St. Maarten Private Eye

The editorial in today’s Today (April 12, 2006) is a far cry from the mean, homophobic, riot-inciting, unprofessional piece of yellow journalism published yesterday about the criminal assault on two tourists as they left Bamboo Bernies in Beacon Hill earlier this week. The editorial this morning, commenting favorably on St. Maarten’s newly formed Soualiga Patrol, ends with these words, ”Good luck, Soualiga Patrol. You have our best wishes and our prayers. Go and do your work.”
Yeah, go and do your work as long as it doesn’t involve protecting gays and lesbians --- or people who appear to be gays or lesbians or, for that matter, other minorities who might incur the violent displeasure of common street thugs. And if something criminal happens, please don’t tell the regular police. They might eventually be shamed into investigating the case, as has now happened with the Bamboo Bernies assault. The world-wide attention currently focused on St. Maarten as a gay-unfriendly, dangerous-to-tourists Caribbean island is causing damage beyond measure to our island’s reputation and tourist industry. And what do St. Maarten’s politicians have to say, especially those politicians directly involved in tourism? Don’t they read the newspapers or watch television news? Wake up, ladies and gentlemen, you have a lot of repair work to do!