Gay Cruise Company Boycotts Russia

From the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News:

Tuesday night, Atlantis CEO Rich Campbell outlined the new cruises in store for 2014, including the return of the popular Baltic European cruise. This time, however, one port of call that had always been included in the past was pointedly excluded for the 2014 cruise: St. Petersburg, Russia. Campbell said that while the people of St. Petersburg were always friendly and welcoming to us in the past, and that the immense cultural attractions made it an obvious port of call under normal circumstances for any Baltic cruise ... these were no longer normal circumstances. The hostile anti-gay attitude of the current Putin regime has made Russia an unacceptable destination for a gay cruise, and he expressed hope that the economic effect of the decision would in some small way help to bring about change in the current sad state of affairs there. The crowd of veteran Atlantis cruisers at the reception responded to the announcement with cheers and applause.

Good for them. But a check of the upcoming Caribbean cruise by Atlantis Events reveals that they will be making a port call in Barbados, where homosexuality is technically punishable by life in prison, although Wikipedia notes that the law is "rarely enforced." The Caribbean cruise will also stop in St. Lucia, where homosexual acts between males are punishable by ten years in prison. At least in Russia homosexuality itself is not illegal. Yet.

Atlantis Cruise Passengers Confess: We Were Fucking On That Balcony

Queerty has posted a message from the Atlantis Events cruise passengers arrested on board their ship earlier this year while moored at the Caribbean island of Dominica. An excerpt:

Yes, we were having sex on the balcony. We were fucking. There, I said it. The complaints came from Dominica dock workers, who were offended. I’m sure if it had been a naked women they would have continued to stare and most likely would have commented on her breasts. This is something that we could not previously address or admit to. Many have taken this as an opportunity to attack our character and integrity. We were originally charged with “buggery,” which is equivalent to sodomy. However, the charge was later reduced to indecent exposure, a lesser-inclusive charge.

We were represented by counsel who had advised us not to speak or admit to anything we were not being charged with. Had we been found guilty of buggery, we were facing a prison sentence of up to 14 years in a Third World country. We have never denied our responsibility for our indiscretion. We entered a guilt plea to the charge of indecent exposure. The Magistrate excepted our guilty plea, set a fine in the matter and then released us from custody. In addition, we were expatriated and deported from their country at our own expense.

The letter goes on to complain at length about Atlantis Events for taking passengers to anti-gay destinations.

Read the full letter.

Gay Cruise Passengers Speak Out

The two men arrested on their Dominica cruise ship tell quite a different story than that told in the press release issued by Atlantis Events president Rich Campbell. The Washington Post reports:

Dennis Jay Mayer, 53, told The Associated Press that he has no doubt they were arrested in Dominica because they were gay. [snip] “He said: ‘You’re being arrested for being gay. We’re arresting you for the crime of buggery,’” Mayer said. “He said that other people said that we were engaging in homosexual sex. He repeated that several times. I told him I didn’t know why they would say that. I wasn’t doing that.” Mayer said he was naked in his cabin and nearly naked on the balcony. “I was less partially clothed than I should have been.” During the interrogation, the police official threatened to take them to a clinic and have them medically examined for proof of homosexual activity, Mayer said. “He said, you know, we’re looking for specific things, fluids, bruising, things of that nature,” Mayer said. After making the threat, the official left the room, then came back saying they had a right to refuse the test, Mayer said.

Mayer adds that while the couple was transported to the police station, an angry crowd surrounded the police car to chant, scream, and bang on the vehicle.

They paraded many people by to look in on us as if we were some type of animal, which was quite humiliating,” he said. “People got great joy in the pleasure of taunting us.” In Thursday morning, police drove them to the courthouse in the capital of Roseau, passing through an angry crowd, Mayer said. "They were chanting and banging on the police vehicle. They were screaming things,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life, other than in movies. Both my partner and I really feared for our safety.” Police drove around the block twice to avoid the crowd and journalists. Officers formed a barricade with their bodies and urged Mayer and his partner to run into the courthouse and not stop.

Does that sound like a "traffic ticket," as Campbell dismissed the entire ordeal?

Atlantis Events Responds

Atlantis Events president Rich Campbell has posted a message on the company's Facebook page.

