court.

“The opinion of religious leaders who dictate how other people should lead their lives should apply only to those who share their creed, and not to the rest of society,” Rachid said during an interview with Castro in the Buenos Aires apartment they share with their dog, Lola.

“We don’t need a law to define us as a couple – we’ve already been a couple for more than 10 years,” Castro added. “We just want to have equal rights.”

If the law passes, they plan to be first in line for a marriage license.

Dear Marchers for Equality,

As you think about your travel needs to DC, we want to let you know about the many travel and accommodation discounts we have secured for marchers.  The full list of details can be found here:

Travel and Accommodations

For lodging, we want to highlight the Madison Hotel, who is partnering with the National Equality March to offer great rates as well as free use of public space for meetings and planning areas. Group rates are $189.00; to book please call 1-800-424-8577 and reference the EQU109 or National Equality March. The cut-off for these special rates is September 21, 2009. To find out more, please visit their website.

For air travel, American Airlines and Delta/Northwest are offering 5% off their regular fares. For rail travel, Amtrak is offering a 10% discount on trains booked to DC. Full details of how to book these discounted fares can be found here:

Travel Discounts

In addition to these offers, we have secured many other lodging and travel discounts for marchers.  Please visit our Travel and Accommodations page for more information.

See you in the streets,

Awards include “Sexiest Place on Earth,” “Best Breakout Destination,” and “Best Gay Bar in the World.”

TripOutGayTravel.com is also honoring Richard Gray, who they are calling one of the founders of gay travel, with the first-ever “The Gay+ Award for Achievement in Making Our World Gayer.”

 Results will be announced on Nov. 2, 2009.

Manchester owns the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina.

Last year he donated $125,000 to Protect Marriage, the group behind the ballot measure.

A group called Californians Against Hate immediately launched a boycott of Manchester’s properties. The boycott has resulted in several groups canceling conventions at the hotels – costing Manchester’s facility an estimated $2 million.

Among those who bailed out of meeting at the hotel are conventions for the International Foundation of Employee Benefits, the San Diego Board of Realtors, the American Assn. of Law Schools and the California Nurses Association.

Several months ago, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports, with loss of business at the hotels mounting, Manchester sought the help of Los Angeles public relations specialist Howard Bragman, a gay man who married had his partner last year and fought Prop. 8.

Now Manchester wants to donate an equal amount of money – $125,000 – to California LGBT groups in return for an end to the boycott. The money, The Union-Tribune reports, would be used by the groups to hold meetings and fundraisers at his hotels.

Californians Against Hate dismissed the attempted settlement, saying the boycott will continue.

“He is clearly trying to buy his way out of this, and it will not work,” spokesperson Fred Karger told the paper in an e-mail.

“Their proposal is a real slap in the face to the gay community and to all fair-minded people who believe in equality and support full civil rights for all gays and lesbians,” Karger said.

After Prop 8 passed last November, a legal challenge was mounted. The California Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on the constitutionality of the vote any day.

US rights group TruthWinsOut, founded by 365gay columnist Wayne Besen, has called for a boycott of the island and some of its most famous products, to protest several violent homophobic incidents and Jamaica’s refusal to repeal laws against sodomy.

Wednesday, the group will launch a national boycott of Jamaica in New York City at the famed Stonewall Bar – birthplace of the gay rights movement. TruthWinsOut leader Besen said that the bar’s owners and boycott supporters will dump Jamaican liquor – Red Stripe beer and Myers’ Rum – down the sewer.

“We, as the owners of the Stonewall Inn, birthplace of the Gay rights movement, refuse to support, in any way, shape or form, the oppression of any people especially our gay brothers and sisters in Jamaica,” the Stonewall Inn said in its statement.

“We ask all people of all walks of life to send a clear message to the Jamaican people and their government, that as long as they continue to allow and condone violence and hatred toward the Gay community, we will neither buy their products nor support their tourist trade.”

“If you love your gay friends and family members, you won’t visit Jamaica,” said boycott co-organizer Wayne Besen. “If you care about the human rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, you won’t buy Jamaican products. We hope that all gay and gay friendly bar owners and restaurateurs across the nation will participate in ‘rum dumps.’ We can no longer subsidize our own slaughter.”

