If you’re already sick of winter and looking for nice warm destinations to sail to melt your worries away, then there are some things that you should be mindful of, especially if you’re LGBT.  Sadly enough, there are still anti-gay vacation spots filled with bigotry that come with steep penalties that you should keep in mind before buying that hot swimsuit. Here is some of the penalties given by some of the more popular vacation spots:

Barbados: (Life sentence)

Antigua and Barbuda: (15 years in prison)

Dominica: (10 years in prison)

Grenada: (Male: illegal and 10 year prison sentence. Female: legal)

Jamaica: (Male: illegal and 10 year sentence to hard labor. Female: legal)

Saint Kitts and Nevis: (Male: illegal and 10 year sentence. Female: legal)

Saint Lucia: (Male: illegal and a fine and/or 10 year sentence. Female: legal)

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: (Fine and/or 10 years)

Trinidad and Tobago: (25 years prison sentence)

Sad isn’t it. Especially the hypocrisy and misogyny in some of these places where it’s okay for a a woman to commit a homosexual act but the men receive a steep penalty. And it has these sexist undertones that women are only sexual beings deeply disturbs me. 

Now of course there are still tropical cruise destinations that have gay friendly environment allowing you to fully enjoy your vacation. A large travel company, Frommers.com, points out that many Islands in the Caribbean like Puerto Rico and Coasta Rico are welcoming towards LGBT:

“The most gay-friendly Caribbean islands are the U.S. possessions, most notably San Juan, which is hailed as the ’Gay Capital of the Caribbean’ and offers gay guesthouses, nightclubs, bars and dance clubs”

Now Director of Oasis Hotels, Teri Minor, one of the most popular Cancun resorts wants to reassure potential customers of the accepting and welcoming environment:

“To make this the perfect setting, we created a steering committee from industry leaders from various airlines, wholesale operators and travel agencies, It was determined by these well-seasoned travelers that Oasis Sens was already perfect for the LGBT community.”

“All the staff at Oasis Sens have volunteered and want to support this concept and the lifestyle, They have undergone training by Carma Productions and are ready to greet all guests with equality and special attention.”

So always make sure to do the research of any destination you go to for yourself, regardless of their reputation. Find out the rate of reported hate crimes and any barbaric/archaic anti-gay laws they may still have. Make sure to always have valid and up to date self identification. And let people know where you’re going as well as how long you will be there and what they should do if in the event something went wrong and you need help. And know who you need to contact and who the embassy officials are if you need assistance.