2015 saw some important gains in the fight for LGBTQ rights, but there is still much work to be done, even more so of driving understanding of the Transgender community. In April of 2015, Airbnb made headlines when a gay couple was evicted from an Airbnb rental in Texas. We banned the host as part of our zero-tolerance policy against discrimination and we realized it was time to make a strong statement about our values. And when an Airbnb employe brought up her concerns in planning her honeymoon, it struck a chord. At a time that should be about openly honoring commitment and love between two people, they had to be careful about where they chose to go for fear that they may not be welcomed, even safe. The simple act of travel for them now represented fear and discrimination.

The nearly four-minute mini-documentary shares intimate portraits of five different couples, one specifically a transgender couple who highlight specifically why we produced this film. If people knew they were a transgender couple, “would they be kind to us?” It’s an honest, authentic look at real couples and all the the normal fun and struggles they go through on a day to day basis. In our interviews, our couples are always together in the frame, speaking directly to the camera while sitting comfortably in their homes. Each of them shares their travel experiences and the challenges they have faced when thinking about travel. We premiered the film to an audience of 1,200 at the Frameline Film Festival, the largest LGBTQ film festival in the world. And then we posted it on Facebook and YouTube, shared it on our social media channels, and promoting it on our website.

Honestly, it feels a little presumptuous to dig into “success metrics” around this campaign. We certainly don’t want to claim that this one documentary “solved” the problem or changed people’s perceptions around being Transgender. But we believe highlighting the Transgender community within the LGBTQ context drives higher awareness of this often neglected group, even within the LGBTQ community itself. We also believe the answer to challenges like this lies in the power of human kindness and in the personal hospitality we see in our community. Open doors lead to more open minds, as people of different backgrounds come together over dinner tables to accept each other and welcome strangers as friends, we can look forward to creating a world of more acceptance, together. That said, here are some of the results around the film: 600,000+ views on Facebook and YouTube On Facebook, 16,000+ likes and 4,300+ shares. Shared at five times the travel industry average and received a 98% positive rating Dozens of media stories, including FastCompany, Buzzfeed, HuffingtonPost, Travel + Leisure, Brides.com, Instinct Magazine, Hello Giggles, Adweek and Adage, 1M+ impressions

This entire idea was sparked by a single conversation with one employee. It was an eye-opener and we knew that this particular travel struggle was invisible to many. We wanted to help couples tell their story and highlight the Transgender experience within the larger LGBTQ community to get the word out. We hoped that sharing the stories of a range of real couples would increase understanding of the issue on a deeply human level. The goal was to spark a conversation about rights, respect and perseverance that should be recognized regardless of sexual preference or gender association. The film was to be grounded in values, in vision, but not focus on the Airbnb brand or product. We wanted to tell THEIR story, not ours.

Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where all seven billion people can belong. As a company, anti-discrimination is part of our DNA. Travel, and the anticipation of travel, is often filled with excitement, yearning, self-discovery, connection with others, and an expanded mind, but is juxtaposed against the fear that on your journey you won’t be welcomed in strange and new surroundings, that you won’t belong. For the LGBTQ community, and even more so the Transgender community, these challenges to experiencing belonging on the road can be quite real. When a person doesn’t feel welcomed, they don’t usually feel belonging. This really hit home when an Airbnb employee was talking to her manager about her upcoming wedding. When they started talking about their honeymoon, the employee confessed her and her new wife couldn’t honeymoon just anywhere--there were some places where they wouldn’t feel welcome. The idea that any couple couldn’t be able to openly celebrate their love on their HONEYMOON really hit home and Airbnb wanted to do something to raise awareness about the issue.