Gay cruise banned from the Cayman Islands

From BBC

The government of the British-territory of the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean has refused permission for a cruise liner carrying hundreds of homosexual holidaymakers to dock there.

The authorities claimed there was no guarantee that, as they put it, the group would uphold appropriate standards of behaviour.

The decision has provoked outrage from civil rights and gay groups in the United States, from where the ship is due to depart later this month.

The vessel, belonging to the Norwegian Cruise Line, will now visit Belize instead of the Cayman Islands.

Posted Wednesday, 7 January, 1998.

No let up from Cayman ministers over gay cruise

From Cayman News Service

(CNS): Church representatives are showing no signs of softening in their attitude towards gay tourism and remain opposed to the scheduled visit of Atlantis Gay Cruise Lines later this month carrying more than 3000 passengers. Pastor Bob Thompson, the chair of the Cayman Ministers Association, has said that the organisation had raised its objections to the ship calling to Cayman with the premier. On each occasion that a ship carrying passengers from the gay community has docked in Cayman the association has objected, and the minister said the position had not changed.

“The CMA does not support the permission for a gay cruise to come to our shores. Our motto is he hath founded it upon the seas’ and believe that should still direct our decisions,” he said when he spoke to News 27 yesterday about the ship due to come to Cayman on 21 January.

In the past, the ministers have staged demonstrations against the gay cruise lines including Cayman on their itinerary, making controversial headlines around the world. Cayman has found itself facing criticisms from gay and human rights organisations about the position the local church takes towards gay visitors.

Posted Fri, 8 January, 2010

Another ‘Gay” Cruise will be stopping in Cayman Oct/Nov

iNews Cayman headline posted Wednesday June 25, 2014

To read the whole article go to: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/another-gay-cruise-will-be-stopping-in-cayman-octnov/

 

I will be very interested whether there will be any move towards protests over the announcement that another cruise ship carrying lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) passengers is scheduled to dock here at the end of October. Or has the passage of time softened the anger?

When I told my wife, Joan, about it she immediately shrugged and said, “so what?” It is no big deal to her and it wasn’t even back in 2010 or even 1998.

This latest cruise is being organised by the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance or NGAAA aimed specifically at LGBT athletes, partners, and those who work in and around athletics.

“The inaugural LGBT Athletes At Sea: the 2014 Halloween Party & Cruise from Oct. 26-Nov. 2, will take place aboard the Navigator of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean International cruise vessel according to James Williamson, a NAGAAA assistant commissioner and the Gay Softball World Series athletic director.”

The publicity didn’t show us in a very good light generally in the publicized public opinion.

With the current increasing number of same-sex marriages in the United States and the public opinion showing majority support for it that is being solidified, I will be interested in what stance the Cayman Islands Ministers Association will take about this latest one.

The problem I have with a public protest that is sure now to be even more widely ill received by the world, is it encourages the ones being protested about to make their own form of protest against the protesters. We would surely see their visible affections for one another even more exaggerated.

I hope the cruise ship’s arrival will be met with the same interest or disinterest as with any other tourist ship arriving at our shores.