Florida Agenda

ROSEAU, DOMINICA — On March 22, two gay California men pleaded guilty after being arrested for indecent exposure and “buggery” during a cruise stop for a gay Caribbean sailing.

John Robert Hart, 41, and Dennis Jay Mayer, 43, of Palm Springs, were arrested the previous day after police say that witnesses saw them having sex on the Celebrity Summit cruise ship as it was docked in Dominica, an island nation in the Lesser Antilles where consensual sex between men is a criminal offense.

“We humbly apologize to the people of Dominica,” both men said during their hearing, adding that they regretted their offense.

The couple’s lawyer, Bernadette Lambert, painted a picture of innocent abandon during the 30-minute hearing.

“They were struck by the beautiful mountains, the clean and clear fresh air, and were having a few cocktails, and so threw caution to the wind,” she told the judge. Hart and Mayer were ordered to pay about $900 in fines by Chief Magistrate Evaline Baptiste, who called them “rogues and vagabonds.”

Police boarded the Celebrity Summit on March 21 after an eyewitness in Rouseau, the capital of Dominica, reported seeing the men from the dock having sex onboard the ship. They were arrested on suspicion of “buggery,” the local equivalent of sodomy in the island, which has one of the lowest per capita gross domestic product (GDP) rates of Eastern Caribbean states, and is sometimes confused with the Dominican Republic.

The Celebrity Summit departed Puerto Rico on March 17 carrying about 2,000 passengers. The cruise was organized by California-based Atlantis Events, a company that specializes in gay travel. The ship departed Dominica for St. Barts, leaving the men behind, held in a jail cell at police headquarters.

Ian Douglas, the country’s Minster of Tourism, cautioned tourists to abide by local regulations, and reproved cruise and tour officials for not making passengers aware of local laws.

“It cannot be the responsibility of Dominica to screen guests and tourists before they come into the country,” said Douglas. “It is expected that any time people come to a country, they will respect the laws of the country.”

Gay cruises to the Caribbean have become popular in spite of hostility to homosexuality on several islands, including Barbados, the Cayman Islands, and Jamaica. Cruisemates.com reports that no gay cruise lines sail to Barbados or Jamaica because of local homophobia and fear of violence. Other Caribbean states are more welcoming of LGBT tourists.

Authorities in the Caribbean last intervened on a gay cruise n February 2011, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested a California man aboard the vessel Allure of the Seas, which was docked in St. Thomas.

Steven Krumholz pleaded guilty to dealing ecstasy, methamphetamine, and ketamine (which goes by the street name “Special K”) to other passengers.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – While campaigning during this week’s Iowa Caucuses, GOP presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry admitted that he didn’t know about the Supreme Court case, Lawrence v. Texas, a case that was decided while he was governor and struck down the state’s anti-sodomy law.

According to ABC News, a voter at a meet and greet asked Perry to defend his criticism of limited government in the case.

“I wish I could tell you I knew every Supreme Court case. I don’t. I’m not even going to try to go through every Supreme Court case, that would be — I’m not a lawyer,”  “We can sit here and you know play I gotcha questions on what about this Supreme Court case or whatever,” said Perry who trailed at 5th in the caucus.

In 2003, the Supreme Court deemed Texas’ anti-sodomy law to be unconstitutional in a 6-3 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, and the case nullified anti-sodomy laws in 13 other states at the same time. Perry, a strong opponent of gay marriage and the ability of homosexuals to serve openly in the military, served as governor when this case was decided.

When told that the Supreme Court case struck down the Texas sodomy law, Perry said, “My position on traditional marriage is clear and I don’t know need a law. I don’t need a federal law case to explain it to me.” The Texas governor referenced Lawrence v. Texas in his 2010 book “Fed Up!,” calling it one of the court cases in which “Texans have a different view of the world than do the nine oligarchs in robes.”