Türkiye blocks cruise ship carrying 2,000 LGBTQ+ passengers and ‘angry’ Patti LuPone, citing ‘moral values’ | LGBTQ+ rights

A cruise ship carrying 2,000 passengers from the LGBTQ+ community and Broadway singer Patti LuPone has been banned from entering Turkey after local authorities said their behavior was “not consistent with the structure of our society and our moral values.”

Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady set sail from Athens, Greece, on July 5 on what was described as a 10-day “all-gay odyssey” operated by Atlantis, a US company that organizes cruises and vacations for people from the LGBTQ+ community.

The Scarlet Lady was expected to dock in the Turkish coastal city of Kusadasi on July 7, followed by a trip to Istanbul.

But authorities in Turkey’s Aydın Province, where Kusadasi is located, posted a statement online saying the flight was chartered by “groups known for behaviors that are inconsistent with the structure of our society and our moral values.”

They added that the ship’s arrival was “cancelled” after it “caused great public concern.” “There is absolutely no possibility that the group in question would visit our county for an event of this nature,” they added.

Atlantis has docked gay cruises in Istanbul and Kusadasi 13 times in the past 25 years, Rich Campbell, president and CEO of Atlantis Events, told USA Today.

LuPone, the 77-year-old Tony Award winner who performs on the ship, took to Instagram to share her shock at the news on Saturday.

“The Atlantis cruise I will be taking next week has been banned from entering Türkiye,” she wrote. “A ship – a wonderful ship – full of gay men. And I. I was denied entry into Türkiye simply because of who was on board. I was rejected.”

“I’m angry, but I’m sailing, as the ship will stop at other ports. I’m ready to perform for all the fine men on this Atlantis voyage, who deserve so much better than this.”

Campbell told CNN he was shocked by the decision, saying it was the first time Atlantis had been “directly told that we may not dock here because of who we are” in its 36-year history.

“It’s pretty amazing, to be honest,” he said. “I mean, the reason for that is because it’s a gay group. It’s very disturbing to me when a country decides that they can pick and choose which tourists they allow in and which ones they don’t.”

He told USA Today that the company was unable to “convince Turkish authorities to act,” despite extensive calls with the US Embassy in Türkiye.

“When we get to port, the ship looks like any other ship,” he said. “It’s not like we’re not a gay pride parade, we’re not a march, we’re not an organization, we’re not a political statement in any way. The cruise was announced a year ago, and it’s not new.”

The ship will now stop in Cairo and Crete instead of Türkiye.

Representatives of the Turkish government have not yet commented on the matter.

Homosexuality is not criminalized in Türkiye, but homophobia is widespread. It even reaches the highest levels of government, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regularly describes LGBT people as “deviant” and a threat to the traditional family.

The Istanbul Pride parade was once a lively affair with thousands of protesters, but has been banned every year since 2015 by Turkey’s ruling conservative government.

In 2000, the then tourism minister apologized after police prevented more than 800 gay tourists on a cruise ship from entering Kusadasi and the nearby Roman ruins at Ephesus. “I hope they will continue their journey without any problems,” Ercan Mumcu said. “We cannot discriminate according to people’s sexual preferences.”