Jersey is a safe and friendly place for LGBT+ travellers. Same-sex couples will find that they can walk down the main shopping street or on the beach hand in hand without getting a second glance.

The island’s hotels, restaurants and bars will welcome you and are quite used to serving LGBT+ customers. For over a decade, Jersey has not had a gay nightspot since its last one closed. This means that the island’s LGBT+ community is completely integrated and that, if you are looking for a night out, you can choose from all that Jersey has to offer without worrying that you will be made to feel unwelcome.

Although a laid back tolerance is the overwhelming attitude here, Jersey has a strong religious heritage that means it can be surprisingly conservative. For many years Methodism was the prevailing religion and the island still has a much larger number of Methodist churches per head of population than you would find in the UK. These days Catholicism is the predominant religion as a result of the growth of the Portuguese and Polish communities.

If you decide to indulge in overtly sexual behaviour in public expect to get some comments, tutting or hard stares until you stop. This isn’t because you are a same-sex couple, you would get the same treatment if you were a opposite-sex couple engaging in this sort of behaviour.

As with places in the UK, if you leave the main town of St Helier and venture into the country parishes, you may encounter some members of the population who are not as well-versed in the right terminology. Mostly they will mean well so allow them some latitude if they don’t use quite the right words!

Should the worst happen and you find yourself faced with homophobic, biphobic or transphobic abuse, the States of Jersey Police will take your complaint seriously. You can find out more about reporting an incident on our Staying Safe page.