 |
| Dominica Police Booking Photo - John Hart,(L) Dennis Mayer |
By Brody Levesque | SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO -- A Southern California gay couple who were arrested by Dominica authorities this week for alleging engaging in public gay sex are disputing accounts by the cruise line and the island's authorities regarding the incident.
In their first interview back on U. S. territory after their ordeal, Dennis Jay Mayer, 53, a retired Deputy Sheriff told The Associated Press that he has no doubt they were arrested in Dominica because they were gay. Police said it was because they were seen having sex in public on the balcony of their ship cabin. He said they were not having sex, but were “partially clothed.”
Mayer, and his partner of 17 years, John Robert Hart, 41, arrived in San Juan after being released following their guilty plea to reduced charges of indecent exposure. The Dominican court fined the men US $888 each for indecent exposure.
“The total experience was horrendous,” he told the AP. “They told us that they did not like us, that they did not like gay people.”
Earlier, police in Dominica had dropped buggery charges against the two men and opted for the lesser charge of indecent exposure.
Police Chief Cyril Carette said the decision was made to drop the buggery charges saying “they could have been charged with buggery but because it is a very long process, we decided that it was in our best interest to deal expeditiously with the issue and get the individuals out of our island as quickly as possible.”
Under the island's sodomy law, sex between gay men is illegal and persons found guilty could face up to ten years in prison.
The trouble began shortly after the cruise ship Celebrity Summit docked Wednesday morning at Dominica in the eastern Caribbean. The cruise was organized by Atlantis Events, a Southern California company that specializes in gay travel. Mayer said that he and his partner Hart were in their cabin when they were unexpectedly summoned by the ship's captain. Three cruise ship officials and six Dominica police officers were waiting for them. After police interviewed both men separately, the assistant captain spoke, Mayer said.
“At this time, we are going to eject you from the ship. We have zero tolerance toward your behavior,” Mayer recalled him saying.
Mayer said they were taken to the police station, threatened with the sodomy charges and then detained in what he described as "inhumane" conditions telling the AP “We were detained for approximately 26 hours, and 19 of those locked in a cement cell, which had no running water, no toilet, no lights. It stunk of feces and urine. It was infested with cockroaches, ants and bugs.”
Mayer said that the couple were treated like an exhibit as police brought in government officials to look at them.“They paraded many people by to look in on us as if we were some type of animal, which was quite humiliating,” he said. “People got great joy in the pleasure of taunting us.”During the drive for their court appearance in the capital of Roseau the next day, Mayer said police drove through an angry crowd,“They were chanting and banging on the police vehicle. They were screaming things,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life, other than in movies. Both my partner and I really feared for our safety.”Police drove around the block twice to avoid the crowd and journalists. Officers formed a barricade with their bodies and urged Mayer and his partner to run into the courthouse and not stop.“It was very frightening,” Mayer said. ~ The AP via The Washington Post
Atlantis Events President Rich Campbell, reached by cellphone at the cruise's next stop in St. Barts on Thursday had told the LA Times that the arrests had nothing to do with the men’s sexuality.
“They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Campbell said. “Sodomy laws do exist. But that’s not what they were called into question for. That has nothing to do with this.”Campbell said that cruise personnel worked hard to convince Dominica officials not to detain the men overnight. When authorities refused, the company offered to leave a cruise official with the men until the situation was resolved.The men declined the assistance, and Campbell said they were in “good spirits” when he last spoke with them.“We’ve been going to the Caribbean for 21 years now,” Campbell said. “I’ve taken 50,000 guests there without any incidents.” ~ The Los Angeles Times
For his part Mayer said he would never return to Dominica,
“I would not spend my money in a country that does not support gay behavior,” he said. “Shame on us for not doing our research.”
Posts
2 comments:
It appears that Dominica may have found away to make extra money from tourists. Threaten them with possible long term incarceration for breaking archaic, inhuman laws, and then expiate a lesser charge with a hefty fine. That way the considerable costs of keeping them in jail are avoided and the fines increase revenue.
The amount of the fines (US$900) would indicate that this was either a test case or, more likely a political decision to get the men out of the country as quickly as possible.
At least the guys got out alive.
Cruising has always had its dangers.
Obviously it would be best to have cruise ships avoid such countries altogether...as we know, money really talks, and the big bucks from cruise ship passengers is nearly vital to some local economies. Every cruise ship pulling out would be devastating, and might make everyone rethink their values.
Post a Comment