Expedia campaign highlights father’s journey to accepting his lesbian daughter

Today, the travel company Expedia published a video showcasing a father's journey to accepting his lesbian daughter as she prepares to marry her wife on their Wedding Day. The video is part of Expedia's new branding campaign called "Find Yours" - it asks viewers to "Find Your Understanding."
 
The story features Artie Goldstein, a retired business owner, as he travels across the country to attend his daughter Jill's wedding. He explains that while he was at first uncomfortable and disappointed to learn that Jill would be marrying a woman, Nikki, he realized that he needed to consider why marriage matters and why he should embrace his daughter's happiness and encourage her decision to celebrate the love and commitment she shares with Nikki. 
 
Artie says in the video: 
 
Coming out to the wedding from back East, I had some real apprehensions about it - what's this going to look like, two girls getting married? But you have to make a decision: Are you going to have a daughter that you are going to maintain a wonderful relationship with for the rest of your life? Or are you going to lose that child? This is a situation that I had to come to understand. Once we came out to California and saw how happy they were, all of that trepidation seemed to just go away. Walking Jill down the aisle, just looking at her - she was breathtakingly beautiful.
 
Artie's journey on the freedom to marry and accepting his daughter for who she is parallels the journeys that thousands of Americans are going through every day. More and more frequently, people like Artie are realizing that same-sex couples want to get married for many of the same reasons that different-sex couples want to get married: To publicly declare their love, to formalize their commitment, and to stand before their families, friends, and loved ones alongside the person who they want to spend the rest of their life with. 
 
Last month, Expedia announced their support for the freedom to marry by officially endorsing Washington United for Marriage, the coalition of pro-marriage organizations working to uphold the freedom to marry by approving Referendum 74 at the ballot on November 6. We applaud this latest effort to bring the stories of same-sex couples and their families to people across the country.