Dominica News Online is reporting that the men arrested yesterday on an Atlantis cruise ship docked in a Dominican port have pleaded guilty to indecent exposure in a Magistrate’s Court in Roseau, the capital of the small Caribbean island nation:
Two cruise tourist from California pleaded guilty of indecent exposure when they appeared in a Roseau Magistrate’s court on Thursday.
They were charged for reportedly having sex on a cruise ship, Celebrity X Cruises, docked on the Roseau Bayfront.
John Robert Hart,41 and Dennis Jay Mayer 43 were both fined EC $2,400 [about US $890].
The fines are to be paid immediately failing which they will each have to spend two months in jail.
Image by Nightstallion
Polyboy
Paying off backwaters. Why in the hell aren’t these places being boycotted?
Callum
Atlantis needs to re-think their itinerary.
They go to too many places that are homophobic or homo hating and Atlantis also fails to inform their paying clients of the local situation. If Atlantis can book an entire ship then Atlantis can and should designate only Homo Safe or Homo Loving ports of call. I suspect Atlantis also needs to take good care of the two men that were arrested on board the ship. I would be interested in knowing why the Captain of the ship allowed the foreign police to board his ship?
Russell Langley
Gay, straight or in between intimacy should be in private. I don’t want to see a straight couple having sex it’s no different reversed. These men are in their forties as am I- if we were 20 years younger I would chalk it up to immaturity- this though in my opinion was just irresponsible and does not help our cause to be treated equal. Boys…. You should go on a national stage and apologize and try to repair the image you have given to “all” of us now. Thanks a lot (rolling my eyes)!
Eric
Boycott.
FunMe
Atlantis Cruises needs to be sued for not protecting its customers!
And Rich Campbell STILL wants to go back to Dominica. What the heck is wrong with him! Time to BOYCOTT ATLANTIS for his insensitivity and worse!
Todd
Atlantis did NO HOMEWORK on Dominica before booking this itinerary. If you simply do a Google search for “DOMINICA GAY”, you get Wikipedia page with the following warning…
” LGBT rights in Dominica: Article 15 punishes anal sex (regardless of whether with men or women) with a prison sentence of up to 10 years, or in some cases can lead to internment in a mental asylum. Article 16 states the punishment for attempted anal sex is imprisonment of up to 4 years.”
NOT EXACTLY A “GAY FRIENDLY” DESTINATION RICH!! 10 YEARS IN PRISON!! or even internment in a mental asylum!! REALLY!!?
If you are going to send a boat full of gay guys to a nasty homophobic place like this, at least give everyone on board a very serious warning about the local laws, Better yet, DON’T book cruises to places where your guests might get LOCKED UP FOR A FRIGGIN DECADE!!!!!
Very pissed right now and reconsidering the two upcoming Atlantis trips I’m booked on!
I would hope Atlantis will at the very least cover their legal fees and fines and refund their cruise.
John
@Russell Langley: What details do you have that rest of us lack?
Tom in Lazybrook
FYI, Rich Campbell is planning on sending 2000 Gay people onto the streets of St Petersburg RUSSIA this summer on his Baltic Cruise.
1) St Peterburg has just passed a draconian bill to strip all Gay persons in St Pete of freedom of assembly, association, petition, protest, speech, and press.
2) Violence against LGBT persons in Russia is common. Recently two police officers invaded a Gay bar, beat the hell out of random patrons then left. No arrests were made. Foreign Gays are assaulted in St Petersburg.
3) In response to the rising tide of violence and discrimination, the LGBT community in St Petersburg has publically asked tourists to stay away.
4) The Canadian Government has publically issued an official travel warning regarding travel by Gay persons to St Petersburg Russia.
In spite of this, Atlantis still wants to send 2000 Gay men onto the streets of St Petersburg this summer. Good grief.
RJM
What are the details of this case? Were they in their room with curtains closed or were they on their balcony banging each other for the town square to see? I need details before completely making judgement
NYCGuy85
When you come into a foreign land you should know basic customs and laws (as stupid as they may be)They wanted to get their knocks off in public view now pay the price. As I recall indecent exposure is also illegal in all 50 states.
Spike
@RJM: Per a previous post on topic:
“Some eyewitnesses claim to have seen what they described as sexual activity taking place on the ship said to be carrying only male cruise passengers. One hair braider told DNO that she was “mentally disturbed, [this is the] first time I am seeing that in my life.”
“It’s wrong, it’s dirty. They can’t do that so publicly. They need to respect us and our land,” another angry onlooker said.”
I’m guessing they were doing it on the balcony of the cabin and the hair braider was pissed that everyone getting off the ship had the mandatory gay buzz cut. Need I mention, I thought that Bo Derek hair braid look went out in 1980.
Kev C
It sounds like a police trap to me. Gay Atlantis cruise is coming to port, send someone to look for violators and fine them. The fine for indecent exposure is $370 each, according to another source. $890 must be the gay extortion charge.
the other Greg
Dominica’s flag sure looks GAY.
