05/05/2008
Cayman Islands Police Arrest Massachusetts Man for Gay Kiss
Aaron Chandler, 23, from Amherst, Massachusetts, was arrested in the Cayman Islands last week after kissing his partner on a dance floor. The arrest was preceded by two confrontations with an unidentified local who asked them to stop what they were doing.
The Cay Compass reports: "About a half hour later – about 11pm – an unidentified woman approached the two men and asked Mr. Chandler to follow her to meet a friend. The friend turned out to be an off–duty police officer. 'He told me he did not want me to show public displays of affection,' Mr. Chandler said. 'He said it was against the law for two people of the same sex.' Mr. Chandler said he kissed his partner again, just before his party was going to leave the Royal Palms. 'The officer grabbed my wrist and told me he was placing me under arrest.' Mr. Chandler said a crowd of people – some tourists and some residents – followed the police officer while he was leading him away. 'They were asking him why he was doing this and one asked how he could do this in a British territory.' The officer called a superior, who arrived about five minutes later, Mr. Chandler said. On the way to the George Town police station, Mr. Chandler said the superior officer told him the 'law was stupid' but that he had to enforce it. Once at George Town Police Station, Mr. Chandler was made to wait to speak to an inspector. The inspector never came, but the original officer came back and gave him a stern talking to, telling him he didn’t care what he did in private, but that he could not kiss his partner in a public place. He attempted to make Mr. Chandler promise not to kiss his partner in public again and then released him."
Said Chandler: "I do display affection when I’m with my boyfriend, publicly. “It’s never anything most people would consider obscene however; usually it’s in the form of holding hands or a quick kiss."
The Caribbean has never been a safe place for gays and lesbians. While I certainly sympathize with Chandler's situation, it's important to remember that displaying same-sex affection can get you much worse than an arrest. Be careful out there.
Posted 4:40 PM EST by Andy Towle in Caribbean, Cayman Islands, Crime, Kiss, News | Permalink
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YOUR WELCOME crispy AND dw314. JUST DOING APES LIKE YOU A FAVOR. SINCE CREEPS LIKE YOU SEEM NOT TO BE ABLE TO SEE VERY WELL ANYTHING THAT DOESN'T DEAL WITH THE KKK. ANYTHING ELSE NO MATTER HOW VILE IS NOT DISCRIMINATION IN YOUR SCHOOL OF THOUGHT.
MATT COULDN'T AGREE WITH YOU MORE, THAT'S A COHERENT RULE TO FOLLOW FOR ONE'S OWN SAFETY.
Posted by: Churchill-y | May 5, 2008 7:55:53 PM
...when in Rome...
Posted by: alfredo | May 5, 2008 8:29:49 PM
Gays should stay away from the Caribbean.No country is safe for gays.Jamaica,the Caymans,the Leywards and all of them are backwater,biblethumbing egomaniac a**holes.Stay away from the Caribbean and the loss of the money will make them change their mind.When they do not get the tourist dollars, they will change their laws.
Posted by: Oscar | May 5, 2008 8:46:03 PM
I read this article and it took me back in time, to memories I had long forgotten. I was 20 when it all happened. On an early afternoon my Greek boyfriend and I were driving around the city of Valencia in Venezuela. He worked for a chocolate factory and he took me along with him for a business meeting. Once the meeting was over we parted and shortly after we took off, we shared a quick kiss at an stop sign, as we sought the highway. To our surprise, we were followed and stopped by a cop. He told us that we had to go to the police station. We were young and scared so we followed through. Once at the police station, the officer told us that kissing was not illegal, but that since we looked "suspicious" he had to detain us until he could clear us. They went through our personal data and even our vehicle registration as if we were common thieves. But what really got to me, was when we stood in the courtyard waiting to be cleared. The entire police squad came out to check us out as if we were extraterrestrial specimens. I was so pissed to think all I did to deserve this was to share a kiss! 9 years have passed and apparently the attitudes towards same sex displays of affection is not changed one bit. How sad.
Posted by: Rafael | May 5, 2008 9:26:45 PM
How pathetic you are Andy Towle!
As you rake in the gay advertising dollars you should be outraged by this and yet you post this as if we all need to run back into the closet. "while you sympathise..."
PLULEESE!
This is not IRAN this is the CAYMAN ISLANDS which the US has MAJOR investment dollars to use as a way to change things.
Posted by: MCnNYC | May 5, 2008 9:40:00 PM
CHURCHILL-Y, your point isn't made any more valid by using the caps-lock key.
