World
Denmark, Sweden host largest post-pandemic LGBTQ rights conference
Activists from around the world attended WorldPride 2021
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The WorldPride 2021 Human Rights Conference that took place this week in Copenhagen was the largest in-person LGBTQ rights gathering since the pandemic began.
“We have activists coming from all over the world to this conference,” said WorldPride 2021 Director of Human Rights Aron Le Fevre. “My team has worked tirelessly to create one of the largest LGBTQI+ human rights forums in the world.”
More than 1,000 LGBTQ activists from around the world — including from both the Global North and Global South — attended the conference.
Le Fevre told the Washington Blade that 215 activists received scholarships. Some of these recipients come from the 69 countries that criminalize homosexuality or have been forcibly expelled from their homes because of their sexuality.
“What many do not realize is that coming to WorldPride is the only chance that those of us in the Global South have to network and make connections that are vital to our work,” said Ryan Figueiredo, the founder and executive director of Equal AF, an LGBTQ organization that uses data and future scoping to build resilience in LGBTQ communities.
Figueiredo is also a scholarship recipient.
“Those that are in the Global North also do not realize that their spots are secure and that organizations like mine have to work even harder with less resources to get visibility and space to continue our activism,” he said. “We need to speak for ourselves and not have others speak for us.”
Scholarship recipients throughout the conference were able to meet with MPs, U.N. representatives and other global leaders.
A two-day summit took place in the Swedish city of Malmö, which is 20 miles from Copenhagen.
“Uniquely this is the first WorldPride in history that includes, as part of the human rights forum, a full day international summit on LGBTQI+ refugees, borders and immigration,” said Eirene Chen, an independent specialist in LGBTQ forced displacement who once worked for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.
Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the independent U.N. expert on LGBTQ issues, spoke about the changes he said need to take place for LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers.
“There is a need for a renewed knowledge base to create policy and action that needs to be taken for those who have been displaced.” said Madrigal-Borloz.
Hundreds of refugees, activists and officials listened to his remarks. The Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration and other organizations attended the summit.
“After such a long time apart, ORAM is thrilled at the opportunity to collaborate and reconnect with partners, activist and politicians at Copenhagen 2021,” said ORAM Executive Director Steve Roth. “The conference has re-energized the community at a really critical time and has united us together in the fight to advance the rights of the LGBTIQ community around the world.”
Copenhagen Pride — which coincided with WorldPride — focused on social justice issues.
Many art installations, music venues and culture experiences throughout the city focused on themes of social justice. A space in downtown Copenhagen called the Fluid Festival — which embraced fluidity within gender identity, expression and sexuality — was the most popular attraction.
The Taliban regaining control of Afghanistan and the frantic effort to get LGBTQ Afghans, women, journalists and other vulnerable groups out of the country loomed large over the conference.
“This really bears as a witness as to why this work is so important,” said an LGBTQ activist from Afghanistan who asked the Blade to remain anonymous in order to protect their family. “We truly are working to save lives while we are attending this summit.”
Egypt
Egyptian authorities refuse to allow gay cruise to dock in country
Scarlet Lady earlier this week blocked from visiting Turkey
Egyptian authorities have refused to allow a gay cruise to dock in the country.
The Scarlet Lady, a Virgin Voyages ship that Atlantis Events chartered, was to have docked in Alexandria, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea. The Washington Blade obtained a letter that Atlantis Events President Rich Campbell sent to passengers on Thursday, hours before the cruise was to have arrived.
“Early this morning, we were informed that Scarlet Lady has been denied entry into Egyptian waters and, as a result, will no longer be able to call in Alexandria today,” he wrote.
“I know how much this visit meant to so many of you,” added Campbell. “We successfully sailed a similar itinerary last year, so we were surprised by this unfortunate decision.”
Campbell noted “both the Atlantis and Virgin Voyages teams worked tirelessly to make this call in Alexandria a possibility.”
“This news came as a surprise to all of us, and we’re just as disappointed as you are,” he said.
The 10-day cruise left Athens on July 5. It is scheduled to end in Trieste, Italy, on July 15.
The ship had been scheduled to dock in Kusadasi, a Turkish resort town on the Aegean Sea, and Istanbul earlier this week. Turkish authorities refused to allow it in the country.
Former Tempe, Ariz., Mayor Neil Giuliano, who is an LGBTQ+ Victory Institute board member, is among those on the cruise.
“Just a few hours before arriving in Alexandria, Egypt — a city founded by and named for one of the ancient world’s best-known homosexuals — government authorities rescinded permission for our ship of 2,000 gay men to enter Egypt,” wrote Steve May, who is also on the ship, on Thursday in a Facebook post.
Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 B.C.
“As with Turkey, we have been sent away not because of what we did, but because of who we said we are,” said May. “‘I am what I am’ is too much liberty for some to bear. So it was in the United States as well not long ago, where even I ended up as a convicted homosexual after a military trial in 2001 for saying ‘I am gay.’ This is just a reminder that for all the progress we have made, our freedom is never secure — for any of us, regardless of who or how we love. Back to Europe!”
Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt. The Egyptian Football Association, along with the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran, objected to playing in the World Cup’s “Pride Match” that took place in Seattle on June 26.
Netherlands
Dutch prime minister scheduled to open World Pride human rights conference
Rob Jetten is country’s first openly gay head of government
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten is scheduled to open this year’s World Pride Human Rights Conference in Amsterdam.
Organizers in a July 1 press release said Jetten will open the conference on Aug. 5. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema; South African Deputy Minister for Women, Youth, and People with Disabilities Steve Letsike; former Venezuelan National Assemblywoman Tamara Adrián; and Graeme Reid, the independent U.N. expert on LGBTQ and intersex issues, are among those who are also expected to participate in the gathering that will end on Aug. 7.
Jetten, 39, in February became the Netherlands’s first openly gay prime minister.
His centrist D66 party won the country’s elections last October. Geert Wilders’s far-right Party for Freedom narrowly lost.
Jetten took office after he formed a coalition government that includes the center-right Christian Democrats and the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy.
World Pride will take place in Amsterdam from July 25-Aug. 8.
Turkey
Turkish authorities refuse to allow gay cruise to dock in country
Atlantis Events-chartered ship included stops in Kusadasi, Istanbul
Update: Egyptian authorities on Wednesday blocked the ship from docking in Alexandria, a port city on the Mediterranean.
Turkish authorities have refused to allow a gay cruise to dock in the country.
The Scarlet Lady, a Virgin Voyages ship that Atlantis Events chartered, departed Athens on Sunday. The 10-day cruise is scheduled to end in Trieste, Italy, on July 15.
The ship had been scheduled to dock in Kusadasi, a Turkish resort town on the Aegean Sea, on Tuesday. It was then slated to sail to Istanbul on Wednesday.
Officials in Aydin Province in which Kusadasi is located on June 28 posted a statement on X that confirmed the decision not to allow the Scarlet Lady to dock in Turkey.
Authorities noted the “groups” behind the cruise are “known for behaviors that do not align with the structure of our society and our moral values.” The June 28 statement also says the scheduled docking “caused great discomfort in various segments of our society.”
BASIN AÇIKLAMASI
Basın yayın organları ve sosyal medya platformlarında gündeme gelen, toplumumuzun yapısıyla ve ahlaki değerlerimizle örtüşmeyen davranışlarıyla bilinen gruplarca kiralanan bir kruvaziyer gemisinin 7 Temmuz 2026 tarihinde Aydın Kuşadası Limanınına planlamış… pic.twitter.com/MHqN0NoXHI
— T.C. Aydın Valiliği (@AydinValiligi) June 28, 2026
Atlantis Events in a statement on its website said the company has “been informed by the Turkish authorities that Atlantis will not be permitted to dock in Kusadasi or Istanbul during this voyage.”
“As a result, we have had to alter our sailing itinerary somewhat,” it reads.
The statement notes the cruise will now stop in Alexandria, Egypt, and Crete.
“Both ports have excellent opportunities for exploration and enjoyment and have been favorites of ours for years,” it reads.
(Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt. The Egyptian Football Association, along with the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran, objected to playing in the World Cup’s “Pride Match” that took place in Seattle on June 26.)
Patti LuPone, who is performing on the cruise, sharply criticized the Turkish government over its decision.
“The Atlantis cruise I am performing on next week, has been banned from entering Turkey,” she said on her Facebook page on July 2. “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. I am ready to perform for all the wonderful men on this Atlantis cruise, who deserve so much better than this.”
Atlantis Events CEO Rich Campbell told the Washington Post that his company’s cruises have visited Turkey more than a dozen times over the last two decades.
“We’re there to shop, be great tourists, spend money,” he said. “It’s always a culturally respectful group.”
Campbell further noted Turkey could lose at least $1 million in tourism revenue over its decision.
“The bigger damage to Turkey is when you start picking and choosing who’s allowed to enter, and your economy depends on tourism, you’re creating a standoff between tourists and yourself,” he told the Post. “And you run the risk of alienating a lot of potential tourists.”
The Washington Blade on Monday reached out to Campbell for additional comment.
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