INTERNATIONAL. The Moodie Davitt Report is celebrating Pride Month (June) with a bold and colourful homepage makeover demonstrating the company’s allyship with the LGBTQ+ community.
The Moodie Davitt Report is using ‘the website that never sleeps’ to celebrate the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning) community all around the world. Pride Month focuses on acceptance and equality and The Moodie Davitt Report is proud to be an ally.
The genesis of Pride Month and the LGBTQ+ rainbow flagPride Month was first recognised on a national level in the USA by President Bill Clinton in 1999 and 2000, writes Martin Moodie. During his term, President Barack Obama declared June LGBT (subseqeuntly LGBTQ+) Pride Month. According to the US-based National Association for State Community Services Programs, Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist/activist with a passion for linking art and social justice, designed the first multi-hued flag for the LGBT community, originally with eight rather than the present-day six colours. Its creation was a collaboration with another pivotal figure in the gay rights movement, California’s first openly gay elected official Harvey Milk, who challenged Baker to create a bold, uplifting symbol for the gay community.  Baker drew inspiration from the song Over the Rainbow (composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg) written for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and famously sung by Judy Garland. The artist described his creation as a “natural flag from the sky”.* In 1994, nearly 20 years after the symbol was created, Baker created a mile-long rainbow flag that was carried down First Avenue in Manhattan. Milk’s election subsequently attracted a torrent of hate mail, including threats on his life. He recorded a living will ten days after his election, proclaiming, “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.” On 27 November 1978, a disgruntled former supervisor assassinated Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone in their offices. In his honour, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Terminal 1 was renamed Harvey Milk Terminal 1 in 2019. Over the ensuing years, the rainbow flag and Pride Month have become universal representations of LGBTQ+ rights, diversity and human understanding.  *Sources: National Association for State Community Services Programs; San Francisco Travel |
Commenting on the makeover, The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie said: “We are delighted to unveil a spectacularly technicolour makeover of our homepage in honour of Pride Month.
“As a company, we are deeply committed to inclusion, diversity and equity. What better way to reflect that commitment than through this blazingly brilliant rainbow-coloured makeover of the travel retail community’s favourite website?
“The global travel retail community, both in terms of its stakeholders and consumer base, represents a broad spectrum of humanity,” Moodie added. “We believe, as do so many of our industry partners, that the LGBTQ+ community is an integral part of that diversity, and we are proud to reaffirm our ongoing support and commitment to inclusion.” ✈
