Why I Won’t Be Traveling to Florida, Texas, or Tennessee Anytime Soon
Florida, Texas and Tennessee are places where people I love happen to live. In fact, I was born and raised in the Nashville area, where my whole family is. But I’m afraid I can’t, in good conscience, go back to any of these places for a while.
The reason is, as you might’ve guessed, politics. Specifically, hostile rhetoric by politicians and retrograde legislation aimed at keeping down LGBTQ+ people like me as well as members of other groups, specifically Black people.
There are already boycotts of these places afoot by organizations like the NAACP’s Florida chapter and across Twitter.
Just like avoiding Chick-fil-A for its anti-LGBTQ+ policies, some might say it’s an ultimately meaningless gesture, or even that it’s hurting LGBTQ+ people who happen to make a living there. To me, it’s a simple decision about not giving my hard-earned dollars to a place currently hijacked by morally reprehensible elected officials.
I realize Florida isn’t going to go down the tubes because I don’t pop down to Key West for a week. The city of Dallas isn’t going to have to file bankruptcy because I didn’t dine in one of its better restaurants, nor will any of Fort Worth’s fine arts museums not be able to pay the light bill because of my staying away. But it still feels like the right thing to do.
To me, it’s not at all a meaningless statement, but an enormous one. While not spending money there may not seriously cripple their economies, experts maintain boycotts can do reputational damage.
It’s a sword that cuts both ways, of course. Consider the recent outrage from those on the right aimed at Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light because of a promotional campaign featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which had an impact both on core consumers’ affinity for the brand as well as sales, at least in the short term.
Just imagine if every one of us who’s sick of the hate were to do what people on the other side have done to Bud Light.
It’s worth thinking about.