But in Kingston, the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays, said the boycott could backfire and result in more violence.

“Because of the possible repercussions of increased homophobic violence against our already besieged community, we feel that a tourist boycott is not the most appropriate response at this time,” J-FLAG said in a statement.

“In our battle to win hearts and minds, we do not wish to be perceived as taking food off the plate of those who are already impoverished. In fact, members of our own community could be disproportionately affected by a worsened economic situation brought about by a tourist ban.”

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding has told Parliament his government will not yield to “perhaps the most organized lobby in the world” and will not abolish prison sentences for sodomy.

Golding made the comment during debate on a new sexual offenses law primarily aimed at combating rape and child abuse. Jamaican LGBT rights groups and international human rights organizations had urged the government to include a repeal of the sodomy law in the new act.

Gay sex is punishable by up to seven years in prison under a law which dates back to British colonial rule. Britain has long since abolished the law and has urged its former colonies to do the same.

Jamaica has been described by human rights groups as having the worst record of any country in the New World in its treatment of gays and lesbians.

In January 2008, a group of men approached a house where four males lived in the central Jamaican town of Mandeville, and demanded that they leave the community because they were gay, according to Jamaican human rights activists who spoke with the victims.

Later that evening, a mob returned and surrounded the house. The four men inside called the police when they saw the crowd gathering. The mob started to attack the house, shouting and throwing bottles.

Those in the house called police again and were told that the police were on the way. Approximately half an hour later, 15-20 men broke down the door and began beating and slashing the inhabitants.

Human Rights Watch, quoting local activists said that police did not arrive until a half hour after the mob had broken into the house – 90 minutes after the men first called for help.

One of the victims managed to flee with the mob pursuing. A Jamaican newspaper reported that blood was found at the mouth of a nearby pit, suggesting he had fallen inside or may have been killed nearby.

The police escorted the three other victims away from the scene; two of them were taken to the hospital. One of the men had his left ear severed, his arm broken in two places, and his spine reportedly damaged.

There have been no arrests.

The attack echoes another incident in the same town on Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007 when approximately 100 men gathered outside a church where 150 people were attending the funeral of a gay man.

According to mourners, the crowd broke the windows with bottles and shouted, “We want no battyman [gay] funeral here. Leave or else we’re going to kill you. We don’t want no battyman buried here in Mandeville.”

Several mourners inside the church called the police to request protection. After half an hour, three police officers arrived.

Human Rights Watch said that instead of protecting the mourners, police socialized with the mob, laughing along at the situation.

A highway patrol car subsequently arrived, and one of the highway patrol officers reportedly told the churchgoers, “It’s full time this needs to happen. Enough of you guys.”

The highway patrol officers then drove off. The remaining officers at the scene refused to intervene when the mob threatened the mourners with sticks, stones, and batons as they tried to leave the service. Only when several gay men among the mourners took knives from their cars for self-defense did police reportedly take action by firing their guns into the air. Officers stopped gay men from leaving and searched their vehicles, but did not restrain or detain members of the mob, Human Rights Watch said.

More than 30 gay men are believed to have been murdered since 1997 J-FLAG says. In most of the cases the killers have never been brought to trial.

Arrests, however, have been made in several cases which received international attention.

In 2004, Brian Williamson, Jamaica’s leading LGBT civil rights advocate, was brutally murdered. He had been stabbed at least 70 times in the neck. A 25-year-old man is currently serving a life sentence for the murder.

In December 2005, Lenford “Steve” Harvey who ran Jamaica AIDS Support for Life was killed.

Harvey was shot to death on the eve of World AIDS Day. His organization provided support to gay men and sex workers. Four men were arrested almost a year later.

In 2006, the bodies of two women believed to have been in a lesbian relationship were found dumped in a septic pit behind a home they shared. The killers of Candice Williams and Phoebe Myrie have not been caught.

Students at University of the West Indies in Kingston rioted last year as police attempted to protect a gay student and escort him from the campus. The incident began when the student was chased across the campus by another student who claimed the gay man had attempted to proposition him in a washroom.

