➤ PUERTO RICO, from p.18
declaring a state of emergency and
set up a task force to tackle the issue
at the beginning of the year.
Pierluisi added violence against
LGBTQ people, especially against
transgender people, after the island’s
LGBTQ activists urged him
to include the community in the
executive order.
“If I’m a traveler and I see that
Puerto Rico is the epicenter of antitrans
violence, why would I want to
come there if the government isn’t
doing anything to keep me safe?”
Serrano asked.
Discover Puerto Rico condemns
the violence against the LGBTQ
community.
“We want to welcome all of our
visitors to our destination so that
they can feel safe, and they can enjoy
all that Puerto Rico has to offer
our visitors,” Arana Rodriguez,
told Gay City News.
In the face of formidable forces
pushing against Puerto Rico’s LGBTQ
community, progress has
been made with help from US laws
and a strong queer activist community.
As a US territory, LGBTQ Puerto
Ricans enjoy equal marriage
rights, protection against anti-discrimination
in employment, and
other recent gains made at the federal
level. Locally, LGBTQ activists
have made inroads within the last
decade, achieving key wins, such
as transgender individuals being
able to change their gender marker
on their birth certifi cates.
Still, Serrano noted that “even
though we are pretty much advanced
… it has been very hostile,”
he said, stating much of the
progress has been made with “very
little support” locally on the island
during the last three decades. Moving
forward, he hopes to see action
from both Discover Puerto Rico’s
campaign and Pierluisi’s task force
to push back against conservative
ideology that can be hostile to the
LGBTQ community.
In 2019, Puerto Rico’s police
force began receiving LGBTQ cultural
sensitivity training, Yvette
Rivera, who oversees the unit of
crimes against women and domestic
violence, said, according to CBS
News. However, there has been
some resistance within the ranks.
Before the island took a wrong
turn on LGBTQ rights and started
Out gay singer Ricky Martin waves a Rainbow Flag during the 2019 protests against then-Puerto Rico
Governor Ricardo Rosselló
correcting itself, Discover Puerto
Rico recognized the island’s potential
as a vacation destination for
queer travelers.
To help get the island back on
the right track, Discover Puerto
Rico partnered with gay-owned
diversity and inclusion company,
HospitableMe, along with Discover
Atlanta and Hyatt.
The company is helping Puerto
Rico’s tourism leader develop its
LGBTQ cultural sensitivity training
program for its hospitality and
tourism partners, Arana Rodriguez
said.
“We are committed to fostering a
world of understanding and inclusion,
along with a culture of opportunity
for all — a commitment that
goes far beyond words, and is supported
by real, meaningful action,”
a Hyatt spokesperson wrote in an
email statement to Gay City News.
Hyatt’s representative referred to
a beta program designed to create
a pathway to hospitality employment
for LGBTQ individuals, especially
for underrepresented gender
non-conforming and transgender
people; educate travel professionals
and companies about LGBTQ
cultural sensitivity and inclusivity;
and work with local LGBTQ-owned
businesses.
Boutique hotels, tour guides,
restaurants, and other tourism
businesses around the island have
already undergone training to welcome
LGBTQ visitors during the
REUTERS/MARCO BELLO
soft launch of the program, Arana
Rodriguez said.
“In the end, they are all human.
They all just want to have a great
experience,” Arana Rodriguez said
trainers told the businesses, “and
locally as Puerto Ricans we always
want to welcome our visitors, we always
want to give of our culture.”
“It made me really proud and
very hopeful that they are investing
so much into LGBT tourism here
in Puerto Rico,” said Joey Colon,
founder, president, and managing
director of LGBT Chamber of Commerce
in Puerto Rico (La Cámara de
Comercio LGBTTQ de Puerto Rico).
Colon, 51, hopes the partnership
and programs spearheaded
by Discover Puerto Rico will help
members of the island’s LGBTQ
Chamber of Commerce, which has
a member base that disproportionately
consists of hospitality and
tourism businesses.
The chamber grants 85 percent
of its $450,000 annual budget to
help Puerto Rico’s LGBTQ businesses,
especially during the pandemic,
Colon said.
IGLTA, where Discover Puerto
Rico announced its LGBTQI tourism
campaign earlier this fall, expressed
solid support for the campaign
and the Caribbean island’s
success.
“LGBTQ+ travelers often face
added challenges — even more
so when they are transgender or
non-binary. Education and visibility
are key to making changes,”
said IGLTA President/CEO John
Tanzella. “Discover Puerto Rico
has been incredibly committed to
educating their industry partners
on ways to provide safe, respectful
service, and with their new campaign,
Puerto Rico also is promoting
much-needed visibility for gender
non-conforming travelers.”
If successful, Puerto Rico will
be the second destination following
Fort Lauderdale to take on a
campaign for gender variant and
transgender travelers.
Serrano expressed hope that
the campaign will hire and train
LGBTQ Puerto Rican activists to
conduct LGBTQ trainings for businesses
— which he said would be
a sign that Puerto Rico isn’t simply
going after the pink dollar.
“We still have a long way to
achieve full equality in Puerto Rico
and sometimes those campaigns
feel a little cosmetic,” he said. “We
need to be safe in order for other
people to feel safe coming to Puerto
Rico.”
Heading into the new year, another
challenge facing Puerto Rico’s
tourism industry is the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic, though
Arana Rodriguez stressed that the
island has a stronger vaccination
rate than some other states and
territories.
The local vaccination rate is well
above the national average, with
88 percent of Puerto Ricans having
received at least one dose and 80
percent fully vaccinated, according
to the tourism bureau.
COVID-19 transmission and
death rates dropped to a low in recent
months, but like many states,
started creeping upward in mid-
November as colder weather approached,
according to Our World
in Data.
Arana Rodriguez added that
while American’s don’t need a passport
because Puerto Rico is a part
of the US, the island is requiring
proof of vaccination, or a negative
COVID-19 test 72 hours prior to
visiting. Travelers can use an app
to verify their COVID-19 status.
The island is also enforcing
mask mandates indoors and does
not allow public gatherings of more
than 50 people. Violators face a
$300 fi ne.
To plan your trip to Puerto Rico,
visit www.discoverpuertorico.com/
things-to-do/lgbtq-travel.
GayCityNews.com | NOVEMBER 25 - DECEMBER 1, 2021 19
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