Turkiye Turned Away A Gay Cruise To Defend Its “Moral Values”
A country that lives on tourist money has decided some tourists are not worth having. Turkiye refused to let an Atlantis Events cruise dock at Kuşadası and Istanbul this week, and the reason officials gave was their own “moral values.”
What Turkiye Actually Said
The Scarlet Lady, a Virgin Voyages ship chartered by Atlantis for a 10-day Mediterranean sailing, left Athens on 5 July and was booked to stop at the Aegean resort town of Kuşadası before heading to Istanbul. Officials in Aydın province, where Kuşadası sits, scrapped both stops.
In a statement posted to X on 28 June, they said the ship was chartered by “groups” “known for behaviors that do not align with the structure of our society and our moral values,” and claimed the visit had “caused great discomfort in various segments of our society”.
The Star On Board Isn’t Staying Quiet
Broadway legend Patti LuPone, booked to perform on the cruise, said her piece on Facebook on 2 July. “The Atlantis cruise I am performing on next week, has been banned from entering Turkey,” she wrote.
“A ship – a magnificent ship – full of well-heeled gay men. And me. Denied entry to Turkey simply because of who is on board. I am furious, but I am sailing, as the ship will make other ports of call.”
She added that the men aboard “deserve so much better than this.”
Atlantis Reshuffles, And The Irony Writes Itself
Atlantis said it had been told it “will not be permitted to dock in Kusadasi or Istanbul during this voyage,” and swapped the Turkish ports for Alexandria in Egypt, and Crete.
Egypt is hardly a soft landing, given how routinely its police target gay men. CEO Rich Campbell told the Washington Post his company has sailed to Turkiye more than a dozen times in 20 years.
“We’re there to shop, be great tourists, spend money,” he said. “It’s always a culturally respectful group.” He reckons the snub could cost Turkiye at least US$1 million, and warned that a tourism economy “run[s] the risk of alienating a lot of potential tourists” once it starts choosing who gets to walk down the gangway.
A Right Granted, Then Clawed Back
Here’s the part worth sitting with. Same-sex intimacy has been legal in Turkiye since 1858, yet Istanbul Pride has been banned every year since 2015 and marchers are still detained for turning up. Barring a ship full of gay men and branding it a defence of morality is the same move in a bigger frame.
A government can call that morality if it likes. From the outside it looks like a decision about whose money, and whose presence, is welcome.