The same year, a young man plunged to his death off a pier in Kingston after reportedly being chased through the streets by a mob yelling homophobic epithets.

In February 2007, three men in “tight jeans” and wearing what some witnesses described as makeup were cornered by a mob of 2000 in a drugstore. There were yells of “kill them” along with gay slurs and demands the three be sent out “to face justice.” Police had to fire tear gas into the crowd to rescue the three.

Reggae, or Jamaican dancehall music, is blamed for fueling homophobia. Reggae star BujuBanton’s hit song Boom Boom Bye Bye which threatens gay men with a “gunshot in ah head.”

(New York City) New York City officials are turning to gays and lesbians to help reduce a projected $4 billion budget deficit.

The nation’s largest city unveiled a marketing campaign Tuesday to attract more gay and lesbian tourists from around the country and the world as other U.S. cities compete to strip New York of its title of No. 1 vacation destination for gays and lesbians.

The Rainbow Pilgrimage campaign comes as state and city officials grapple with diminishing revenue resulting from the global economic meltdown, which is forcing many people to forgo leisure travel plans or take so-called staycations near home.

The campaign kickoff also comes months in advance of the June 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in Manhattan, considered the start of the modern gay liberation movement.

“This is a tough time for New York City’s budget,” said openly gay City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who made the announcement with Council Member Rosie Mendez and city tourism officials. Quinn noted that 20 percent to 25 percent of the city’s revenue comes from Wall Street, which remains in turmoil.

An estimated 47 million people visited the city last year, a record high that generated $30 billion in spending, also a record over 2007’s $28.9 billion, according to the mayor’s office. Gays and lesbians accounted for about 10 percent of those figures.

But state officials are predicting a decline this year in the city’s tourism industry.

The new campaign will highlight New York’s reputation as a gay-friendly travel destination and tout a visit to the city as a “rite of passage.” The campaign will include advertising on niche Web sites and in magazines, as well as bus stop shelters, utility poles, street furniture, telephone kiosks and railroad stations.

The NYC & Company nonprofit that handles marketing and tourism for the city is working with Travelocity.com and numerous hotels, restaurants and Broadway theaters to offer discounts. George Fertitta, the organization’s chief executive, said the announcement was made months before the Stonewall anniversary in late June to give potential tourists time to make plans.

NYC & Company spent $190,000 in city taxpayer money on the campaign but estimates that, through partnerships with advertising agencies, its value reaches nearly $2 million.

Overall, New York City remains the top leisure and business travel destination for gays and lesbians followed closely by Las Vegas and San Francisco, said David Paisley, a senior projects manager at Community Marketing Inc., a tourism research company that specializes in gay and lesbian consumers.

“There’s increasing competition from cities who are reaching out to gays and lesbians,” Paisley said. “New York needs to respond or it’ll lose the No. 1 position.”

The annual economic impact of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender travelers is about $70.3 billion in the United States, according to Community Marketing.

“It clearly is a market that has the flexibility to travel,” Fertitta said.

Forget business as usual. Instead, we should stop doing business with a country that is proud of its persecution against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Our goal is to turn Jamaica into a pariah state, as long as GLBT people live in a state of terror. This means no more subsidizing the anti-gay slaughter by drinking Myers Rum and Red Stripe Beer. It requires skipping that Carnival Cruise to Jamaica — so your money won’t support murder.

If Jamaica were anymore homophobic, it would change the name of its signature music, reggae, to “ray-straight.” The national song would be, “Wasting the Gays Again in Murderitaville.”

Why boycott? Because Jamaica is on a downward spiral and suffers from collective cultural dementia on this issue. There is clearly a pathological panic and homo-hysteria that has infected this nation at its core. Consider that the Jamaica Cancer Society has raised concerns that the fear of being labeled gay is causing some Jamaican men to avoid prostate examinations, causing one of the highest prostate cancer rates in the world.

The second reason to boycott is because traditional activism has failed. I first read about Jamaica’s horrific violence against gay people in a 2004 New York Times editorial, “Hated to Death in Jamaica.” In 2006, Time Magazine had an article about the island headlined, “The Most Homophobic Place On Earth.”