Posted by: D.R.H. | May 5, 2008 9:57:46 PM
Wow, just when you think this thread can't get any worse, the KKK shows up. Matt, please kill yourself so the world can continue to evolve. Posted by: crispy | May 5, 2008 7:34:15 PM
Jamaica is mostly black and homophobic; so is Bermuda and the rest of the Carribean. Pointing out that crucial fact does not make me a member of the KKK or a racist. I am talking about straight people here, and the straight people who most hate gay people of all colors are BLACK.
You are either an Obama-loving bleeding-heart liberal or a black man who cannot face the truth about your own people. Fuck, even Obama has said as much in his stump speeches.
Posted by: matt | May 5, 2008 10:14:24 PM
Is it just me, or has the readership of Towleroad become more conservative over time?
I can't imagine that a well-adjusted gay man (i.e. liberal) would actually condemn a peer for expressing same-sex affection.
Posted by: Kyle | May 5, 2008 10:34:29 PM
Did anyone ever think the officer was trying to help him? He said himself that the law was stupid. Maybe he was trying to get some sense into the American before something worse happened.
Posted by: Jason | May 5, 2008 11:45:55 PM
Oh, Matt. Where'd you pull this interesting little tidbit from? "...and the straight people who most hate gay people of all colors are BLACK."
The belief that blacks are homophobic above and beyond all other groups is nothing more than prejudice. It's a prejudice, often rooted in the subconscious, that is predicated on the idea that to be non-homophobic is to be intelligent and "enlightened," while those who are homophobic must necessarily be stupid and non-civilized.
Those who harbor these beliefs aren't necessarily "racist," but you probably are.
Posted by: Sean | May 5, 2008 11:59:58 PM
Actually, in the middle east you could get away with holding your boyfriends hand in public because it wouldn't violate local customs, though as foreigners you would be under the eye of suspicion at all times.
Didn't we all just see the 20/20 piece on kissing in Alabama, where the cop showed up and told the guys they shouldn't kiss in public?
Posted by: anon | May 6, 2008 12:11:38 AM
If you're from rural Texas and you commit an anti-gay 'hate crime' in Amherst...you don't have the right to say:
"Well, I'm from Texas. And we don't have any legislation protecting homosexuals there, so I'm completely innocent"
If you don't like what a particular government does, you can always boycott the place. Nobody can force you to travel there against your will. But once you make the decision to visit, you should respectfully obey local laws.
And quite frankly, I doubt an American cop would've been so patient. After being told at least three times to knock it off, Mr Chandler decided to keep on doing what he wanted anyway (on the assumption that Americans are above the law). This is ugly tourism at its worse. Inconsiderate, arrogant, and utterly clueless.
Posted by: John | May 6, 2008 12:26:02 AM
Matt, you need to open your eyes and take a deep, long look in the mirror. Have you noticed the complexion of who is running all those right wing groups pushing anti-gay marriage initiatives? I guarantee you that the people running Focus on the Family and Concerned Women for America, writing for the National Review and the Weekly Standard, to working hard to take YOUR rights away as a gay man, not to mention Mr. Fred Phelps and his ilk are just as white as I assume you are. Idiot!
Posted by: Patrick | May 6, 2008 12:32:20 AM
And CHURCHILL-Y re: YOUR WELCOME crispy AND dw314.
Catch a big clue. The contraction of YOU ARE is YOU'RE, not YOUR
Posted by: Patrick | May 6, 2008 12:42:46 AM
And CHURCHILL-Y re: YOUR WELCOME crispy AND dw314.
Catch a big clue. The contraction of YOU ARE is YOU'RE, not YOUR
Posted by: Patrick | May 6, 2008 12:45:15 AM
Yes, everyone, please conform whilst in the Caribbean and quietly put your sense of justice and reason away when arriving.
Be good, tame queers when traveling abroad.
Posted by: rob adams | May 6, 2008 12:58:21 AM
Hey Matt, and to all those others who are prone to make general statements about people based upon their skin color, here's a quote from Mildred Loving. You might have heard about her. She's the black woman who will likely do more to bring marriage equality to queer people than anyone on this site.
Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.
I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.
She made that statement last year at the age of 67.
