Granted, it’s in the best interest of a gay cruise line to show the island nation Bermuda doesn’t have a problem with its clientele stopping by to frolic in the sand, but we’ll let you be the judge: Of 401 Bermuda residents polled by Celebrity Cruises’ research firm Mindmaps, 53 percent said they supported gay ships visiting; 21 percent said they were firmly opposed.
Now let’s break it down by race so everyone can throw a shitfit: ” A breakdown of the figures shows a smaller portion of the black community 42 percent supports gay cruises than the white community, at 64 percent. A total of 29 percent of black people listed themselves as opposed to such cruises, compared to just 11 percent of white people.”
And when it comes to marriage? Support came in at 27 percent; opposition at 51 percent — and racial lines also skewed disproportionately.
How’d all this come about? Because a Celebrity Summit ship rolled into Bermuda’s shores carrying a bunch of gays a couple months ago, and, notes the Royal Gazette, “there were no protests, and a welcoming party for the visitors attracted a crowd of more than 100 people to the bar Latin in Hamilton. That was in sharp contrast to events in 2007 when a cruise company owned by US celebrity Rosie O’Donnell cancelled a trip to the Island for gay families after church groups threatened protests. The then leader of Government’s Faith Based Tourism initiative, Andre Curtis, led a vocal group of conservative Christians who opposed the trip. He said at the time: ‘We may just choose to pick them [the passengers] up by bus and bus them to our church, to different denominations, and have the pastors pray for them.'”
How about we take this to the next level?
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So the obnoxious religious-based terror has ended, but the Dark ‘n Stormys are still the same: delicious.
Mike Fourth
I am Bermudian and gay. I am ashamed to live here. Bunch of hypocrites.
BTW Andrea Curtis has been charged fraud and helping to run a ponzi scheme.
Andy
What are the figures for the US?
horus
vacationing where the anglican church has indoctrinated the simple minded? spend your money where people aren’t using god as a pretext to hate. as 4 me-NEVER
Jon
Bermuda is astonishingly beautiful (and tiny). I haven’t been back since the late ’70 though, when the schools were all “private (segregated)” and the prison was one of the most disgusting things I’d ever seen. . .no, I wasn’t a prisoner, I wasn’t there as a tourist though & saw the underbelly of “island bliss”. . .I vowed then never to return.
Fitz
Post the names of those uncle Tom fags who went there a couple of months ago. I want to make sure that I have nothing to do with any of them. Too many wonderful places to visit to bother with that pit.
Caspar
As a British dependency, I sort of assumed they’d have the same laws as the UK with regards to homophobic abuse, and the rights of the LGBT community to receive the same services as anyone else. But I guess that’s not the case. I have relatives from there so have always taken an interest in the islands – some day I hope to visit – but it’s hardly ever mentioned in the UK media.
At London Pride there was a contingent advertising ‘Gay Bermuda’, I don’t know if it was a travel firm or an official group from the island who’d come over though, but it was good to see (again, it was interesting to realise none of my friends realised the Bermuda is a British overseas territory).
the crustybastard
The Celebrity Cruise to Bermuda that parks in port for a few days was on my vacation group’s “Possible Destination” list.
But not for long, I’m sure.
Queer Supremacist
@Caspar: As a teen before I came out I went on a family trip to the Bahamas. The cabbie who took us to the hotel filled me in on the history of the island, and he said “We got a queen, but she don’t tell us what to do.”
Mother England gave up her empire before she gave up her homophobia. Sadly, the residual homophobia lingers in many of the former colonies to this day.