Bermuda’s Government Recently Became The First Country In The World To Revoke Marriage Equality, Travelers Are Calling A Boycott Of The Caribbean Island, Tourism Experts Are Asking For Support

by Heather Cassell

[UPDATE – June 6, 2018: Bermuda’s Supreme Court re-legalized marriage equality June 6, 2018]

Travelers and the island’s tourism industry reacted swiftly to Bermuda’s repeal of same-sex marriage last week.

Britain’s oldest territory became the first to legalize and then reverse same-sex marriage in under a year with Governor John Rankin signing the Domestic Partnership Act 2017 February 7.

The new law bars same-sex couples from marrying, but legally recognizes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex couples’ domestic partnerships.

He said the new law reflected opposition to same-sex marriage among voters. In 2016, Bermudians voted against same-sex marriage in a referendum.

A majority of the island’s 60,000 residents opposed same-sex marriage.

Last May, the island’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality allowing same-sex couples to marry.

Bermudian same-sex couples married during the nine months marriage was legal on the island marriages will continue to be recognized, the Bermuda government said in a statement.

The act was controversial and recently debated in Britain’s Parliament, but ultimately legislatures decided not to meddle in Commonwealth affairs to allow British territories to maintain autonomy.

British Member of Parliament and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson also had the opportunity to not allow Bermuda’s law to go into effect, he could have vetoed the signing of the bill, but he held the parliamentary line.

Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords Baroness Barker ushered harsh criticism for Boris.

“Boris Johnson has let down LGBT citizens not just in Bermuda but across the whole Commonwealth,” she told Pink News. “The UK should be helping the Commonwealth to achieve peace and prosperity, not recreating the worst of colonialism.”

Baroness Barker was referring to Britain’s colonial era anti-sodomy laws, many of which remain on the books in 53 countries that make up the UK’s Commonwealth.

Big Blow

Bermuda’s tourism industry is bracing for a huge blow after being on an upward swing following a decade of dropping off travelers’ radar and work to attract them to the Atlantic archipelago again.

Bracing for the blow the tourism authority, an independent nongovernmental agency, publicly lobbied against the ban and issuing a warning.

The island’s tourism recently bureau boasted that it came off a record year in tourism citing some 692,947 visitors traveled to the island, the largest in recorded history dating to 1995, reported the Times. That was a 7 percent increase from 2016. A majority of visitors were from North America, reported the Gazette.

The number of visitors was partially boosted by the America’s Cup yacht race, which took place last May and June, coupled with a multiyear strategy to increase tourism to the island.

However, that gain could all vanish in an instant, as Kevin Dallas, chief executive officer of the Bermuda Tourism Authority, warned in a letter to Bermuda’s government December 12, 2017, a week following the introduction of the legislation.

Seeing the global “ominous headlines” after the introduction of the act, Kevin told the officials that it signaled the “hazards ahead,” citing the economic losses of North Carolina and Indiana following anti-gay legislation was passed in the American states.

Our research indicates many companies, consumers, and travelers, including the overwhelming majority of the younger visitors powering Bermuda’s growth, care about this issue,” Kevin wrote.

He urged the government to heed the headlines and the examples or it would “cause us serious reputational damage” that he saw as an “unnecessary threat to the success of our tourism industry.”

“Damaging enough to derail the seven consecutive quarters of growth the Bermuda tourism industry has enjoyed dating back to January 2016,” Kevin wrote.

Darren Burn, founder and managing director of Out Of Office, a luxury gay travel agency in the UK, agreed with Kevin.

“Bermuda will have a backlash. They will lose business as a result of this,” he told the Independent.

Not just with LGBTQI travelers, he echoed Kevin.

“There are a lot of straight people who believe in equality and make purchasing decisions based on this,” he said calling on Bermuda to “revisit the ban.”

The value of the global LGBTQI travel market alone is more than $211 billion, according to UK-based LGBT travel marketing and consulting firm Out Now.

“There are so many couples that want to get married abroad, and countries like French Polynesia make them very welcome,” said Darren.

The new law halted same-sex weddings aboard cruise ships registered in Bermuda worldwide.

Quitting Bermuda

LGBTQI travelers quickly responded with online boycott campaigns and cancellations of trips like a scorned lover upon Wednesday’s signing of the act into law.

LGBTQI travelers and their friends stated on social media that they canceled their trips to Bermuda and travel agencies and cruise companies registered in Bermuda saw cancellations of vacations and weddings.

Social media protests, #boycottbermuda and #neverbermuda campaigns quickly circulated on Twitter and cries for boycotts were posted on Bermuda Tourism Authority’s Facebook page.

