Should Gay Cruises Visit Homophobic Countries?

A cruise to the Bahamas benefitting Miami Beach Gay Pride this spring is once again calling attention to the appropriateness of visiting Caribbean nations that have a poor record on LGBT rights. Source Events, a company that specializes in tours for gays and lesbians, is donating proceeds to the organization from a cruise aboard the Norwegian Sky April 19-23 that will make stops in Grand Bahama, Nassau and Great Stirrup Bay. The cruise embarks two days after the second annual Pride Parade and Expo in South Beach.

Some activists have questioned whether it’s wise for Miami Beach Gay Pride to associate itself with a trip to what they call a homophobic country.

The Bahamas does not have a law banning LGBT discrimination and a series of anti-gay incidents in recent years have sparked international outrage. They include the 2004 picketing of Rosie O’Donnell’s Family Vacations cruise, the 2006 ban on screening the film "Brokeback Mountain," a 2007 police raid on a gay cruise party and the 2009 jury acquittal of a man who used the "gay panic" defense in the murder of an HIV-positive male. Representatives of Source Events and Miami Beach Gay Pride acknowledged the problems with anti-gay discrimination in the Bahamas, but defended the cruise.

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