Could Saint Lucia Become the Carribean's Next Gay Tourism Destination?

A popular Saint Lucian gay rights activist is not only calling for anti-LGBQ+ laws on the eastern Caribbean island nation to be struck down but for the country to be a leading gay tourism destination in the region. Bradley Desir admits it may seem like a stretch for the island but it nevertheless would serve as a major example for many Caribbean nations and be a milestone that would be welcomed by the gay tourism industry.

Bradley Desir

Currently, LGBTQ+ people living in Saint Lucia face significant legal challenges as any person who commits an act of “gross indecency" with another person could face a ten-year prison sentence. However, with St. Lucia’s number one economic earner being tourism, Desir says that it is about time that St. Lucia fully embraces one of the biggest markets in the world by repealing the anti-LGBTQ laws and promoting itself as a gay tourism destination. 

Desir is optimistic based on recent changes around the world and on the island. He also thinks that it would fall in line with the island’s brand.  St. Lucia, for the fourteenth time and the fifth consecutive year since 2018, was named the “World's Leading Honeymoon Destination” at the Annual World Travel Awards. Desir believes a market geared toward gay tourists would be the epitome of love and romance and would signify that the island would be more inclusive of diversity.

“If they were to dismantle some of the laws that we have I think we will have a big market from the LGBT community in terms of tourism because I find that most persons in the LGBT community are those with the money and the finance and there are the ones who are pumping into economies and making things happen.”

While the laws against same-sex activity on the island are not enforced. Desir says that the gay community is still discriminated against simply because it exists. He also highlighted experiences where he was discriminated against for being homosexual on the island. He pointed out that was the main reason he ultimately left St. Lucia and immigrated to Canada. 

“When I left home, St Lucia, I did not want that to be the reason. I did not want it to sound like I was running away, I wanted to have a good excuse, so when my mom asked me why I moved, I told her that I applied for school,” he said. “But the real reason was that it was becoming increasingly frustrating to leave my life and be myself. I spent six years working in the financial sector and I found it was a burden when anyone found out that I was gay.”

Desir adds that while he was never physically attacked for being gay, he was subject to constant verbal abuse. He believes that not being openly gay on the island may have helped prevent any possible attacks.

“Being on the quiet side and keeping to yourself and not answering every rumor that you hear or confirming anything: these strategies helped to protect me especially from physical attacks or from the back and forth,” said Desir, who knows gay colleagues that have been beaten because of who they love.

“I had a friend who has been attacked but the attacker was [one of] brothers, they would constantly beat him to try to remove that feeling,” he said.

Despite these ugly truths, Desir is optimistic that the island has changed significantly. After a visit to the island in 2022, about 6 years after he immigrated to Canada, he noted that the country had become more accepting of gays. Desir says there has been a greater level of tolerance and that people seem to be more open-minded.

Desir is hoping that more grounded changes can be made and that the island follows in the footsteps of Barbados. In December, a milestone judgment was made there when the high court issued an oral ruling that decriminalized same-sex relations. Barbados had become the third Eastern Caribbean Island to strike down its laws against gays.  A decision is pending on the constitutional challenge in Saint Lucia.  Desir is optimistic that the law will be struck down. He urges the government to consider something different in the ever-increasing competitive world of tourism.

“I would want to see the law… dismantled,” he said, noting that he would like the authorities to soon set their sights on “decriminalizing same-sex marriage.” “We have gotten numerous awards for the best honeymoon destination and best tourism destinations, if we removed that law in St Lucia there would be a boost in tourism arrivals.” The Organization of American States (OAS) has further appealed countries to “prevent, punish, and eradicate” discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

According to a U.N. World Tourism Organization Global Report on LGBT tourism, the industry is profitable with an average of US$65 billion spent annually on gay travel in the United States alone. In Europe, the gay tourism market has been estimated at €50 billion per year by the Gay European Tourism Association.          

“I also see it as a way forward, not only for the persons living there but also because our biggest revenue is tourism,” says Desir. “So gay tourists who are vacationing on the island would feel a lot safer with the buggery laws being removed.” Desire is firm in his belief that this would be an untapped market for the region and would be unprecedented in setting a new beginning for the country.