Kathy Da Silva is a gay woman that loves to travel, but she says outside of Canada she’s often wary of her sexual orientation and the public displays of affection that could get her in trouble.
“I’m much more sensitive to the milieu of the culture I’m entering,” said Da Silva, president of the Pride Centre of Edmonton.
“I think it’s important that people educate themselves on acceptable standards of behaviour.”
The 43-year-old, who returned last week from a trip to Barbados with her partner, is welcoming new information posted on a federal government website that aims to make travel easier for same-sex couples.
The Foreign Affairs Canada website provides answers to common questions, such as which nations outlaw homosexual acts and which ones recognize same-sex marriages.
Travellers are warned that certain behaviour can result in prison, fines, lashing, deportation or even death.
More: edmontonsun.com
Related Travel Information
Same-sex newlyweds likely know most of the information contained in a travel warning issued Sunday by Canada's foreign affairs minister, says the Alberta director of a gay lobby group.
Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said that Canada's recently enacted same-sex marriage law doesn't guarantee homosexuality will be tolerated -- or even legal -- elsewhere.
"We cannot take for granted that rights that are recognized in Canada will be recognized or accepted abroad," he said.
"Whether visiting or moving to another country, Canadians should always take the time to learn about the laws of the country for which they are destined
The Seattle Times’ Carol Pucci asks a great question: Why did the recent London bombings result in only a “brief and restrained” travel advisory from the U.S. State Department, while the terrorist attack in Egypt prompted a much more strongly worded advisory? Could it be—gasp—that politics are involved? It’s not a new question, but it’s as relevant as ever. Any traveler who has spent more than a few minutes studying State Department pronouncements for various countries could come up with numerous perplexing inconsistencies.
The State Department, of course, denies politics are involved in its travel warnings. But others aren’t so
In the wake of the July 7 London blasts, many Saudi families have canceled flights to London, either delaying travel plans or opting for other destinations instead. For those traveling to the UK, worries of an anti-Muslim backlash are traveling with them.
Arab News visited travel agencies across Jeddah to gauge the effect of the bombings on the vacation trade.
Javid, working at Hatim Travel Agency, said that many families traveling to England through tourism packages canceled flights, with some paying extra fees to change their destination to France or other European countries.
Muhammad Waseem, of Al-Zahid Travel Agency had a different
Europe shares end at 3-1/2 yr peak, Trichet soothes
PARIS, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Heavily-weighted energy stocks and easing interest rate worries lifted European shares to their highest close in more than 3-1/2 years on Monday, but drug worries sent GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) stock lower.
Takeover talk also fed market gains, with Aegis (AGS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) up 5.6 percent after sources said advertising group WPP (WPP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and its U.S. partner Hellman & Friedman were in talks with French financier Vincent Bollore over a possible 1.6 billion pound
($2.7 billion) joint bid for the UK media
Are you a billionaire and want to zip into the space for a quick ride? An NRI Sikh now offers you a chance to do just that. At a price.
Dr Chirinjeev Kathuria, an NRI businessman and one of the promoters of MirCorp, that signed up US billionaire Dennis Tito to space as earth's first space tourist last year, has tied up with a Canadian space firm to form PlanetSpace Corporation.
The goal of the company is to make space flights available to the public by 2006.
"PlanetSpace expects to fly almost 2,000 new astronauts in the first five years of flying and
