Turkey blocked the Scarlet Lady turkey port block in Kuşadası on 7 July, stopping Virgin Voyages’ ship from docking after Authorities in Turkey said the charter group did not fit the country’s moral values. The ship had sailed from Athens, Greece, on 5 July with about 2,000 LGBTQ+ passengers aboard for a 10-day Atlantis voyage.
Patti LuPone, who was on board as a performer, wrote on Instagram that the cruise had been banned from entering Turkey and said she was furious. She said a ship full of gay men and herself had been denied entry to Turkey simply because of who was on board, then added that the ship would keep sailing and make other ports of call.
Kuşadası decision in Aydin province
Authorities in Turkey’s Aydin province said the ship’s arrival had been cancelled after it sparked significant public concern. In their online statement, they said the passengers were on a ship chartered by groups known for behaviours that do not align with the structure of their society and their moral values, and added: “There is absolutely no possibility of the group in question visiting our province for an event of this nature.”
Rich Campbell, president and chief executive of Atlantis Events, said Atlantis had docked gay cruises in Istanbul and Kuşadası 13 times in the last 25 years. Campbell said this was the first time Atlantis had been actively told it may not berth because of who they are in its 36-year history, and said the company had not been able to get the Turkish authorities to move despite extensive calls with the US embassy in Turkey.
Atlantis and Turkish authorities
Campbell also said, “When we pull into port, the ship looks like any other ship,” and added, “It’s not like we’re not a gay pride rally, we’re not a march, we’re not an organisation, we’re not a political statement in any way.” Atlantis says its cruises are travel charters, while Turkish authorities tied the ban to moral standards and public concern.
The itinerary changed after the ban. The ship will now stop in Cairo and Crete instead of Turkey, leaving the planned Kuşadası call off the route before the move on to Istanbul. That shift matters most to the passengers who had planned around the Turkish port call and to Atlantis, which had advertised the cruise a year ago.
Patti LuPone aboard Scarlet Lady
LuPone’s post put the human cost of the decision in one place: a performer, a charter group, and a ship that had been cleared for the voyage until the port block. The broader setting is also unusual because Istanbul Pride has been banned each year since 2015 by Turkey’s ruling conservative government, even though homosexuality is not criminalised in Turkey.
The next hard fact in the story is the diverted routing itself: Cairo and Crete replace Turkey, and the cruise continues without the Kuşadası stop that was due on 7 July.
