Two men traveling aboard a gay cruise ship in Dominica were arrested by local authorities on Saturday for participating in sultry acts of homosexuality up to and including indecent exposure and "buggery," the term used for sodomy on the island. John Robert Hart, 41, and Dennis Jay Mayer, 43, were pinched by the local fuzz after someone on the dock spotted the duo going at it on the Celebrity Summit cruise ship.
According to NY Daily News, 'The two were later charged with indecent exposure and are scheduled to appear before a magistrate Thursday morning. If found guilty, they could be fined $370 each and face up to six months in jail."
While gay cruises tend not to visit conservative Caribbean countries like Jamaica or Barbados, where "anti-sodomy laws are enforced with strong backing from religious groups," Dominica isn't a problem. Not usually, anyway. Rich Campbell, president of Atlantis Events, a Southern California cruise company that organized gay vacations, says that his company will "happily return" to Dominica
"Many countries and municipalities that gay men visit and live in have antiquated laws on their books," he said on Wednesday, worrisomely adding, "These statutes don't pose a concern to us in planning a tourist visit."
One person who's tickled pink about the gay men's arrest? Loud critic of homosexuality, Randy Rodney, pastor of Dominica’s Trinity Baptist Church, who breathlessly said, "I am very pleased that the police were called in and have arrested the people in question. I have warned about gay tourism and its implications for Dominica."
In 1998 and 2010, the Cayman Islands turned away ships carrying gay passengers. To find out if your getaway destination is gay-friendly or not, visit the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), a trade association for the LGBT travel industry.