National
Chicago man dies on Atlantis Events-chartered cruise
Reports indicate Jonathan Mindrum may have died from drug overdose
The family of a Chicago man who died on an Atlantis Events-chartered cruise last week is searching for answers about the circumstances that led to his death.
Reports indicate Jonathan Mindrum, 36, died on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas at around 3 a.m. on Jan. 24.
The ship left Miami on Jan. 21 and returned to the city on Jan. 28. The itinerary that Atlantis Events posted to its website notes the ship was scheduled to arrive in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 7 a.m. on Jan. 24.
Jim Walker, a Miami-based lawyer who publishes Cruise Law News, a blog that covers “everything the cruise lines don’t want you to know,” published a social media post from Mindrum’s sister, Jennifer Mindrum, in which she requested information about her brother’s death.”
“I believe I saw him die,” said one man in response to the post.
“The party Tuesday night/Wednesday morning was the Neon Playground party in Studio B, which is one of the ship’s entertainment venues that they convert into a nightclub for parties,” he said. “Around 3 a.m. they stopped the music briefly and announced ‘code alpha alpha alpha’ over the intercom, which is code for life-threatening medical emergency.”
The man said Jonathan Mindrum “was seated in one of the front rows of seats overlooking the dance floor, and was surrounded by people trying to get him to wake up.”
“At one point someone tried to pry his eyelids open, but he was not responsive,” said the man in his post. “The Care Team came down and took him to the medical center outside of Studio B and then closed the doors.”
The man said “the rumor mill aboard the ship is saying that he took a fentanyl-laced ecstasy tablet that he purchased on board. I don’t know that for sure, but that’s just what people are saying.”
The Washington Blade has not independently verified this claim.
Jennifer Mindrum told the Blade during a telephone interview that her brother died on board the ship and authorities brought his body to the coroner’s office in San Juan once it docked. They later released it to a local funeral home.
Jonathan Mindrum’s body remains in Puerto Rico.
A Royal Caribbean spokesperson on Monday confirmed “we had a death onboard and that it was unexpected and not suspicious.” Atlantis Events CEO Rich Campbell on Tuesday in an emailed statement to the Blade also confirmed Jonathan Mindrum passed away on the Oasis of the Seas.
“Mr. Mindrum did unfortunately pass away onboard Oasis last week, but the circumstances regarding his death were not suspicious,” said Campbell. “We are very saddened by this loss and our condolences go out to his friends and family.”
Craig Mindrum, Jonathan Mindrum’s father, in a statement to the Blade said his son was a “brilliant person as a professional consultant and thinker.” Craig Mindrum also noted his son was completing a master’s degree in data science at Northwestern University.
“He had a very bright future ahead of him, so losing him is a loss not just to us but to the world,” said Craig Mindrum.
“We are in the depths of grief about losing Jonathan, and we also have important questions about the circumstances of his death and emergency services provided to him,” he added.
Campbell noted to the Blade there “were no other deaths or major medical incidents during our cruise and nothing else out of the ordinary occurred.” He also said Atlantis Events does “not get involved in guest’s personal medical issues of any type.”
“These are the responsibility of the operating cruise line and we do not have access to guest medical records,” said Campbell. “We are made aware of the situation and the cruise line’s care response teams follow up with family members directly. We only are involved when asked by the family, which has not occurred in this case.”
Companies have ‘strict zero tolerance policy’ towards onboard drugs
Spencer Yu, a Warner Bros. lawyer and GLAAD board member, in 2009 died from a heart attack while on an Atlantis Events-chartered cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas. Cruise Law News notes speculation that indicates Yu may have died from a drug overdose.
Joel Taylor, star of the Discovery Channel series “Storm Chasers,” in 2018 died of a suspected overdose on board the Harmony of the Seas, another Royal Caribbean ship that Atlantis Events chartered. Reports indicate Taylor had taken GHB before he lost consciousness and died in his cabin.
“Atlantis and Royal Caribbean both have a strict zero tolerance policy towards any illegal substance use onboard and work with the cruise lines and local authorities to enforce these policies,” Campbell told the Blade. “The policy is in writing both on our website and in all pre-cruise communications.”
“Overall, our 5,200 guests onboard Oasis had a sensational time with no serious incidents of any type,” he added. “Most of the posts we’ve seen on social media were not from people onboard the cruise. We take pride in creating a safe, entertaining and social environment for our community.”
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections
Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has struck down guidelines by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission designed to protect against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The EEOC in April 2024 updated its guidelines to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which determined that discrimination against transgender people constituted sex-based discrimination as proscribed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To ensure compliance with the law, the agency recommended that employers honor their employees’ preferred pronouns while granting them access to bathrooms and allowing them to wear dress code-compliant clothing that aligns with their gender identities.
