FOR lesbians and gay men looking to hit the high seas or vacation abroad, this month brought events both giddy and unsettling. Taken together, they say much about the possibilities and perils of uncloseted travel:
* Gay tour companies chartered two crown jewels of cruising: Cunard's Queen Mary 2, arguably the best-known passenger ship afloat, and Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, soon to debut as the world's biggest, carrying up to 3,700 guests. Each ship will make an all-gay sailing next year.
* Nearly 100 tourist bureaus and companies staffed booths at a gay and lesbian travel expo in West Hollywood. The big names included AAA Travel, American Express, Abercrombie & Kent, the Tourist Office of Spain and Germany's Lufthansa Airlines.
* Two CBS News journalists vacationing on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten were badly beaten outside a bar, allegedly by several men who taunted them with anti-gay slurs.
* HBO released a documentary, "All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise," about the 2004 inaugural sailing, with 1,600 passengers, of Rosie O'Donnell's family-friendly gay cruise company. In Nassau, the ship was met by demonstrators toting bullhorns. Among their signs: "I don't welcome 'sissies' in the Bahamas."
For the newly visible gay traveler, the world is not always a welcoming place, but more doors, and ports, are opening.
Within the U.S., new places are pitching to gay men and lesbians. Such marketing, pioneered by cosmopolitan cities on the coasts, is migrating to the heartland.
The Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau this year launched a new website, www.glbtdallas.com, touting the city's gay-friendly hotels, bars and events. The Big D, the site says, "has left behind stereotypes of big-haired women and rowdy cowboys -- that is, unless you count sassy drag queens and strapping gay rodeo champs."
On tamer tourist websites, Tempe, Ariz., proclaims itself "progressive" and "inclusive," and Bloomington, Ind., claims to have the nation's fifth-largest per-capita population of same-sex couples.
A major motive for marketing to gays appears to be money. It's the green on the rainbow flag that catches the travel industry's eye, insiders say.
Gay men and lesbians are thought to account for at least $65 billion, or 5%, of the $1.3-trillion U.S. travel market, according to Community Marketing Inc., a San Francisco marketing company. The actual figure may be higher, the company says, because gays, on average, take more leisure trips than non-gays.