Posted by: Patrick | May 6, 2008 1:16:38 AM
maybe Hillary will show her support for the LGBTQ community by obliterating the Cayman Islands instead of Iran
Posted by: History of Gay Bars | May 6, 2008 1:31:01 AM
Mr. Adams.....just a word of advice....if you want to go to jail, or possibly be beaten to a pulp, or possibly hung for public displays of affection thats your right. But advising others to do that is stupid and arrogant.
Laws are different everywhere you go, if you respect the culture and more's of the place you are visiting you will most likely have a safe and fun holiday. But when you are warned, not once, not twice, but three times that a simple public kiss is illegal, take heed of that warning, don't antaganise the local police. This guy is either a fool, very stupid or just an arrogant ass who isn't smart enough to understand that most of the world isn't Mass., and tolerant.
Now that he knows, he can go home and hoin others here who condemn the policies and find gay rights groups in the Cayman's or Jamacia and contribute to their cause to end these policies. Beats the hell out of bitching and moaning on a gay blog.
Posted by: Joshua | May 6, 2008 1:44:06 AM
And those of you critising Andy for his comment. Get a life. He said nothing disparaging. He gave everyone a good piece of advice. We gays in this country and in some European countries think we are mistreated, well, most of you don't have a clue what real mistreatment is until you have been arrested in Egypt or Iran or Belarus or Morracco. Or followed home from a gay bar in San Juan or Kingston by a group of rastafarians or hoodlums who beat you and rob you and maybe let you off alive.
Posted by: Joshua | May 6, 2008 1:50:17 AM
I must say I'm surprised at the comments here. He did nothing wrong, and as long as he was in public in a civilized place (not a hole in the wall exploitation zone that some gay bars still are) he was right not to modify his normal behavior because of some creepy cop. We must stand up to bigotry everywhere! If my generation hadn't we'd still be living in pre-Stonewall America reading about gay freedom in other lands. If gays with disposable incomes weren't such consumerists we could seriously talk about having an effective boycott of the Caymans and Jamaica. Too bad THAT won't happen anytime soon. When gay people live fairly normal lives in fundamentalist Christian strongholds like Lynchburg and Virginia Beach, which they do these days, it's sad that some counsel cultural sensitivity for foreign bigots. It's too bad Aaron Chandler chose to vacation there in the first place, but since he did, why dump on him for learning a lesson that we should all take to heart and act on. Tell your friends not to go, tell the government there that you're doing that, and let them STARVE.
Posted by: Cookie | May 6, 2008 2:04:30 AM
Rob,
As long as you're interested in queer martyrdom, I invite you to go to Saudi Arabia and show those radical mullahs who's boss.
Do remember to bring your boyfriend. And don't forget to makeout in front of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. You'll have to disguise yourselves as Muslims to even get there. But since you're going to meet Allah pretty soon anyway, I suppose there's nothing wrong with violating a few more rules.
Sexual minorities in Europe and North America are arrogant. They complain that anti-discrimination laws doesn't include every imaginable little sub-group. They bitch about having to settle for civil unions / domestic partnerships instead of marriage. They whine about censored same-sex kisses on teleivision like it was worse than apartheid.
Because, you know, not seeing two hotties have fake sex on friday night is much more horrible than Mandela spending 27 years in prison. Yeah, that's totally the same thing.
Posted by: John | May 6, 2008 2:14:41 AM
I think we need to lead a worldwide campaign against the Caribbean, including boycotts. Hit them on the issue of the tourist dollar. Bob Marley, a famous native of the Caribbean, once sang "One Love". One love, my foot.
Posted by: jason | May 6, 2008 2:20:35 AM
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory. Basically what that means is that international relations and defence are handled by the UK, while domestic issues are decided by a locally elected parliment. The UK law has no legal standing. Look at the mess with financial regulations....the Cayman Islands one big tax haven.
However, this does not mean that what happened in acceptable. There must be something the UK government could do. However, I find it strange that an island that is also dependent on tourism would want to scare of the tourists...and it seems that not everyone agrees with the law. It looks like that little homophobic police officer did not get his way.
Posted by: EvilEuropean | May 6, 2008 4:30:12 AM
When you go to any country that has laws, you obey the laws. You don't pick and choose the ones that fit you and ignore the rest. If you cannot do so, you get punished.
I don't agree that Aaron had the right to do something that he was warned not to. That's arrogance.
In some countries, arrogance get you locked up for a long time. In other countries, it gets you dead. Aaron got lucky, this time. PDA in THIS country is frowned upon, how in the hell can you expect it to be tolerated elsewhere?
Posted by: aaronj | May 6, 2008 7:26:28 AM