The Caribbean rated in LGBTQ+ Danger Index for both locals and visitors

[David Paul Appell]

Just came across a Guardian piece published a few weeks ago with some interesting findings from something called the LGBTQ+ Danger Index, which ranks the world's 150 most-visited countries using eight factors, including legalized same-sex marriage, worker protection and whether, based on Gallup poll findings, it is a good place to live. Sweden comes in first, followed by Canada, Norway, Portugal and Belgium. My adopted country Spain comes in at number 10, but my native country the USA is just 27th (graded B- because protections are so uneven across its 50 states).

And of course, a number of Caribbean destinations rank in the top worst. There are three with F grades, and though I expected Jamaica, that came in at number 18, while I was surprised to find that two rated even worse are Barbados (8) and St. Lucia (12). Most of the rest are in the D- to D+ range, with the least bad being the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic, sharing number 37. Best of all was Puerto Rico getting as high as a B- (125 places up from the worst, on a scale of 1 to 150).

All in all, it's a sobering but very much worthwhile read.