Cayman Island Paradise, unless you’re gay

Posted by justinquincy , Aug, 2009 @ 11:27 am

The Cayman Islands are a tourist hot spot, but not if you are homosexual. Several British MPs are taking issue with the Islands new draft Constitution that deliberately leaves out protections for sexual orientation. This follows several incidents beginning in 2000 where homosexuality has came into the crosshairs of liberal European Human Rights and conservative, religious crowds in the island nation. The country decriminalized homosexuality in 2000, following pressure from Europe. In 2003, a gay tourist and his boyfriend were arrested and then released for kissing in public.

It seems like the tourist brochures for this island paradise might want to include prison cells on them. What’s troubling about this, though, is what this means for treatment of homosexuals born in the Cayman Islands. Tourists are generally “hands off” — but, with a Constitution that proclaimed the island to be , “a God-fearing country based on traditional Christian values, tolerant of other religions and beliefs,” the treatment of homosexuals on the island itself is likely terrible.

The Cayman Island’s Blog Man paints an important picture of the domestic situation:

The Cayman Islands is a jurisdiction caught between the need to progress and the desire to remain a self-proclaimed morally-righteous society – resistant to change, ignorant, and stubborn to anything remotely resembling tolerance of ideals or values that may be inconsistent with the current self-righteous indignant attitude toward outsiders.

Jurisdictions who welcome all people do not forbid “gay cruise ships” from calling at their ports. Jurisdictions who welcome all people do not have local ministers encouraging citizens to line the streets in protest of homosexuals. Jurisdictions who welcome all people do not have MOI that turn away refugees attempting to escape communist despotism.

I second this observation and I also cite the shocking treatment of the Episcopal Church following its decision to ordain gay bishops. Many developing nations worldwide with strong evangelical churches were outraged and wanted to break away. This isn’t tolerance and these incidents are not isolated. Evangelicals and others, who took advantage of the New World when it was America are now taking advantage of the New ‘New World’, third world countries around the world — what we get are nations intolerant of homosexuals and other groups, and the nations who economically support them. The problem is figuring out what kind of role nations must play in altering these developing nation’s behavior.

The British MPs are a good model.