Christine Dinsmore posted on island’s tourism Facebook page with a link to the Human Rights Campaign’s story about Bermuda stripping same-sex couples of the right to marry, “Boycott Bermuda! Sad because I loved vacationing there.”

HRC is a Washington, DC-based LGBTQI rights organization.

One unidentified poster to the #neverbermuda campaign posted that they canceled their trip along with 11 friends scheduled for March and were now traveling to LGBTQI-welcoming Florida Keys, reported the Royal Gazette.

“Encouraging all of our wealthy friends to do the same,” the poster wrote. “Bermuda is obviously a bigoted country that doesn’t deserve our money.”

Other LGBTQI travelers echoed cancelation of trips while other regular travelers to Bermuda posted on social media that they wouldn’t plan future trips until the repeal was reversed.

Lori Vienneau agreed posting on the island’s tourism Facebook page, “Domestic partnerships are NOT the same as legal marriages. Bermuda has made marriage between two adults of the same sex illegal. Until they reverse this bigoted decision, I will not spend one more dime in that country. I hope its tourism dries up, completely.”

Another unidentified poster wrote to #neverbermuda campaign that they used to “love coming to visit your beautiful country.”

“The beauty ends with your terrain,” they wrote.

Travel agents and cruise lines immediately reported cancellations of trips. One British luxury gay travel specialist describing it as “disastrous” to the Independent.

“It’s disastrous, a backward step,” said Darren. “They’re taking a lot of money from cruise lines.”

New York-based luxury travel company Ovation Vacations’ President Jack S. Ezon told the Times that his agency already had nearly 5 percent of the company’s reservations to Bermuda canceled and not just by LGBTQI travelers. The cancelations were by friends of LGBTQI people who “feel they do not want to support an economy that is, in one person’s words, ‘backward,’” Jack wrote in an email to the newspaper.

The timing for Bermuda isn’t good, he pointed out, Bermuda, which is seen as a last-minute getaway, is May.

Tourism site Bermuda.com also reported cancellations, reported the Gazette. One traveler specifically cited the reversal of marriage equality for the reason for their cancellation.

“Won’t be coming back. This move is calculated to spread hate and to force people to conform to one set of religious beliefs. Why would I take my hard-earned money to visit an area so repressive? Easy answer. I won’t,” the unidentified traveler wrote.

Darren called for P&O Cruises, which is for the British market, and Cunard to consider moving the location of their ships’ registration out of Bermuda to a more LGBTQI-friendly location.

“It would send a very powerful message that equality cannot be repealed,” he said. “They need to take this seriously. There are plenty of other cruise ships out there that do allow same-sex weddings.”

LGBTQI organizations also spoke out against Bermuda taking away same-sex marriage.

“Bermuda just earned the shameful recognition of becoming the first national territory to strip away marriage from loving and committed LGBTQ couples,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and chief executive officer of GLAAD, an LGBTQI advocacy organization, in a statement.

Sarah said the global community stands with LGBTQI couples and their children against the unjust law and will continue to so to rectify it.

“Love can never be rolled back,” she said.

Representatives of Bermudian LGBTQI organization, OutBermuda, thanked supporters from around the world and agreed in a statement posted to the island’s tourism authorities Facebook page.

“While we are disappointed; we are not powerless,” the statement said. 

Wedding Bliss

Before the act was signed into law, it was wedding bliss for Bermuda, especially for the cruise companies, which about 10 percent of the Cruise Lines International Association’s memberships are registered in island territory. That figure accounts for 13 percent of passenger capacity, the cruise trade organization told the Times.

The island’s tourism industry, especially cruise ships, eagerly prepared to perform same-sex marriages following the Supreme Court’s ruling in May.

Three major cruise lines – Cunard, P&O Cruises, and Princess – are part of Carnival Corporation group of cruise lines.

By August 1, luxury cruise line Cunard announced its first same-sex wedding and welcomed same-sex couples to tie the knot on one of three of the cruise company’s ship’s with its Wedding at Sea package.

“Cunard is proud to become among the first cruise lines to offer same-sex marriages at sea,” Josh Leibowitz, senior vice president, Cunard North America, said in the August 1 news release. “Cunard has brought people together through travel for over 175 years, and we’re proud to mark another milestone in our company’s history as we welcome our first gay marriage booking and many other marriages to come.”

The cruise line boasted its pride to be one of the first British cruise lines to conduct same-sex wedding ceremonies at sea and that it married more than 250 couples since it began offering weddings five years ago.

The wedding happened in January.

The ship has now reverted to offering commitment ceremonies featuring a straight couple on its website.

The cruise line’s sister company P&O Cruises hosted three same-sex wedding ceremonies, reported Pink News.

