Problems in the Caribbean

[flipflop104]

Hello, I'm new here so please bear with me....

 

We're going on a cruise round the Caribbean in Feb 2007 (Arcadia) and have been on one round the Caribbean in March 2005 (our only previous cruise).

 

Now we were very aware that many of the countries in the Caribbean still frown upon homosexuality, if indeed, it's not still illegal (it is in some of the places we docked).

 

The only place I felt pressured/intimidated was Jamaica because the guy was asking if I had a boyfriend (nowhere else was I asked that) and where he was and I wasn't sure what his reaction would be if I told him that she was a she, cos he was pretty pushy and I know it's illegal there still.

So I ended up saying my partner's name is Max (which it is and is also what I call her - shortened, obviously, from Maxine) which kind of kept him at bay and he laid off a bit.

But I was shocked at myself as although I'm not a "campaigner/shouting about my sexuality" kind of person I'm also NEVER usually backwards in "coming out" to new people/strangers. And I didn't know if I had to be careful in these countries or whether it would just be accepted because we are British.

How do you deal with this?

 

 

Just as a side point, we were in Kuala Lumpur this year on a stopover to Oz and had booked a double room. On arrival the hotel front desk, saw us and changed our room to twin beds. I immediately told him we had requested a double and that it WASN'T a mistake and to change it back to double which he did without question (but did look at us funny lol) and I half expected the police to turn up. I just don't get how I should be behaving in these countries where homosexuality is still illegal - I mean, I'm not snogging my missus under their noses or holding her hand in public or anything that is offensive to their culture/making it obvious that we are a couple but I reserve the right to have a double bed behind closed doors still. Or am I wrong and should I be respecting their laws in their country?

 

RANT OVER :D and soz for the long post.

[flipflop104]

Oh, I forgot to ask, am I putting myself and my gf in danger (some countries it's still death penalty/25 years inside)? Cos she's not as pushy as me and wouldn't request, for example, a double room and instead would just suggest we sleep in a single bed together.

[Schplinky]

The only place anyone seems to have noticed my partner and I was the Dutch side of St. Martin. A vendor was trying to sell me a necklace for my wife and then my girlfriend when she heard I don't have a wife. When I said I don't have anything like a gf or wife, she saw Michael and then started laughing and saying "Oh my God." It was only a snicker but it still surprised. Otherwise, we are obviulsy a couple and have always been left undisturbed.

[Treven]

While in HNL after my Atlantis cruise, I was going on a whale watching excursion. On the van over to the pier I was sitting across the isle from two women in their mid-30s. We were having a nice time chatting; then I asked the woman sitting closest to me if she & the other lady were partners? She hesitated for a minute and coldly said NO, then turned to her traveling companion and undoubtedly told her what I had asked.

 

Well, so much for my trying to be inclusive.