In , I joked with my now-husband, David, that the only places in the world I would ever take him were the places whose gay pride marches required military escorts. In , I find myself aching to get to Grozny, Chechnya, the site of a current attempt at gay male genocide. Travel as a member of any minority group is tricky at best.
When I inform friends and colleagues about our upcoming travels, we are often met with aghast looks and statements questioning our sanity for traveling to places that seem to be so dangerous for LGBT folks. The truth is, as Americans, we are incredibly privileged.
There is still a worldwide perception that Westerners, and particularly Americans, are somehow superior due to our relative strength on the global stage I should say that in light of our new Orange in Chief, this seems to be diminishing. How this will or could change in coming years during the potential American political reckoning is TBD.
The issue remains, however, of traveling in areas where one may be a member of a minority group, but acknowledged as other due to tourist outsider status.
How can we be solid, woke LGBT citizens traveling in areas where our brothers and sisters are repressed? Our compromise has been to be as open as we possibly can with our relationship as we travel. Whenever possible, we make a point to reveal our relationship to everyday people in the places we travel β be it Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, or Suriname. And for travelers, like Americans, who often have the opportunity, privilege, and a safe space to do so, visibility is the only way to smash existing, outdated rhetoric.