Reminds me of the Big Bang Theory and Sheldon’s Fun with Flags show on “vexillology” – bazinga!
Either a gay man designed that flag, or that’s a gay parrot. Or both.
MEJ
@Kev C:
Yep, extortion plain and simple. Maybe Atlantis’ way of keeping the locals happy–arrest a few of us, get some quick cash, and we’ll come back next time.
Kirk
Keep it private and you won’t have problems. As a 40 year old gay man, gay men never cease to amaze me. Do it in public in a hostile place, then whine about the consequences.
Sam
I’m not sure whining is the correct term as you’re assuming the cruise informed them they were in hostile territory. This is the same cruise line president that said they would happily return to Dominca again. It doesn’t sound like the most responsible type of cruiseline.
Texndoc
I’m pretty sure I just read a release from the cruise line saying they were screwing in plain sight of even fellow gay passengers on the ship WHO COMPLAINED to the cruise ship authorities as well. Sounds like they were putting on a show.
Jesus Christ some of you. Always with the protest signs ready to march before facts are known.
B
No. 15 · Kirk wrote, “Keep it private and you won’t have problems. As a 40 year old gay man, gay men never cease to amaze me. Do it in public in a hostile place, then whine about the consequences.”
It’s worth pointing out the first article QUEERTY linked to stated, “The court heard that the men were seen on the balcony of the cruise ship, Celebrity X Cruises, naked, fondling each other.” One said he was slightly undressed on his balcony but was not involved. The other said that they were naked on a balcony but not having sex. They pleaded guilty to indecent exposure.
It seems that “it” was never done – the initial reports were misleading.
PS
I’ll avoid any gay excursion trips to these types of places, not that every place in the USA is gay friendly.
Just have to keep in mind that their sexuality wasn’t the big issue here. There were undoubtedly hundreds of gay couples shopping at that port on that day. Not all of them were doing activities that could get you arrested.
Christopher Banks
Atlantis have now responded on their Facebook page (see below). I still think the original argument about how dumb it is for a gay cruise liner to visit destinations where homosexuality is illegal stands.
*****
Please accept my apology for the late post, we have been at sea for the past 18 hours with limited internet access.
We appreciate the comments on this board regarding the incident in Dominica yesterday, but would sincerely ask that most of you get the facts correct before condemning Atlantis or Dominica for what happened. Here are the facts:
Yesterday morning around 9:30 am two of our guests were seen engaging in a sexual act outdoors on their balcony in full public view of the port and town. Not only did many of the residents witness the act, several of our guests saw this incident as well. The local authorities responded to a complaint by several residents. The two gentlemen were arrested on a misdemeanor charge of public indecency and detained overnight. They appeared in front of the local magistrate this morning, paid a small fine, and were released in full.
Please understand that the complaint and subsequent arrests had nothing to do with the guests’ sexual orientation, nor was any “anti-gay” law invoked. These guests were engaged in behavior that is inappropriate in any port of call, or major city for that matter.
The guests were never left on their own. We had both representatives from Atlantis and Celebrity cruises with them at all times during their ordeal and had our local representatives look after them last night. Furthermore, we worked closely with the US Embassy in Barbados to assure that their safety was always being monitored.
Atlantis had 2000 guests in port yesterday in Dominica and most of them had an outstanding time visiting the country. Celebrity Cruises has been extremely supportive, working with Atlantis to insure these guests’ safety and security despite their detention in Dominica. We commend them for their unwavering support through this incident.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rich Campbell
President, Atlantis Events, Inc.
Danny
We should still turn Dominica into a parking lot – 70,000 residents violating the human rights of hundreds of million of people. Level it into a dirt pile for the greater good. If an island was violating the human rights of Chinese people do you think China would let it remain, and there are way more gay people and their straight relatives than Chinese on the planet. Why do they get to violate human rights and get away with it ? People put up with too much b.s. these days from governments that they don’t have to put up with.
Kev C
Someone should rent a small airplane and drop gay erotica on Dominica during it’s lewd carnival festival.
Mrs. Robinson
With 4 kids, I’m stuck taking Disney cruises. Nothing like this happens aboard those cruises, mainly because parents are too damn tired & frazzled to even think about sex much less do anything.
Michael
Being gay doesn’t excuse you from being a dumbass. This isn’t a gay issue. This is two idiots caught doing something illegal. Pay the fine and walk away. Simple as that. Making this an issue lessens the worth of the real fight for our community.
JohnAGJ
I would agree that Atlantis should re-think going to known islands known to be hostile to gays, as should passengers before they sign aboard a cruise. I certainly wouldn’t want to give my hard-earned dollars to anti-gay nutjobs in places like Dominica. However, exposing yourself publically as these men did is usually illegal in most ports-of-call regardless of sexual orientation. Use some common sense before going on a cruise and while you are aboard.