DOMINCA: Gay Cruise Passengers Plead Guilty, Receive Two Months Jail Time

The court system on Dominca moves swiftly. It appears that the jail time will be waived if the fines are "paid immediately."

The charges were later reduced to indecent exposure – the charge on which they were found guilty by a Roseau magistrate. John Robert Hart 41, and Dennis Jay Mayer 43, were fined EC$2,400 each. The fines are to be paid immediately, failing which they will each have to spend two months in jail. The ship, Celebrity X Cruises, carrying about 2,000 passengers departed Puerto Rico on Saturday and arrived in Dominica on Wednesday. It departed for St. Barts without the men, who were at the time being held in a cell at police headquarters in the capital of Roseau.

The fines are about $900 USD. Even IF the men were indeed stupidly fucking around on a ship's balcony in view of people on the dock, it remains doubtful to me that straight passengers would have been charged.

Man Overboard On All Gay Cruise

I started getting emailed tips and tweets early this morning that a passenger had gone overboard on the all gay Atlantis cruise of the Caribbean. Now the story has hit the news.

Eyewitness News has learned a passenger has fallen overboard from an Atlantis cruise liner off the coast of Mexico on Friday. An ABC7 photographer aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise charter said passengers were awakened Friday morning by an emergency announcement, saying a man was believed to be overboard. The ship's captain confirmed the incident to passengers and said all rescue attempts are being made. An emergency assembly was called so passengers could be counted. The ship was on its way back to port in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It stopped Friday off-shore near Cozumel, Mexico.

RELATED: In October 2009, GLAAD board member Spencer Yu died aboard an Atlantis cruise. Three months later another Atlantis passenger was found dead in his cabin. Both deaths were rumored to have been drug-related, but this was never publicly confirmed (to my knowledge.) In February of last year an Atlantis passenger (on the same ship in today's report) was arrested for dealing drugs on board. It's important to note that there's no mention of drugs in today's news report.

(Via JMG readers Andy, Warren, Hector)

Passenger Dies On Atlantis Cruise

Three months after GLAAD board member Spencer Yu died on an Atlantis Cruise to the Mexican Riviera, yesterday an as yet unidentified 37 year-old male passenger of the all-gay cruise company was found dead in his Liberty Of The Seas cabin while the ship was moored in the Cayman Islands. Local police are investigating and have not released any cause of death.

RELATED: When the ship first arrived in port, it was met with local controversy, although one Cayman newspaper described complaints as "more subdued" than in years past. In 1998 the Cayman government banned ships carrying gay cruise events from its ports. That ban was later relaxed, although local pastors continue to campaign for its return.

GLAAD Board Member Spencer Yu Dies On Atlantis Cruise

GLAAD board of directors member Spencer Yu, 46, died of cardiac arrest while on board an all-gay Atlantis Cruise to the Mexican Riviera.

According to sources on board, Spencer Yu, a Los Angeles attorney, suffered cardiac arrest October 21 while on the Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas, which was chartered by Atlantis for a seven-day trip along the Mexican Riviera. A medical team attempted to resuscitate Yu for 45 minutes before he was taken to a Puerto Vallarta hospital, where he showed no brain activity. Yu was later taken off of life support. Rich Campbell, president and CEO of Atlantis Events and a friend of Yu's, said he was only aware of Yu’s “serious medical condition” when he was taken by the medical team off the ship. Royal Caribbean “doesn’t give us access to personal medical information as the charter of the ship,” Campbell said. “We’re simply not given that information. It’s a private matter.”

PlanetOut Unloads RSVP Cruises

Continuing to shed lackluster properties, PlanetOut has sold their RSVP cruise business to main rival Atlantis Events for an undisclosed amount. The sale will not affect RSVP's scheduled itinerary or passengers already booked. According to reports, Atlantis plans on maintaining the RSVP brand.

In June this year, PlanetOut sold SpecPub, their adult magazine division. CEO Karen Magee says the latest move is a continuation of the company's new focus on advertising-driven revenues. Fresh from a Corp-O-Speak conference, Magee said, "From a corporate perspective, we believe this transaction demonstrates to our shareholders that we are continuing to deliver on our commitment to leverage our strengths by simplifying our business model and emphasizing our core competencies."