One would think that such chilling headlines would have spurred worldwide action against Jamaica. Instead, the climate has only deteriorated, with a 2008 New York Times article titled, “Attacks Show Easygoing Jamaica Is Dire Place for Gays.”

A scathing State Department report on Jamaica’s treatment of homosexuals reads like a horror novel:

“The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG) continued to report human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, mob attacks, stabbings, harassment of homosexual patients by hospital and prison staff, and targeted shootings of homosexuals.”

Questioned by the BBC, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding said that he would not allow gay people to serve in his Cabinet. In March 2009 he added, “We are not going to yield to the pressure, whether that pressure comes from individual organizations, individuals, whether that pressure comes from foreign governments or groups of countries, to liberalize the laws as it relates to buggery.”

A third reason for a boycott is because we can have an impact in Jamaica. The tropical island earned $2.1 billion from tourism in 2006, with 1,025,000 arrivals from the United States. Clearly, Jamaica is uniquely vulnerable to economic pressure and thus every effort should be made to push for change.

A fourth reason to boycott is that a message needs to be sent throughout the world: “Gay people will no longer sit by passively while our people are brutalized and killed.”

If we do not stop the hate in the one place we can – Jamaica – it will continue to be open season against gays across the world. There must be consequences for state sanctioned gay bashing. Such countries will not change on their own — so economic carrots and sticks must be applied.

The current, failed strategy is “treadmill diplomacy”, where we send off a few letters to embassies and hope things will magically improve. It may feel like we are advancing, but we are really, at best, running in place. This explains why the news headlines about Jamaica’s treatment of gay people in 2004, look remarkably like the terrifying ones in 2009. The choice is ours, we can be meek in the face of madness – or we can take action.

Finally, Jamaica is an island of self-righteous hypocrites. The Bible is used to rationalize brutality, and vigilante violence is justified with talk of virtues and values. But, the island is quite comfortable with ganja and gratuitous sex for heterosexuals. Jamaica’s new motto should be, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” (Unless you’re gay).

If you are a bar owner, please take Jamaican products out of your establishment. Consider a “rum dump”, where Myers’ rum is poured down the sewer. If you care about gay people, tell everyone you know about the dismal human rights record of Jamaica. And, if a friend has booked a trip — express your disapproval and send him or her accurate information.

It is truly a crime if you spend another dime in this homophobic hellhole. If you have gay family members, neighbors, coworkers or friends, book a holiday where it is okay to be gay.

As for Jamaica, don’t play, don’t pay, don’t stay.

“We’re getting there,” said Patrick Hogan, director of public affairs for the Metropolitan Airports Commission. “I think we’ll all be glad when there’s no special interest in that restroom.”

Craig was accused of soliciting sex in the bathroom in June 2007 and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August 2007.

One person had offered to buy the restroom stall for $5,000, Hogan said, but airport officials “don’t sell fixtures for novelty purposes.”

Though tourist interest has withered, the surge of publicity from Craig’s arrest helped end the type of activity in the restroom that had prompted lewd-conduct complaints, he said.

Plans to modify the restroom to prevent occupants from passing signals were scrapped because complaints dropped.

“It is the busiest restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International,” Hogan told The Spokesman-Review. “It’s right in the middle of our main thoroughfare.”

Craig – who has maintained his innocence and heterosexuality – has said he only pleaded guilty to keep the embarrassing situation quiet. He attempted to withdraw his guilty plea but the Minnesota Court of Appeals earlier this month rejected the appeal.

Craig, who said he was considering another appeal, did not seek re-election in last month’s election for the seat he has held for 18 years.

As the woman behind the counter ran my credit card, she casually drawled, “Yep. It’s thirty-five dollars unless you’re co-workers, spouses or domestic partners.” My partner and I exchanged a look and I knew we were both thinking the same thing: “Is it worth thirty-five dollars to convince someone that we’re gay? In public? In a red state?”

Thriftiness got the best of me and I blurted out, “We’re a couple!” “Okay, then,” the woman smiled, “let me cancel that charge.”

While my awkward self-outing saved me $35 (and brought my relationship with the Avis woman to whole new level of honesty), it probably would have been easier for me to know the company’s policy before I arrived. Not interested in having your own Very Special Episode of Blossom at a rental car counter? Check out the list below for details on the additional driver policies at some of the nation’s largest rental car companies.

