Grenada considering ban on gay cruises, reports say

[The Straight Story]

Grenada considering ban on gay cruises, reports say

Prejudice noted before, says rights group head
Nov 28, 2007 04:30 AM
John Goddard
staff reporter

Grenada is questioning whether to allow entry to ship passengers on all-gay cruises, news reports from the Caribbean island say.

"We have not taken a policy as to whether the ships should land in Grenada or not," Tourism Minister Clarice Modeste-Curwen recently told the Grenada Advocate.

"As a government, our policy is that we do not support it (homosexuality)," the minister also told the Grenada Broadcasting Network. "But are we going to put a barrier that says in any port of entry that if somebody is gay they should be debarred from coming to this country ...? This is my question. What does the Grenadian community want of us?"

The minister did not return calls , and nobody at the prime minister's office, Grenada's embassy in Ottawa or its consulate in Toronto would speak to the issue.

Gay cruises have run into problems in the Caribbean before, said Helen Kennedy, head of the Toronto-based gay rights group Egale.

"In 1998, the Cayman Islands turned away a gay cruise," Kennedy said. "Then in 2000, the Cayman Islands were forced to implement a non-discriminatory policy because they are a British territory."

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/280583

Screw Grenanda.

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

1. Ridiculous !

[blogslut]

2. Not just wrong but a bad business move to boot

n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Is there an American evangelical group behind this?

[DCKit]

5. Not unless Bigotry has become a bona fide religion. n/t

[CottonBear]

4. I have Grenadian friends.

Many people in the Caribbean are homophobic. Not everyone, of course, but a good number are.

Grenada is very culturally conservative country. I personally found the men to be a bit chauvinistic. I'm not surprised by this news story.

Grenada is a member of the Commonwealth but I'm not sure if that will have any bearing regarding the gay cruise issue.

My Grenadian friend was not at all homophobic (he actually worked with a GLBT group when he lived here in the states and helped to organize a 5K race to raise money for an AIDS charity.

edit: Link to Grenadian news online (no mention of the story at this source.)
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/grenada/grenada.php

[dbackjon]

6. Lets invade Grenada again

Despotic Government that is ruining the environment as well.

[msongs]

7. GLBT tourists should stay away from Grenada, period. lots of better places to go nt