Fawkes
@JohnAGJ: It’s nice to see we have so many self-loathing apologists for homophobes such as yourself. If we had a president who really cared about us, that little nothing of a country would be invaded and those two men rescued from those barbarians.
david
Until Atlantis Cruises CEO, Rich Campbell, the ship’s captain and the three other ship officials present during the arrest of these two men aboard their ship make personal apologies to the men, the GLBT community should BOYCOTT Atlantis Cruises.
Upon the arrest of the two men aboard their ship by Dominica police, the assistant captain told the men that, “At this time, we are going to eject you from the ship. We have zero tolerance toward your behavior,” The assistant captain and the other three cruise ship officials that were present at the time of the arrest had NO proof that these two men were guilty of ANY crime. What happened to being innocent until being proven guilty?
Rich Campbell, CEO of Atlantis Cruises made the following comments about the arrests, “The guests’ actions were UNFORTUNATE but MINOR in this case and have NO bearing on our overall guest experience,” he said via email. He further stated, “Many countries and municipalities that gay men visit and live in have antiquated laws on their books,” he said. “These statutes don’t pose a concern to us in planning a tourist visit.” He also said that the company would “happily return” to Dominica. Really??!!
In a statement posted from Atlantis Cruise Lines, Rich Campbell further stated, “We appreciate the comments on this board regarding the incident in Dominica yesterday, but would sincerely ask that most of you get the facts correct before condemning Atlantis or Dominica for what happened”. “Please understand that the complaint and subsequent arrests had nothing to do with the guests’ sexual orientation, nor was any “anti-gay” law invoked. These guests were engaged in behavior that is inappropriate in any port of call or major city for that matter.”
So, the arrests had nothing to do with the two men being gay? Mayer, one of the men arrested, a retired deputy sheriff, spoke to the AP in San Juan, where he and his partner of 17 years, John Robert Hart, arrived after being released following their guilty plea to indecent exposure. “The total experience was horrendous,” he said. “They told us that they did not like us, that they did not like gay people.” Mayer went on to say, “After police took pictures and obtained fingerprints, a high-ranking officer began a nearly four-hour interrogation.”He said: ‘You’re being arrested for being gay. We’re arresting you for the crime of buggery,'” Mayer said. “He said that other people said that we were engaging in homosexual sex. He repeated that several times. I told him I didn’t know why they would say that. I wasn’t doing that.”
During the interrogation, the police official threatened to take them to a clinic and have them medically examined for proof of homosexual activity, Mayer said. “He said, you know, we’re looking for specific things, fluids, bruising, things of that nature,” Mayer said. “The treatment was inhumane,” Mayer said. “We were detained for approximately 26 hours, and 19 of those locked in a cement cell, which had no running water, no toilet, no lights. It stunk of feces and urine. It was infested with cockroaches, ants and bugs.”
Mayer said police brought in government officials to look at them. “They paraded many people by to look in on us as if we were some type of animal, which was quite humiliating,” he said. “People got great joy in the pleasure of taunting us.”
So, this has nothing to do with the two men being gay?? Rich Campbell, CEO of Atlantis Cruises, you need to get YOUR facts straight!! Then talk to us.
Eddie
@the other Greg: And yours seems like a bad taste towel with a patch.
Eddie
@Danny: Stop writting silly things and go make a caftan to you.
Nation
There were more hate crimes in West Hollywood over a six month period.. But I guess we aren’t safe anywhere right? Maybe if I was fucking on a balcony in full view, I’d take responsibility for it instead starting this firestorm in the already broken gay community.
Guess we should all just stop traveling to all places that MIGHT be dangerous… especially if you’re an idiot… Sounds like we are resigning to be a second class citizen.
Nothing like bring us back a decade in gay rights.. all from fucking in public…
Sergey
1. I was onboard that cruise. Dominica is a fantastic place with volcano, spring falls, mountain lakes, black sand beaches. The country is poor but beautifill and very sorted among all these caribbien islands with standart attractions such as duty free, rum, white beach… and nothing else. And people are very friendly!!!! Yes they have some laws against gays, but they don’t use them intill the one provocate. These 2 IDIOTS – MEN – were FUCKING at the glass balcony 100 m from the big crowd, welcoming the ship… Women, kids…!!!! I wonder if this 2 guys decide to fuck in the centre of TimesSquare and would be prisoned, you will boycott NYC?
2. I am Russian and spend time between Moscow and SanktPeterbourg. Everything is not dramatically. The gay clubs, bars, saunas are open and nobody in a prison. Yes the new city lay is stupid but it doesn’t work practically. Is more about propaganda to receive votes of most conservative part of the citizens. LGBT leaders in SPB just need to show the struggle for their rights to get money support from the west. This is very close to work all of these American institutes or Funds for Democracy around the world. They need to find evil in all the countries to get financing from the Government. My gay friends were much free with Saddam, now guys can be killed just for the wearing tight jeans! Does anybody remember about Saddam’s weapon with which he was going to destroy the world? What’s happened with Egypt? Of coz it’s not a favorite destination for American tourists ad too far, but the gays from Europe now afraid to go their coz radical Muslims run the country now. Syria on the way… Need more ideas what to boycott?
Queen
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