Gay Cruising Couple Experiences?

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by mass_sailor

Yikes - I know it can be difficult to imagine another's perspective, but you are not in a comparable situation to us, as a straight couple.

I don't want to start a fight on a sailing forum or anything, if anyone else has a perspective you think we may find useful, please PM me. Thanks again, all!

I've tried to be helpful. I know several people in a similar position and while personal experiences are not exactly the same, we often have to adapt to local custom as the outsiders.

Most of those we know have no issues traveling to just about any country. The ones that do, it's obvious why they have issues.

I'll bow out since you don't appear to want a solution.

[NPCampbell]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

We are straight and we police our actions when in another county with differences in what is acceptable behavior. Never felt it to be exhausting.

Same. The OP mentioned the US East Coast so I don't think there will be any issues.

However, farther away in Latin America and the Caribbean, numerous countries criminalize homosexuality. I don't support these laws but in my book it falls under the "their country, their laws" category and it would be wise to familiarize yourselves with the particulars. According to Statista in Dec of 2020, these countries criminalize same-sex relations in some manner:

Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Jamaica
St Vincent and the Grenadines
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia

Apologies if they have already rescinded these laws ...

[JoetheCobbler]

When I travel to areas where my personal choices of things I participate in are unacceptable or just frowned upon, I make a choice to go there or not.
I often choose to visit locations where things I enjoy/participate in aren't socially acceptable or even illegal!
I manage to avoid problems in those places by not participating in those things when in those places.
Live ain't hard, people make it hard.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I have met many gay cruisers. They have never expressed any issues about being gay cruisers. I would suspect that given how many cruisers are already kind of "out there" compared to the normal world that in general the cruising world accepts "different" people more to start with.

I bet there is a Facebook page for "gay cruisers"

To add to my above post. I would say that the only reason I knew most of the gay cruisers I have met were gay is because for some reason they tell me.

I seriously doubt being gay will make any difference to most other cruisers. More cruisers probably run into flack for political beliefs, anchoring practices/methods/banging halyards or just because yes there are still mean nasty people cruising.

[BaccaSean]

I really hope you have a blast with it 😀

I’ve not set off at this point, enjoying land life and a steady income still at his point! If you’re ever on the west coast let me know. Both my partner and I have an easier time of passing than many of our friends, and I’ll openly admit it takes some time to identify the small upsides this affords oneself in so many glancing moments.

Have fun out there!

[Fore and Aft]

Mass Sailor it sounds like you and your partner are on the more flamboyant side. I think you might attract a few comments behind your back wherever you go. Particularly if you're not interested in policing your own gayness. LOL, what's gayness are you wearing a badge that says you're gay? Unless someone asks and there's no pda then how does anyone know. Acting weird is just a tourist thing.
I am actually wondering if you are making a big deal out of nothing. Being gay is so old hat, Trans or Pan is the next thing now.
If you make it down under you should definitely go to the Sydney Mardi gras.
Cheers

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

More cruisers probably run into flack for political beliefs

Tell me it's not true!

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Mass Sailor it sounds like you and your partner are on the more flamboyant side. I think you might attract a few comments behind your back wherever you go. Particularly if you're not interested in policing your own gayness. LOL, what's gayness are you wearing a badge that says you're gay? Unless someone asks and there's no pda then how does anyone know. Acting weird is just a tourist thing.
I am actually wondering if you are making a big deal out of nothing. Being gay is so old hat, Trans or Pan is the next thing now.
If you make it down under you should definitely go to the Sydney Mardi gras.
Cheers

[scottburch]

We are an older full time cruising gay couple. We have been in Mexico for the last 1.5 years. Straight acting for the most part. We don't really announce it. We get a lot of quizzing... Are you brothers? Is this your son? (for some reason I am always the dad).

We tend to just avoid it. In larger tourist areas we don't think about it much, but in smaller towns we don't mention it. We don't do PDAs.

As we improve our Spanish, we might test the waters more. I know this is not much of an answer since we tend to just not mention anything, but we have been in a decent number of coastal towns and have not had a problem as far as we know.

[Adiona]

First off, welcome here. Who you are with is no one’s business but your own. I am infinitely more interested in your sailing skills, your interesting journey tales, good places to go and things to see, what I can learn from you, recipes etc. things about life aboard. Good luck with your plans and we look forward to meeting you all as we move about the waters.

[friscoskid]

There is a YouTube channel named Sailing Bohemia where a gay couple sailed from San Francisco south and are currently in Guatemala. Maybe reach out to them on their channel for some feedback. Although they are traveling down the west coast, maybe they have some tips or experiences that may help you on your travels.

[Painless]

Welcome to the Forum. I can’t imagine why anyone would care or needs to know?
It reminds me of “ If You just ran a half marathon, adopted a rescue dog, and are Vegan…which of those are you going to try to “cram” into the conversation.”

[robertmfranklin]

Moment is a 47 foot beautiful Sparkman and Stevens Sloop (maybe ketch) that charters out of Provincetown, MA during the summer. I am quite sure it is a gay run and operated situation. They saved my boat one rainy afternoon giving me the horn when I was below and unaware I was drifting away from my anchorage at Long Point in the direction of the stone breakwater. Great guys.

Also, may I say it is truly heartwarming to me that you can post a message with revealing personal details, which would have been unthinkable, never mind illegal, not so long ago.

Good for you and maybe good for the rest of us, too.

[P3sailor]

Good Luck if your sole emphasis is about being gay, you're going to need it.

[westcoastliving]

Anyway, we were hoping to get the personal perspective of any other gay folks who have embarked on a similar journey. If you know of anyone who may be able to chat, please send along an email or more information, as we would really appreciate it.

Thank you![/QUOTE]

Hey as a member of both the gay and sailing communities myself, I thought I'd point you in the direction of some LGBTQ+ couples I've found and follow on Instagram- I haven't spoken to all of them individually but I suspect most would be ok if you reached out to ask questions.

@knot.lost.sailing
@gay.sailing
@thesailherproject
@svboundless42
@_twoblokesafloat

And there's many more, you slowly start finding them as you follow one after the other.

Best of luck!

[letsdance]

Check out The Wind Expedition on Facebook. Great guys, they would be happy to chat about their experiences.