“We were delighted by this decision as we have wanted to offer same-sex ceremonies for many years,” a spokesperson for the cruise liner told Pink News.

Loopholes And Workarounds

Of the 17 ships in its fleet, Princess has 13 ships registered in Bermuda and began offering same-sex weddings aboard them after the law changed last year.

“We are very unhappy about this decision and we do not underestimate the disappointment this will cause those guests who have planned their weddings,” said a spokesperson from Carnival UK following the act being signed into law.

The cruise lines were waiting to receive more information about going forward with same-sex weddings already planned.

So far, they know that two weddings previously approved by Bermuda that are planned for March aboard Princess will go ahead as scheduled. However, another two same-sex couples with plans to marry aboard the ship later in the year will be offered a refund if they wish to cancel, according to media reports.

“Because Princess had not yet formally launched a same-sex wedding program we had only a few couples with bookings,” wrote Negin Kamali, a spokeswoman for Princess, in an email.

Cunard’s couple who planned to marry next fall on a ship decided to wed before sailing, the company’s spokeswoman told the Times.

“Having been delighted and wholly supportive of the Bermuda government’s change in law last May, which allowed us to conduct same-sex marriages on board our ships, we are disappointed with this outcome,” said a representative of Cunard in a statement.

P&O Cruises already issued refunds to the same-sex couples who paid for a wedding ceremony aboard upcoming sailings, reported Verdict.

“Couples who had booked ceremonies have of course been refunded,” a spokesperson for P&O Cruises told the British media outlet. “We are very disappointed by this ruling.”

“We would still love to welcome couples on board though as planned,” a Carnival UK spokesperson told the media.

“Whilst we are unable to hold the legal ceremony we can still offer a Commitment Ceremony to celebrate their partnership or a renewal of vows ceremony, both of which will be officiated by the captain or a senior officer,” the spokesperson said.

“What we know is that both the cruise industry and LGBTQ cruisers are eager to have the option to marry same-sex couples at sea. The reversal was a huge setback for both,” wrote Colleen McDaniel, the senior executive editor of Cruise Critic, a website dedicated to cruising, in an email to the Times.

For same-sex couples wishing to wed at sea there are alternatives. Celebrity Cruises offers same-sex weddings at sea. A majority of the cruise line’s ships are registered in Malta, another British Commonwealth, legalized same-sex marriage last summer. The cruise company already hosted its first gay wedding in January, according to media reports.

Don’t give up on Bermuda

Travel and hospitality leaders and tourism experts aren’t giving up on Bermuda and they are asking travelers – gay and straight — to not give up either.

Bermudian Inn owner Faith Bridges, who is dating a woman who lives in Kansas, urged LGBTQI rights supporters not to boycott Bermuda. She told the Times it would be counterproductive.

Bermuda’s tourism authority representative agreed in a Facebook post thanking its followers for their comments about the signing of the Domestic Partnership Act 2017 on its Facebook page February 11, stating the organization’s leaders would share the feedback from travelers with Bermuda’s government.

“All of us at Bermuda Tourism, our industry partners and many members of our community are committed to inclusiveness and will continue to treat all visitors to Bermuda with respect,” the post stated. “We believe in the transformative power of travel, the exchange of ideas and the understanding it inspires. We encourage all travelers to Bermuda, including LGBT visitors, to continue participating in this important exchange with us.”

The tourism authority issued a special page answering LGBTQI travelers’ and their family and friends’ questions about traveling to Bermuda its website.

The Rainbow Alliance of Bermuda expressed hope and understanding in a letter that leaders wrote on its website in December.

“We hope to still welcome LGBTQ visitors to our beautiful island, but understand that many will refuse to travel in a place where they are seen as second-class citizens,” the letter said.

John Tanzella, the president and chief executive officer of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, which Bermuda Tourism Authority is a member, doesn’t plan to deter lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex travelers from vacationing on the island famous for its pink sand beaches, he told the Times.

“The change by their government wouldn’t cause our association to deter travelers from experiencing the beauty of Bermuda, nor the many countries globally that don’t have gay marriage,” John told the Times.

He noted many protections for queer people implemented on the island within recent years, echoing Bermudian LGBTQI activists, “Bermuda does have protection laws that include sexual orientation.”

Since 2012, Bermuda has passed pro-LGBT laws, such as an anti-discrimination measure and adoption laws allowing same-sex couples to adopt children.

Instead of boycotts, the organization believes in working with the destination, John told the Daily Beast.

“We believe in working with destinations to provide education and create ongoing dialogue that can lead to change in policies and sentiments, versus calling for boycotts that isolate local LGBTQ communities and close the door on conversation,” he said.

Book your next destination wedding with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel at 415-517-7239 or at .

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