Speaking of the Labour Party and double standards, Keir Starmer offers another case in point. In a recent speech to an LGBT gathering, addressing his accomplishments as PM, Starmer said regarding his "gayest Parliament ever" that "I don't think there's any Parliament that is gayer than this Parliament and that is fantastic." It is true that of 650 members of the House of Commons, 76 identify as LGBT.But what good are numbers if they don't go to bat for their fellow gays when the chips are down? An LGBTQ cruise ship on a 10-day Mediterranean circuit has just been denied entry to both Turkey and Egypt. About half the 2,000 passengers were American; others came primarily from Britain, Canada and Australia.
Atlantis Events has operated the same gay-themed cruises in the past, visiting these countries without incident. Now Turkish authorities state that the charter group did not align with Turkish society's "moral values."
Turkey used to be gay-friendly, but under Erdogan, rights have been rolled back. Pride marches have been banned and a 2025 draft law would, according to Human Rights Watch, "pave the way to bring criminal charges against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people."
As for Egypt, again according to Human Rights Watch, "Egyptian police and National Security Agency officers arbitrarily arrest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and detain them in inhuman conditions, systematically subject them to ill-treatment including torture, and often incite fellow inmates to abuse them." Convicted gays in Egypt can end up imprisoned for up to 17 years.
Surely the cruise company knew all this? So the snub should not have come as a shock. But whatever. The fact is that the entry refusals represent a huge and surely calculated slap in the face to the West.
So whaddya have to say about that, West? Any government protests or condemnations? It's difficult to suss out a negative in the news. For humans, that is, but it's a snap for AI, and my assigned bot at ChatGPT has this to say about that: As of July 11, "I have not found evidence that any major Western head of government (e.g., the U.S. president, the Canadian prime minister, the British prime minister, the French president, the German chancellor, etc.) publicly condemned Turkey's or Egypt's refusal to allow the LGBTQ+ charter cruise Scarlet Lady to dock. The incident received substantial media coverage, but the public criticism appears to have come primarily from activists, LGBTQ+ organizations, travel companies, entertainers, and commentators rather than national leaders."
What, nothing from Britain and his "gayest Parliament ever"? Nothing from the Democratic Party? Or the Democratic Socialists of America? Zohran Mandami! You're all over LGBTQ as a voting bloc during Pride month. Cat got your tongue? Or is it simply more proof, if proof were needed, that in the Great Chain of Intersectional Being, it is Islam and Zionophobia at the top, and every other identity below. Turkey and Egypt being Islamic countries, omertà prevails; let the LGBT chips fall where they may.Of course, the great irony here – so great it blots out the sun as one contemplates it – is that the one country in the Mediterranean region that is totally LGBTQ friendly is Israel. But wild horses wouldn't have dragged that ship to its port, because the political cost would be too high.
Do you think the incident will have the Queers for Palestine faction of Pride rethinking their mission? Nah. For woke LGBTs, as for all the other Islamophiliacs and Zionophobes, a day without cognitive dissonance is a day without sunshine.
In LaLaLand, the sun never sets.
https://www.steynonline.com/16308/lalaland