While the the guidelines are not legally binding, Kacsmaryk ruled that their issuance created “mandatory standards” exceeding the EEOC’s statutory authority that were “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.”
“Title VII does not require employers or courts to blind themselves to the biological differences between men and women,” he wrote in the opinion.
The case, which was brought by the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, presents the greatest setback for LGBTQ inclusive workplace protections since President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order on the first day of his second term directing U.S. federal agencies to recognize only two genders as determined by birth sex.
Last month, top Democrats from both chambers of Congress reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ-inclusive protections against discrimination into federal law, covering employment as well as areas like housing and jury service.
The White House
Trump travels to Middle East countries with death penalty for homosexuality
President traveled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates
Homosexuality remains punishable by death in two of the three Middle East countries that President Donald Trump visited last week.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar are among the handful of countries in which anyone found guilty of engaging in consensual same-sex sexual relations could face the death penalty.
Trump was in Saudi Arabia from May 13-14. He traveled to Qatar on May 14.
“The law prohibited consensual same-sex sexual conduct between men but did not explicitly prohibit same-sex sexual relations between women,” notes the State Department’s 2023 human rights report, referring specifically to Qatar’s criminalization law. “The law was not systematically enforced. A man convicted of having consensual same-sex sexual relations could receive a sentence of seven years in prison. Under sharia, homosexuality was punishable by death; there were no reports of executions for this reason.”
Trump on May 15 arrived in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The State Department’s 2023 human rights report notes the “penalty for individuals who engaged in ‘consensual sodomy with a man'” in the country “was a minimum prison sentence of six months if the individual’s partner or guardian filed a complaint.”
“There were no known reports of arrests or prosecutions for consensual same-sex sexual conduct. LGBTQI+ identity, real or perceived, could be deemed an act against ‘decency or public morality,’ but there were no reports during the year of persons prosecuted under these provisions,” reads the report.
The report notes Emirati law also criminalizes “men who dressed as women or entered a place designated for women while ‘disguised’ as a woman.” Anyone found guilty could face up to a year in prison and a fine of up to 10,000 dirhams ($2,722.60.)
Trump returned to the U.S. on May 16.
The White House notes Trump during the trip secured more than $2 trillion “in investment agreements with Middle Eastern nations ($200 billion with the United Arab Emirates, $600 billion with Saudi Arabia, and $1.2 trillion with Qatar) for a more safe and prosperous future.”
Former President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2022.
Saudi Arabia is scheduled to host the 2034 World Cup. The 2022 World Cup took place in Qatar.
State Department
Rubio mum on Hungary’s Pride ban
Lawmakers on April 30 urged secretary of state to condemn anti-LGBTQ bill, constitutional amendment
More than 20 members of Congress have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to publicly condemn a Hungarian law that bans Pride events.
California Congressman Mark Takano, a Democrat who co-chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, and U.S. Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.), who is the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Europe Subcommittee, spearheaded the letter that lawmakers sent to Rubio on April 30.
Hungarian lawmakers in March passed a bill that bans Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs last month amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.
“As a NATO ally which hosts U.S. service members, we expect the Hungarian government to abide by certain values which underpin the historic U.S.-Hungary bilateral relationship,” reads the letter. “Unfortunately, this new legislation and constitutional amendment disproportionately and arbitrarily target sexual and gender minorities.”
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government over the last decade has moved to curtail LGBTQ and intersex rights in Hungary.
A law that bans legal recognition of transgender and intersex people took effect in 2020. Hungarian MPs that year also effectively banned same-sex couples from adopting children and defined marriage in the constitution as between a man and a woman.
An anti-LGBTQ propaganda law took effect in 2021. The European Commission sued Hungary, which is a member of the European Union, over it.
MPs in 2023 approved the “snitch on your gay neighbor” bill that would have allowed Hungarians to anonymously report same-sex couples who are raising children. The Budapest Metropolitan Government Office in 2023 fined Lira Konyv, the country’s second-largest bookstore chain, 12 million forints ($33,733.67), for selling copies of British author Alice Oseman’s “Heartstopper.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman, who is gay, participated in the Budapest Pride march in 2024 and 2023. Pressman was also a vocal critic of Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown.
“Along with years of democratic backsliding in Hungary, it flies in the face of those values and the passage of this legislation deserves quick and decisive criticism and action in response by the Department of State,” reads the letter, referring to the Pride ban and constitutional amendment against public LGBTQ events. “Therefore, we strongly urge you to publicly condemn this legislation and constitutional change which targets the LGBTQ community and undermines the rights of Hungarians to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”
U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) signed the letter alongside Takano and Keating.
A State Department spokesperson on Wednesday declined to comment.
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Calendar: May 16-22
