Friday, May 22, 2009

Harrah's Hotel and Casino Pleads for Gay Rights on Economic Grounds

The Harrah's chain of Las Vegas casinos and hotels has written a letter to Nevada's legislature warning about a potential loss in gay tourism if Gov. Gibbons vetoes that state's pending domestic partners bill.

In a letter to lawmakers, Harrah's Senior Vice President Jan Jones said that Nevada must compete with other destinations for the growing gay and lesbian business and that there could be a "negative economic impact" if the bill does not become law.

"Our state cannot afford to lose any more revenue to other destinations because of a reputation as a place which is not socially or politically the right place to do business or to vacation," Jones stated in the letter, dated Tuesday. Gays and lesbians have the highest disposable income of any segment of the population, according to Jones. "Our company does aggressive marketing to this community," Jones said Wednesday. "How can we say to them 'we want your business, but we don't care about your rights."

Honesty is the best policy, and diversity is the right thing to do. Harrah's has accomplished both with this letter of support for the Nevada domestic partnership bill, which the governor promises to veto.

Send Harrah's Hotel and Casinos a thank you letter for supporting LGBT customers in Nevada and for their overall ranking and awards by the Human Rights Campaign.

Crossposted via Joe My God.

1 comment:

Brian said...

We've sent our letter! It's important, I think, to earn the support of big business, especially when they take the principled stance that business sense comes before prejudice or bigotry.

Post a Comment