Nude Passengers Cited as Reason for Barring of Gay Cruise Ship
The
Advocate, March 26, 2005
The government of St. Kitts and Nevis said Friday it
barred a gay and nudist cruise from stopping in Nevis because of concerns of
illegal public nudity onshore, not because the passengers were gay.
Port authorities stopped a ship carrying 110 mostly
American passengers and 35 crew members early Wednesday as it approached the
port in Nevis’s capital, Charlestown.
Nevis tourism minister Malcolm Guishard said Friday that
when customs officials boarded the ship most passengers were naked, and the
captain couldn’t guarantee they would be clothed onshore—something the
captain has denied. Public nudity is illegal in St. Kitts and Nevis.
“If this ship had been chartered by a heterosexual
clothing-optional group, our decision would have been exactly the same,”
Guishard said.
The cruise is set to end Saturday in St. Maarten, a Dutch
Caribbean territory. The cruise company, Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, is based
in Miami Beach, Fla., and the cruise was organized by Miami-based company
Source Events. (AP)
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