Gay cruise ship unwelcome in Morocco, say organizers

Organizers of an all-gay cruise blamed Moroccan officials over the weekend for banning their entry into the Muslim country, according to a Reuters report on Monday.

Cruise liner Holland America had organized the trip, which would have been its first and the only non-European leg of a week-long journey, with mostly American and European passengers.

The cruiser docked on Sunday in the Spanish city of Malaga and told its 2,100 holiday-makers that the visit to Casablanca had been cancelled.

“Our port agent in Casablanca has advised us that authorities in Morocco have – despite previous confirmations – now denied our scheduled visit,” the two companies said in a letter tweeted to news organizations by passengers of the ship.

“For all of us, this is a very disappointing development,” they added. “It was ultimately the decision by local authorities in Morocco that has necessitated us to adjust our plans,” the organizers stated in quotes carried by Reuters.

But Moroccan tourism minister Lahcen Haddad rebuffed accusations that an official decision had been made to block the holiday-makers’ entry, adding that they were welcome to enter the country.

“We don’t ban cruise ships here and we never ask our visitors about their sexual preferences,” he told Reuters. Asked if the MS Nieuw Amsterdam could still visit Morocco, he said: “They can if the organizers want to.”

Morocco has been part of a regional wave of support for Islamist movements following Arab uprisings which began last year. Tourism has been a popular topic of discussion among countries which are now being led by Islamist political powers, such as Morocco.

The North African country’s ruling coalition is led by moderate Islamists of the Justice and Development Party, which came to power in December.
But while Morocco is considered to be more tolerant than neighboring Islamic countries, a law deems same-gender sexual relationships “lewd or unnatural” and punishes them with six months to three years in jail.

Morocco attracts large numbers of tourists, especially from western Europe, providing much-needed foreign currency and jobs to an economy that lacks the oil riches of neighboring states.

The tourism sector accounts for 10 percent of Morocco’s gross domestic product and 450,000 jobs.