Bahamian Workers Quit Over Gay Tourists

Workers on Half Moon Cay, a private island in the Bahamas owned by the Holland America Line and frequently visited by cruise ships, plan to walk off their jobs in protest of nude and gay tourists flocking to the island.

According to Melissa Rolle, a waitress who is heading the group of workers who plan to quit, the island has been attracting a new sort of clientele over the past several months that has made employees feel uncomfortable, the Bahama Journal reports.

Twice a month, two types of cruises pull into the island’s port – a ship carrying homosexuals and a ship carrying nude tourists.

When she was hired two years ago, Mrs. Rolle said she was never told that the persons patronizing the resort on the island would be gay or nude tourists, and that if she had known her job entailed serving nude tourists she would have never accepted it.

"We want to know if the entire Bahamas knows about this because we are aware that a gay cruise was stopped from coming to New Providence, but here on the cay we have them coming in so frequently, so we questioned whether this can happen in any other place in The Bahamas," Mrs. Rolle said.

Because they fear losing their jobs, she said other employees have remained quiet, but she said some are so angry they are willing to protest.

"We are willing to strike if we have to because this is disrespectful to the employees. We shouldn’t have to look at two men making out on the beach or nude persons walking around as if it's normal. It's just disrespectful and not right," Mrs. Rolle said.

"Everyone is angry and everybody wants to do something about it, but are afraid, so I decided to be the one to do something about it."

The waitress said the situation has become so unbearable that she refused to go to work on Tuesday because a ship carrying nude persons was scheduled to dock at 8am and was schedule to leave at 6pm.

When the Bahama Journal contacted the management of the resort, a manager, who asked that his name not be used, said the resort does not discriminate against any guest.

According to the manager, many groups come to the island on ships and if they are nude, cripple or gay management doesn't stop them from using the facilities.

Mrs. Rolle said employees who have worked at Half Moon Cay for many years claimed that in the past the cay never operated by allowing nude guests to walk freely around the resort.

However, in the last several years the private cay lost business due to other developments taking place in South Eleuthera.

Mrs. Rolle said the employees believe this is the reason management has become so liberal.

"We have another private cay called Princess Cay and they have the regular cruise ships in their port, and then we have a new Cotton Bay opening so the tourists have other choices now and that's why I feel management has allowed these people to come to the island," she said.

"But they never asked how the employees felt about it."

The manager told the Bahama Journal that the employees’ concerns have been forwarded to the company’s vice president in Florida and he intends to address those concerns when he reaches the island Wednesday.