Everyone drink a Dark ‘n Stormy, the national drink of Bermuda, because its time for a celebration. This little island nation off the eastern coast of the U.S. hosted its first pride celebration this past weekend, and as we at GayCities predicted, thank you very much, it was the party of the year.
According to police estimates, almost 6,000 people showed to march in the parade and party at the festival, showing support for the gay and trans community. While that seems like a small crowd, keep in mind Bermuda has only about 60,000+ residents. Do the math yet? That’s about 10% of the population in the entire country.
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There certainly was reason to doubt that Bermuda’s pride celebration would be a success. The island’s gay and trans community has a tumultuous relationship with its government and local religious leaders—the most recent skirmish in 2018 when the governor passed a law to eliminate marriage equality. Ellen DeGeneres was so upset, she cancelled her Bermudian vacation! That’ll show ’em, won’t it, Ellen?
Jokes aside, this raises a bigger question of whether or not these boycotts are effective, and who the boycotts actually harm. The citizens of Bermuda, similar to island cultures further south in The Bahamas and The Caribbean, are generally religious conservatives, but Bermuda also has a large community of expatriate workers from North America and Europe with more diverse backgrounds. And the island culture of Bermuda is known for the friendly and fun people, locals and expatriates alike. Of course that good nature comes easy when living on a gorgeous pink-sand island surrounded by the warm currents of The Atlantic Ocean.
The people of Bermuda run businesses that welcome visitors to the island, and they perhaps don’t share the attitudes of their grouchy government.
One good pride celebration won’t bump Bermuda into the league of islands like Puerto Rico and Curacao, where gay hotels and bars are well-established, but Bermuda has hosted gay travel groups like Pied Piper for years. Maybe they knew what the rest of us have been missing?
(Facebook | OUTBermuda)
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