Avis & Budget

When it comes to adding your partner as an additional driver, it doesn’t get much easier than Avis. According to Alice Pereira, Manager of Public Relations for the Avis Budget Group (which owns Avis), “Domestic partners are included, no questions asked.” In fact, Avis is the official car rental choice of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Avis’ gay-friendly policy applies to all of their corporate-owned and operated locations. A small percentage of locations are owned by licensees, however, and the policy may vary at these locations.

How do you know if a rental location is owned by the corporation or by a licensee? “Call the location,” Pereira says. “For the most part our licensees do follow our policy but it’s best to call to be sure.”

To reserve a car, and to learn about Avis’ domestic partner policy, visit www.avis.com/prouder.

Budget Rent-A-Car is also owned by the Avis Budget Group and Pereira says that there are, “no additional driver fees for domestic partners on the Budget side [of the company] either.” According to Pereira, Budget’s additional driver policy, with respect to domestic partners, is the same as Avis’.

Learn more, or rent a car, at www.Budget.com.

Enterprise

Enterprise Rent-A-Car also waives the additional driver fee for domestic partners. “This is standard throughout the company at all locations,” according to Lisa Martini, Manager of Public Relations for Enterprise.

For more, visit www.enterprise.com.

Dollar & Thrifty

Dollar Rent-A-Car and Thrifty (both owned by the Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc.) charge additional driver fees for opposite- and same-sex partners. According to Chris Payne, spokesperson for Dollar Thrifty, “Our policy is that additional drivers identified as a life partner will be treated as a spouse.” When asked why Dollar Thrifty has a policy on same-sex partners when there is no discount involved, Payne replied, “We just want to make sure it’s a non-issue for us….A customer’s a customer and we just treat everyone the same.”

Visit Dollar and Thrifty online at www.dollar.com and www.thrifty.com.

Hertz

Unfortunately, the Hertz corporate office did not return multiple calls for this article. According to the company’s reservation line, however, Hertz charges a daily fee for each additional driver, regardless of their relationship to the renter. This policy is consistent across the country, although the amount of the fee varies from state to state (for example, it’s $3 per day in New York and $11 per day in Illinois). The only exception is for Hertz Gold Members, who may add an opposite- or same-sex partner to their rental agreement free of charge.

Check out www.hertz.com for more information.
What if..?

It’s wedding season again, and my partner and I have yet another out-of-state wedding to attend. Last week, we called around to rental car companies, checking availability and comparing prices. The calls were routine until, during one call, my partner’s brow furrowed.

“Budget just told me I can add a husband for free, but not a domestic partner,” she said as she hung up.

“That can’t be right,” I said. Having spoken recently with Pereira, I knew that was inconsistent with the Avis Budget Group’s policy.

I called Budget’s toll free number and was also told that I could not add a domestic partner to my rental agreement for free. I asked a few follow up questions and the agent ultimately admitted that she wasn’t entirely sure what the company’s policy was.

Finally, I asked to speak to a manager, who assured me that I could add my partner to my rental agreement without an additional fee. Ultimately, I got the right answer – but it took three conversations to get it.

I spoke with Pereira about my experience with Budget’s reservation line. She reiterated that, at Budget, “domestic partners are treated as spouses.”

So what if, as in my case, a traveler knows that a company’s official policy is the same for opposite- and same-sex partners, but the agent they speak with doesn’t comply? “They should ask to speak to a supervisor,” Pereira says, “because that’s the policy.”

Travelers who are AAA members can call AAA Headquarters in Orlando, FL for help with customer service issues. According to AAA Director of Public Relations, Mike Pina, AAA’s Member Services Department is happy to intervene to resolve conflicts between members and travel service providers. “Our policy,” says Pina, “is that everyone receives equal treatment…and we would certainly encourage our partners not to discriminate.”

To contact AAA Headquarters, call 407-444-7000.

You can be your own advocate, though, by knowing a company’s official policy before you make your reservation. As illustrated above, calls to a company’s reservation line can yield a variety of responses, both correct and incorrect. For the most accurate information, call the rental company’s corporate office.