This past weekend I heard a conversation that disturbed me. The gentleman talking wasn't speaking to me, so I decided to mind my own business. He has been coming here for many years and wanted to know basically, "where are the white people?" He says years ago when he first started coming that the gay tourists were predominantly white. He thought maybe business owners should find a way to cater to this demographic. How, I wondered?
This got me to thinking. Now, we have several clients who come who are white and they seem to have a very good time, and come back often. Here is an old cliche (but it is true!), one of my best clients is white. Are white gay tourists who come here looking for something different than Latino or African-American tourists?
Over the last couple of years the Dominican Republic has experienced a surge in gay travelers, especially gay African-American travelers. I think for many it has become our Fire Island, Provincetown, Palm Springs, etc. The gay travelers coming here generally like men with brown complexions. That's not to say that you won't find many fair-skinned Dominicans, but those looking for fair-skinned Latinos tend to travel to Costa Rica, or say Puerto Rico. At least the Latinos and African-Americans I know who love fair-skinned men. I have a good friend who is African-American who LOVES Argentina. As you might be aware, there are not many people in that country with brown complexions.
The moral is that people live, travel, fall in love, eat and work where they feel comfortable. The next time I'm at the White Party in Palm Springs I think I will inquire to "where the black folk are?"
Oh well, you can't please everyone.
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3 comments:
I wonder why he didn't go to Utah for his vacation if he wanted to see white people. I am going to DR in Jan. for the first time and could care less if I see a white person. If I do feel like seeing one I will just look in the mirror and that will be sufficient.
A friend of ours who began traveling to DR well before we did, thought it would be much more european.... not sure what travel brochures DR's tourism bureau is peppering the states with but whatever... I do feel it is like our P-Town or Fire Island hangout- more or less. DR is a welcome respite from the Chad n Brad crowd- not that there's anything wrong with that if that's what you want.
On another note; What is up with DR1? So many of their forums eventually bring up the issue of race in the DR; who's black, moreno, white, blah, blah, blah. While informative in some respects, the site seems filled with white americans and others who have made the DR their home... but forgot to leave their twisted racial hangups behind! Pity. Anyway, we'll see you on Thursday!
DR1 is a great resource, but they have some people that post there who are quite fanatical. Race is a big part of the DR, but it is talked about in whispers.
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