As gay travellers with pink dollars to spend, it’s time to vote with our feet and our wallets, says travel correspondent, Marc Andrews.

TRAVEL

GAY COUPLE KISS AT TEL AVIV PRIDE.

THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE: TEL AVIV PRIDE, ISRAEL. IN THE MIDDLE EAST, ONLY ISRAEL AND BEIRUT IN LEBANON HAVE GAY PRIDE EVENTS.

I HADN’T visited the drop-dead gorgeous African island of Zanzibar for over four years. The last few times my boyfriend (now husband) and I stayed, mainly to visit his family who lived there at the time, we sensed a growing disdain among the locals, not just for tourists, but for Western society in general and, with it, a growing vitriol against “imported” homosexuality.

Coming back to Zanzibar in early 2018 to visit friends, we noticed new fortress-like mosques appearing on the landscape. They’re called “gifts” from wealthier Arabic countries, keen to export their version of Islamic fundamentalism to this region.

As most of us are aware, Islamic fundamentalism and homosexuality do not make great bedfellows. Stoning, executions, being tossed off buildings by ISIS extremists – these are typical of fundamentalists responses to the notion of there being gay men in their midst. Most gay men avoid visiting these countries or considering them as viable travel destinations.