Tuesday 14th February, 2006 Posted: 14:13 CIT (19:13 GMT) > Comment on this story
A little more than two–thirds of respondents to the latest Caymanian Compass online poll said the Cayman Islands should not turn away self–promoting gay cruise ships.
Of the 481 votes in the poll, 322 (66.9 per cent) of respondents said the gay cruise ships should not be turned away, while 149 respondents (31 per cent) said they should be turned away.
Ten respondents (2.1 per cent) said they did not know.
The poll was run for two weeks starting the day after the Navigator of the Seas cruise ship paid a visit to Cayman with 3,200 homosexual men and women on a cruise that was billed “The Largest Gay Cruise in History II”.
Despite very vocal opposition to allowing gay cruise ships here by a segment of Cayman society, the poll appeared to indicate those opposed make up a decided minority of the public.
The respondents’ comments came mostly from those who said the gay cruisers should not be turned away. Many pointed to the hypocrisy of the protesters.
“How hypocritical,” said one respondent. “This island is notorious for turning a blind eye to adultery and the “wives and girlfriends Caribbean way” and yet it protests against gay people. How embarrassing this is to us as a nation.”
Another respondent said: “What a double standard signal we would be sending to the world. By turning them away, we are saying we rule this country by the Bible – which is great – however, if we recall the Bible also states that divorce should be granted only on infidelity or death.”
“We are also anti–gambling,” said another person. “Would we turn away a cruise ship promoted as the largest gambling cruise ever? I suspect not.”
Other responses included “Discrimination of any kind can never be the Christian way”; Any local Christians that are against these ships are hypocrites. Jesus would have welcomed them with open arms,” and; “Let’s turn away Christian hypocrites instead.”
Other respondents noted the economic clout of the gay cruisers.
“They have some of the deepest pockets for spending power,” said one person. “We are trying to bill ourselves as a world class travel destination. Why would we turn away a demographic base that reaches the top spending dollars?”
Other responses included: “They bring in money and are usually quiet and very mannerly”; Tourism is tourism no matter the sexual preferences”; “Too late. We’ve lost the pink dollar and all that money goes to other, less homophobic, islands”, and; “As long as the passengers act properly while here, they should be welcomed to this island, one of the friendliest in the Caribbean.”
Many do not see gay people as threats.
“Being gay is not contagious,” said one person.
“Why should we abolish these people because of the views of a few self–righteous people? A homophobe is a straight person who is scared they might have gay tendencies.”
Others stressed the need for tolerance.
“We are all human beings who deserve equality in all areas of life. We need to remember there is a difference between the terms ‘like’ and ‘respect’. Just because you do not like a particular act does not mean you have to disrespect that individual,” said one respondent.
“It’s about time this country stops its hypocritical, narrow–minded hate mongering. Live and let live,” said another respondent.
Still, some respondents remained against the gay cruises.
“Why should we accept anyone who wants to flaunt their lack of respect for a country,” said one person.
“To be non–discriminating to all people is one thing, but to actually welcome people into your home so to speak that have values other than the ones you have had for centuries is quite different,” said another respondent.
“No one should push in others’ faces anything that need not be there. We do not need/care to know if they are gay, lesbian or Martian,” said yet another person.
“We have done well so far,” said someone else. “Why cause strife in our Island now?”
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