Homophobia at the Premier Inn

k3lvc

Classic school holiday post :rotfl::rotfl:- all that's missing is the blatant advertising for the aforementioned lesbian social network site

curlygirl1971

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Since at least three of the links you conveniently omitted to mention are gay and lesbian support organisations, this is hardly a valid reason.

Out of interest, why did you omit to mention those links off google in your post?

They were on the 2nd page - looking on my phone. I just quoted the top ones. Shame the support orgs aren't further up.

keyser666

Its amazing what you find if you actually go looking for it

Money-Saving-King

ThumbRemote wrote: »

It's easy to say it's not a problem if it hasn't directly affected you.

Maybe if you did suffer discrimination for your sexuality then you'd be more inclined to speak up about it.

I don't think there's a problem here.

SlowCooker

ThumbRemote wrote: »

It's easy to say it's not a problem if it hasn't directly affected you.

Maybe if you did suffer discrimination for your sexuality then you'd be more inclined to speak up about it.

Speak up about what? Not having access to a dating website for a couple of nights?

The thread has served its purpose. Before reading it nobody knew about the website in question and now they do.

redmalc

In my mind this is spam advertising Lesbians to the Forum

springer211

Thunderxx wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I own a lesbian social network with around 100, 000 members.

18 months ago I stayed at the Premier Inn at Heathrow and was annoyed and upset when I was unable to get onto my website because their firewall blocked the keyword Lesbian stating that it was "Harmful to the young public".

There is absolutely no adult content on my website.

I had several emails and calls with their complaints department who said that it would be changed.

I hadn't been to another Premier Inn until Friday night when I took my partner to London for her Birthday.

I needed to make a small change on my site that I could not do from an Apple device so I used the public computer provided by the Premier Inn.

To my dismay any site that has a keyword of lesbian is blocked because it is "Harmful to the young public".

I feel that it is out-dated homophobia. If keywords belonging to other minority groups were banned I think lawyers would be suing for discrimination!

What does anyone else think and has anyone any advice on how I can try to get this changed?

Thanks in advance,

Jane

I think it's ignorance, either they think the word lesbian without any other word to contextualise it, is enough to pull up all sort of nasty !!!!!!, or they think any lesbian content is unsuitable for children.
The first is being overcautious, and if a filter is good it shouldn't be a problem, you don't have !!!!!! sites using text like 'cute lesbian holding hands while walking in the park', so they are going to be picked up though other keywords.
The second is being homophobic, harmful to GLBT young people, and needs to be challenged.
So regardless of the motivation there is no need to block the word lesbian (and gay, bisexual etc).

You should escalate your complaint and use social sites (a twitter/fb campaign can be very powerful if you get lots of people on board).
Maybe you can also raise this issue on GLBT forums, or other sites with a high GLBT presence. You are not gonna get much joy here, from what I've seen, compared to the national average, you will find that the % of GLBT people out on these forums is negligible. I will let you make your mind up as to why that might be

springer211

curlygirl1971 wrote: »

I don't like the idea of a kid searching on 'I think I'm gay, how do I tell my parents' for example, and not being able to get advice/reassurance if they feel at that point in there lives there's is no where else to go for it.

That is why it's so harmful to block such keywords, it's not just the premier inn. This would be a step to raise awareness.
The issues is with schools, libraries and parental control at home.
The message is that being gay or lesbian is something dirty, to be ashamed of, that can't be spoken about. They would hear their peers use the words negatively, even being bullied using those words yet not be able to find positive, supportive information.
If you think you want to protect your child, think that your child could be 'that' child, scared and isolated.

Bantex_2

I am thinking of becoming a lesbian. Can anyone recommend any informative sites I can go to for advice?

Mrs_Ryan

Wait a minute. Unless I'm wrong the OP didn't actually mention the name of her website so how can she be advertising it..?
When Premier Inn was Premier Lodge (when I worked for them, and this was only 9 years ago) they had a policy where same sex couples could not occupy a double room which I thought was disgusting (I'm bisexual myself) They did however have to change this policy so I'm not surprised that another issue has sprung tbh..