Olivia Travel is a

travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

company that sells cruises and resort vacations marketed towards

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

customers. It was founded by

Judy Dlugacz Judy Dlugacz is an American entrepreneur. She was one of the founders of Olivia Records. Founded in 1973, it was the first woman-owned record company. She also founded her own travel company, Olivia Travel, in 1990 after not feeling comfortable ...

in 1973 as a women's

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

Olivia Records Olivia Records is a women's music record label founded in 1973 by lesbian members of the Washington D.C. area. It was founded by Ginny Berson, Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, Judy Dlugacz, and six other women. Olivia Records sold more than one ...

. It offered its first all-woman cruise in 1990 and remains the only company in the world offering cruises catering just to lesbians. Like its parent company, Olivia takes its name from the heroine of a

pulp novel Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

Dorothy Bussy Dorothy Bussy ( Strachey; 24 July 1865 – 1 May 1960) was an English novelist and translator, close to the Bloomsbury Group. Family background and childhood Dorothy Bussy was a member of the Strachey family, one of ten children of Jane ...

who fell in love with her headmistress at a French boarding school. The company has attracted attention due to endorsements from lesbian celebrities, such as golfer Rosie Jones (who was the first professional athlete in America to endorse a gay-oriented company) tennis player

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...

and basketball player

Sheryl Swoopes Sheryl Denise Swoopes (born March 25, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA, is a three-time WNBA MVP, and was named one of the league's Top 15 Players of All Time at the 20 ...

. Entertainers who have performed on Olivia cruises include the

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part o ...

and

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and se ...

. The company was involved in mild controversy in 1998 when its attempt to buy an ad on the sitcom ''

Ellen Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena and Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004. People named Ellen include: * Ellen Adarna (born 1988), Filipino actress * Elle ...

''s anticipated "coming out" episode was rejected by

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

References

Companies based in San Francisco Transport companies established in 1973 Lesbian organizations in the United States LGBT tourism Travel and holiday companies of the United States 1973 establishments in California {{US-transport-company-stub

See also

References