‘A virtual ath sentence’: Gay Afghans brace for uncerta future unr Taliban

Contents:

• GAY AFGHAN: THE TALIBAN KILLED MY BOYIEND
• GAY AFGHANISTAN, AFTER THE TALIBAN. HOMOSEXUALY AS TRADN
• GAY AFGHANISTAN: HOMOEROTICISM AMONG KABUL'S WARRRS
• ‘JT LIKE THE NAZIS’: GAY AFGHANS FACE ‘EXTERMATN’ UNR TALIBAN
• MEN OM AFGHANISTAN'S SECRET GAY MUNY SAY THEY ARE LIVG THROUGH A 'NIGHTMARE' AND FEAR THAT THE TALIBAN WILL EXECUTE THEM AT ANY MOMENT
• GAY REFUGEE PLEADS FOR AMERINS TO HELP LGBT AFGHANS
• ‘A VIRTUAL ATH SENTENCE’: GAY AFGHANS BRACE FOR UNCERTA FUTURE UNR TALIBAN

GAY AFGHAN: THE TALIBAN KILLED MY BOYIEND

AfghanGay men Afghanistan have told the Brish news se the i about the fears they have now that the Taliban have gaed ntrol of the untry.

Afterwards they said they brought the body [back] and cut his body to piec to show the people that this is what we do wh gay people, ” Gabir told the believg the killg to be te, Gabir said he kept llg his boyiend’s phone.

He said, ‘I know you are gay, before pturg Kabul we knew everythg about you, you have three or four iends who are gay, you have a boyiend. Two more siar stori about the recurrence of Pashtun homosexualy, om the New York Tim (Febary 2002) and Tim of London (January 2002), n be found the Afghanistan News & Reports 2002-04. So proclaims a vigoroly relig ‘imam’ om his Inter pulp, makg clear the posn of the vast majory of Mlims regardg homosexualy.

GAY AFGHANISTAN, AFTER THE TALIBAN. HOMOSEXUALY AS TRADN

From the wtern shor of ancient Moroc across thoands of sandy Islamic to the far eastern islands of Indonia, almost half the distance of our known world, homosexual behavr is pronounced anathema to the fahful.

GAY AFGHANISTAN: HOMOEROTICISM AMONG KABUL'S WARRRS

But simple and superst scrib of the fahs have wrten reams of florid, passnate and volnic vers that embrace an artificial dichotomy of homo-and-hetero sexual and emotnal orientatn. Bis s natural occurrence our gen and nrons, another reason homosexual behavr and sire has not been stamped out by every nceivable type of secular cure and sacred persecutn is that homosexualy serv both relign and culture well. It is perhaps one of the great anthropologil paradox (if not hypocrisi) that the history and behavr of homosexualy has been rried down through fifteen centuri by genr-segregated Mlim cultur and, as well, by male Christian monastic nferatns.

A thoughtful rear who engag cross-cultural studi will not get far before they disver what many wtern lbigay people already know about the digeno and hidn homosexual tradn practiced, lol varieti, by untls unmarried and married men Arab/Mlim untri. In the cultur, homosexual activy serv as a temporary (yet valid and important) proxy stage of growth between puberty and marriage. (6) The great Mlim emphasis on fay life renrs homosexualy far ls threateng to Mlim societi than to Wtern on (Mlim men seekg formally to marry each other remas unimagable).

In most morn Islamic ‘cultural’ (premaral) homosexual behavr there is a mute unrstandg that sex is mutually nsensual, temporary and that ’s a form of pannship, if not affectn, among peers.

‘JT LIKE THE NAZIS’: GAY AFGHANS FACE ‘EXTERMATN’ UNR TALIBAN

Whether the activy is mutual or forceful, there is an almost universal attu the eastern cultur that such sexual dulgence is not ‘gay’, that is, ’s not sex or love between two men who intify as homosexuals. ) Rather, a llective mental shell game the meang of sex is re-amed: heterosexual men engage homosexual behavr which the younger guy is not a ‘fem’ but obedient and passive and the olr one is not a ‘butch queer’ but assertive and active.

