Someone once asked me, "Should you tell exchangers before-hand if you belong to [minority group X]?" The short answer to this is no.
All I care about in a swap partner is whether s/he is trustworthy, reliable and responsible. Exchangers who would make an assumption about their swap partner's character based on an immutable personal characteristic like race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability or any of the other categories to which a swapper might belong deserves to be (pleasantly) surprised after getting to the exchange home and looking at the swapper's family portrait.
In the dozens of swaps I have done I have seen many photos of exchangers around their homes. From these pictures I have surmised that most American home exchangers are of Western European descent. In other words, the vast majority of people with whom I have exchanged have pale skin.
The photographic evidence also showed me a preponderance of heterosexual couples. On occasion I have noticed that one or both of the exchangers is of African or Asian descent, or that they are gay or have a disability or that some other factor distinguishes them demographically from the majority of exchangers. This is positive because the more clever home exchangers let others know about our community so as to broaden it. When our community has more diversity it becomes easier for more and more families to picture themselves swapping. And that means more vacations for you and for me.
Those of us who do belong to groups which face discrimination from broader society learn to tolerate it to some extent. We often expect bigoted attitudes. Yet we do not tolerate users who leave a swap home in poor condition or who arbitrarily break their swap commitments. To do so would make our exchange community crumble in acrimony and mistrust. Similarly, there must be no place in our community for bigots. Racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination will drive good exchangers from our ranks as surely as coming home to find dirty dishes in the sink. Mutual respect is a crucial part of home exchange. If any swappers reading this notice the slightest bit of discrimination or negativity directed towards them based on some demographic factor I urge you to notify your swap club owner immediately. This is the only way for our community to grow and thrive.
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