I’m keen to travel and cruise just about anywhere, and like you, I have something of a destination dream list.  Cruise destinations like Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad, and St. Lucia in the Caribbean are certainly of interest. Further afield, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Samoa, and Mauritius are all places I’d love to cruise.

re it is illegal to be gay are marked in the yellow, orange, and red colors, image courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Countries where it is illegal to be gay are marked in yellow, orange, and red colors, image courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Malawi was never on my travel list. However, the events that occurred in Malawi over the past few months have made me think a lot about whether or not I should travel to countries where it’s illegal to be gay. (In case you haven’t heard, a gay Malawian couple was  imprisoned for getting engaged; after massive international outcry the couple was released from prison, one of them is now trying to be straight and the other lives in fear for his life).

According to the annual ILGA* report State-sponsored Homophobia: a worldwide survey of laws prohibiting same-sex activity between consenting adults, it is currently illegal to be gay in 76 countries, “including the ‘infamous five’ which put people to death for their sexual orientation: Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen (plus some parts of Nigeria and Somalia).”

I’m not surprised to see those five on the list. But digging into their list is fascinating. Other than South Africa, I’ve always assumed we’re “criminals” everywhere in Africa. Not so. Surprisingly, being gay is not a crime in a handful of African countries, among them Benin, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Madagascar.

What should be more sobering to gay and lesbian travelers is the reminder that we are very illegal in some nearby, sexy vacation spots, as listed above. Jamaica has a particularly bad reputation with gay travelers. But other spots where gay people go have nasty laws that, if ever enforced, could land you in the proverbial brig, or worse. In Barbados homosexuality carries a life sentence.

Of course, enforcement varies around the globe. While homosexuality is legal in most of the world’s nations, that doesn’t mean it’s widely accepted. While I am comfortable holding my partner’s hand throughout our “home ports” of Seattle and Vancouver, I doubt I’d do the same in Acapulco or Shanghai—or New Orleans, for that matter–all in countries where homosexuality is legal.

The big question is really this: should we visit countries where we’re “illegal?” Check out the easy-to-read list of countries on Wikipedia.org. Then tell me what you think. Also, I’d love to hear if you’ve ever been harassed or had problems when cruising through gay-unfriendly destinations.

* The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association

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