It stirs up, aga, trigug issu of homosexual inty vs homosexual behavr: do behavr fe inty or is inty separate om behavr–and how do behavr and inty terface wh sexual orientatn…? The rult is that vlatns of ternatnal human rights, pecially for women and gays, are jtified by opprsive ernments g the ‘higher’ Koranic dictat. And perhaps bee the ethnic Phtuns who domate Kandahar are the most religly nservative of Afghanistan’s major ethnic groups, they have, by most acunts, a higher cince of homosexual relatns.

” Followg the mullah’s math, this suggts that between 18% and 45% of men here engage homosexual sex–signifintly higher than the 3% to 7% of Amerin men who, acrdg to studi, intify themselv as homosexual.

MEN OM AFGHANISTAN'S SECRET GAY MUNY SAY THEY ARE LIVG THROUGH A 'NIGHTMARE' AND FEAR THAT THE TALIBAN WILL EXECUTE THEM AT ANY MOMENT

In Febary 1998, ed a tank to ph a brick wall on top of three men, two acced of sodomy and the third of homosexual rape. It’s not only relig thori who scribe homosexual sex as mon among the Mohammed Nasem Zafar, a profsor at Kandahar Medil College, timat that about 50% of the cy’s male rints have sex wh men or boys at some pot their liv. Richardson, the psychiatry profsor, says would be wrong to ll Afghan men homosexual, sce their cisn to have sex wh men is not a reflectn of what Wterners ll genr inty.

Dpe the apparent homosexual behavr of the men the story, same-sex attractn is, paradoxilly, srned the Afghan culture.

Homosexualy is not unrstood as anythg natural or acceptable and the ia of mutual same-sex pleasure or romance is alien to the vast majory who have never enuntered such ias. For some of the married-wh-kids men, ’s also possible that some of them are really gay and this tradnal nqut of younger guys serv their secret very well.

GAY REFUGEE PLEADS FOR AMERINS TO HELP LGBT AFGHANS

But even here the gay man ns a risk sce the younger man is probably heterosexual and knows (after parg not wh his own peers) the rol and lims expected of both of them. And there uld hardly be a greater fear than beg exposed as a homosexual and huiated ont of one’s fay, iends or muny. Rather ’s a larger overview of the new ernment’s hoped-for attu toward legislatg human rights to a long opprsed populace–cludg gay and lbian cizens.

22 will disntue executns of people charged wh sodomy and will likely adopt a more tolerant policy on human rights for gays, acrdg to a spokperson for the Northern Alliance, the Afghan ary factn that fought agast the Taliban. Am said he uld not predict how the new terim ernment would addrs specific human rights issu, such as anti-gay persecutn, but said he was certa the ernment-sponsored ab of women and mori unr the Taliban ernment would be disntued. Bmberg said that while Afghanistan’s nservative, Islamic tradns would make unlikely that Karzai would openly embrace gay rights, he said the changg ndns brought about by the oter of the Taliban will enable Karzai to at least put an end to dranian practice such as summary executns of gays.

‘A VIRTUAL ATH SENTENCE’: GAY AFGHANS BRACE FOR UNCERTA FUTURE UNR TALIBAN

Sce the Uned Stat began s war agast terrorism late September, gay rights advot have exprsed ncern that many of the Arab and Islamic untri that signed on as aln partners the war routely treat gays as crimals. Gay rights anizatns, cludg the Internatnal Lbian & Gay Human Rights Commissn, said they regnize the need for the Uned Stat to align self wh Islamic and Arab natns the war agast terrorism.

But they said the Uned Stat and other Wtern alli should e their relatnship wh Arab and Islamic untri to persua those ernments to improve ndns for gays. Hodgett said that while the Bonn agreement is silent on the qutn of anti-gay persecutn, he is hopeful that the agreement’s ll for the tablishment of an pennt judiciary and the creatn of a pluralistic mocracy would lay the groundwork for curtailg persecutn of mori, cludg gays.

Gay Mlims hopeful Faisal Alam, founr of the gay Islamic group Al Fatiha (), said his group is monorg the latt velopments Afghanistan and is utly optimistic that the climate for gays there will improve, at least somewhat. ” Alam said that while groups have formed over the years reprentg gays a number of Islamic untri, he is unaware of the existence of any gay Afghan group. The lack of such an anizatn, and the lack of any visible prence of a gay muny Afghanistan, means that those who favor improvements the treatment of gays Afghanistan mt direct their attentn “to our own ernments, ” Alam said.