World
U.S. lags behind other countries on LGBTQ rights
Report cards released ahead of Summit for Democracy
A series of report cards from the Council for Global Equality and F&M Global Barometers that rank countries on their LGBTQ rights records indicate the U.S. continues to lag behind.
The report cards rank the 110 countries that are participating in the White House’s Summit for Democracy that began on Thursday. They specifically rank the nations on 30 specific benchmarks that are grouped together in three categories.
Basic Human Rights:
– No criminalization of sexual orientation
– No criminalization of gender identity or expression
– Freedom from arbitrary arrest based on sexual orientation
– Freedom from arbitrary arrest based on gender identity
– Legal recognition of gender identity
– No physiological alteration requirement for legal gender recognition
– No psychiatric diagnosis requirement for legal gender recognition
– LGBTQI organizations are allowed to legally register
– LGBTQI organizations are able to peacefully and safely assemble
– Security forces provide protection to LGBTQI pride participants
Protection from Violence:
– Ban on gay conversion therapy
– Hate crimes legislation includes sexual orientation
– Hate crimes legislation includes gender identity
– Hate crimes legislation includes sex characteristics
– Hate speech laws include sexual orientation
– Hate speech laws include gender identity
– Equality body mandate exists
– Prohibition of medically-unnecessary non-consensual medical interventions on intersex individuals
– Gender affirming prison accommodations
– Asylum for LGBTQI individuals is available within the country
Socio-Economic Rights:
– Workplace non-discrimination laws include sexual orientation
– Workplace non-discrimination laws include gender identity
– Workplace non-discrimination laws include sex characteristics
– Fair housing non-discrimination las include sexual orientation
– Fair housing non-discrimination laws include gender identity
– Head of state supports marriage equality
– State allows for marriage equality
– State prohibits discrimination in health care based on sexual orientation
– State prohibits discrimination in health care based on gender identity
– Legal classifications, such as an X sex or gender marker, universally available
The U.S. scored 70 percent on the “Basic Human Rights” benchmarks, 30 percent on the “Protection from Violence” benchmarks and 50 percent on the “Socio-Economic Rights” benchmarks.
Malta scored 100 percent on all three sets of benchmarks. Uruguay received a 100 percent score on the “Basic Human Rights” benchmarks, an 80 percent score on the “Protection from Violence” benchmarks and a 90 percent score on the “Socio-Economic Rights” benchmarks.
The report cards the Council for Global Equality and F&M Global Barometers released on Tuesday are based on 2020 data.
The groups will release a second set of report cards in 2022 based on new data. Council for Global Equality Chair Mark Bromley told the Washington Blade the U.S. will have a higher score because the State Department will have begun to offer passports with an “X” gender marker and President Biden explicitly supports marriage equality.
The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, which the White House describes as “a landmark set of policy and foreign assistance initiatives that build upon the U.S. government’s significant, ongoing work to bolster democracy and defend human rights globally.” Biden in a speech he delivered at the opening of the Summit for Democracy noted the initiative, among other things, includes programs that seek to empower LGBTQ people.
“We have to stand for justice and the rule of law, for free speech, free assembly, a free press, freedom of religion, and for all the inherent human rights of every individual,” said Biden.
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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