Islands In A Sea Of Controversy: Caymans Ban A Gay Cruise

The Cayman Islands government has refused to let a cruise ship full of gay vacationers dock there next month, angering some travel companies and touching off calls for a boycott of the islands.

Until now, the Caymans were best known as sun-drenched Caribbean islands where coral reefs offer world-class scuba diving and where loose financial regulations have created an international tax haven.

But the government's refusal to let the chartered ship dock has prompted criticism from gay-rights groups and the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association, a 1,300-member group that includes some major U.S. airlines and cruise lines and which was discussing the incident at a meeting in London last week.

Cultural clash

The refusal to let the ship dock highlights a clash of cultures between the socially conservative Caymans, a British territory, and well-organized homosexual groups in the United States, including travel businesses that serve gay men and lesbians and that wield increasing economic clout.

"I've never seen a destination formally taking such action - being so blatantly homophobic," said David Alport, the publisher of the New York-based Out and About magazine which serves homosexual travelers and has led the call for a boycott.

"Our feeling is that the government of the Caymans needs to understand that this has no place in world tourism," said Alport.

The ship, chartered from Norwegian Cruise Line by Atlantis

Events of West Hollywood, Calif., is taking about 900 gay men on a weeklong Caribbean cruise beginning later this month. Among the four port calls scheduled was a seven-hour stop in George Town, the main port on Grand Cayman Island, on Feb. 1.

Like other cruise passengers visiting the popular port, the men were expected to shop, scuba dive and tour the 76-square-mile island. The ship, the M/S Leeward, will stop in Belize instead.

In a letter to Norwegian Cruise Line recently made public, Caymans tourism minister Thomas C. Jefferson wrote: "Careful research and prior experience has led us to conclude that we cannot count on this group to uphold the standards of appropriate behavior expected of visitors to the Cayman Islands, so we regrettably cannot offer our hospitality."

Neither the Caymans tourism authorities nor their Dallas-based public-relations agency would provide more details. As of midweek, the Caymans government had only issued a statement saying it regretted any offense and implying there was limited docking space that day.

But gay-travel specialists believe the refusal to allow the ship to dock is related to a 1987 gay cruise that called in the Caymans. That cruise was organized by Minneapolis-based RSVP, one of the biggest companies selling gay group travel in the United States.

During that cruise, hundreds of gay men disembarked in George Town, the cruise-ship port on Grand Cayman Island that is home to about 20,000 people. Some local church groups were offended by their presence and called for no more such cruises to be allowed, and some merchants reportedly closed their doors.

"The Caymans kind of flipped out," said Charlie Rounds, the president of RSVP.

Since then, most gay and lesbian cruise groups have avoided the Caymans. But at least 15 charter cruises a year specifically designated for gays or lesbians call at other ports around the Caribbean and elsewhere, usually with few problems.

"Our travelers want to relax. Do we need to take them to a place that is virulently anti-them? They don't want to get jeered at," said Rounds.

"But the political, activist part of me says `Get over it.' We should, as gay people, be able to go anywhere."

A logical place to stop

On some Caribbean itineraries, though, the Caymans are the most logical place to schedule a port call and four or more cruise ships may dock there in a single day.

Olivia Tours, which specializes in cruise and resort holidays for women, scheduled a stop at Grand Cayman for a lesbian women's cruise last spring.

The Caymans gave permission for the ship to dock, and Judy Dlugacz, president of Oakland, Calif.-based Olivia, said the port call went smoothly.

"There were no major problems. . . . There was a church group that was inquiring as to who this group was, but that was about it."

Norwegian Cruise Line, meanwhile, said the company has a longstanding relationship with the Caymans and the port remains on its regular itineraries.

"We would certainly be happy to take this ship there if we had permission, but . . . as a government, they have the right to do this," said Norwegian's public-relations director Fran Sevcik.

A growing market

Many big cruise companies regularly charter their ships to corporate, gay, lesbian and other groups for a week's cruise.

As many as 15,000 to 20,000 American travelers join gay and lesbian charter cruises each year, Alport of Out & About magazine estimates. Tens of thousands more travel independently on standard cruises.

Group-travel companies such as RSVP and Olivia also market weeklong resort holidays designed for gays and lesbians, including an upcoming gay week at a Club Med in Mexico. Other companies offer everything from gay hiking tours of Scotland and a lesbian cowgirl week in Montana to cultural tours of Italy and Russia. There are "gay-days" at theme parks, including Walt Disney World, and gay sports games to which thousands travel.

Speciality travel agencies, such as Seattle's Capitol Hill Travel, have sprung up to serve homosexual travelers. Guidebook publishers, including Fodor's, one of the biggest in the business, offer gay/lesbian travel guides. Mainstream businesses such as American Airlines have special marketing divisions aimed at gay and lesbian travelers.

Between organized tours, independent vacations and trickle-down spending, gay and lesbian travel worldwide adds up to an estimated $19 billion annually, gay-travel specialists estimate.

With the increasing mainstream acceptance of homosexual travelers, an official rebuff such as the Caymans' stands out - prompting Out & About magazine to lead the boycott.

"What do we want from the boycott? Besides retraction and reversal, we hope it increases the awareness that discrimination of any sort is unacceptable," said publisher Alport. "Although it's unfortunate that dollars - through a boycott - are needed to speak to something as basic as tolerance."

But homosexual travelers certainly still encounter intolerance as individuals, too. And there are some Caribbean destinations, such as Jamaica, that gay-travel specialists don't often recommend because of harassment (and the hetrosexual-couples-only policies of Jamaican resorts such as Sandals).

"I was walking down the street in Jamaica with my partner. We weren't holding hands, we were just walking. And we were openly harassed by passersby," said Rounds, president of RSVP. "So it's a difficult destination for 800 homosexuals to get off a ship."

Often, though, gay or lesbian travelers are welcomed or treated like anyone else.

"We've had cruises all over the world and we've had so few instances of problems," said Dlugacz of Olivia Tours.

"We had a cruise in Hawaii in December of about 700 women and in Kauai the local community arranged for the mayor to come and welcome us. She did a traditional Hawaiian welcoming dance, like they used to do in the old days. It was very beautiful."