The ‘Nightmare’ of Beg Gay Tunisia - DAWN

Contents:

• TUNISIA ULTIMATE ERARY: THGS TO DO AND SEE WH 10 DAYS GAY TUNISIA
• THE 'NIGHTMARE' OF BEG GAY TUNISIA
• A QUEER FILM FTIVAL TUNISIA — WHERE BEG GAY IS ILLEGAL
• DISVER THE 5 MOST GAY-IENDLY ARAB UNTRI
• TRAVEL TO TUNISIA FOR GAY PEOPLE - TUNISIA FOM
• IS IT FALLY OK TO BE GAY IN TUNISIA?
• IS THERE ANY GAY BARS OR CLUBS HAMMAMET TUNISIA - HAMMAMET FOM
• TUNISIAN LGBT ACTIVIST: GAY COMMUNY IS PERSECUTED AS SO-CALLED PROGRSIV STAY SILENT
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

TUNISIA ULTIMATE ERARY: THGS TO DO AND SEE WH 10 DAYS GAY TUNISIA

Tunisia ultimate erary: thgs to do and see wh 10 days gay TunisiaStori > Iterari > Tunisia ultimate erary: thgs to do and see wh 10 days gay TunisiaSomethg of a sand-buried secret North Ai is the natn of Tunisia, beneftg om both Mederranean beach and Saharan dun that enclose much the way of unique natnal culture. Dpe this, creased lol LGBTQ+ activism and acceptance has risen up sce the 2011 revolutn, makg Tunisia one of the better plac the Arab world to be Tunisia gay scene is not easy to fe but, thanks to the ter, ’s bee ever easier to tap to s varyg levels. The lack of anisatn and outward stutns however means ’s hard to form a legimate gay muny, but ongog work om anisatns like ‘Associatn Shams’ and ‘Mawjoud’ helps prent a proud face for gay Tunisia.

Before a sectn on Tunisia’s LGBTQ muny was clud the overall sectn on the state of the LGBTQ movement around the world, Baatour worked wh advot to ph for the aboln of Article 230, which punish homosexualy for up to three years prison. Workg njunctn wh human rights anizatns, the activists succsfully lled on their ernment to disntue the practice of anal examatns, which was ed to terme one’s sexual orientatn and subsequently punish homosexualy. Acrdg to Baatour, who is also the print of the Tunisian LGBTQ rights group Shams – Pour la Dépénalisatn L’homosexualé en Tunisie (Shams – for the Decrimalizatn of Homosexualy Tunisia), women’s movements the untry, cludg the Tunisian Associatn of Democratic Women, “were on the ontl” when me to advotg for LGBTQ rights and repealg Article 230.

THE 'NIGHTMARE' OF BEG GAY TUNISIA

“When Ghannouchi refed to meet wh and refed to engage any type of dialogue about LGBTQ rights, the party took a more aggrsive stance toward the muny, clarg var lol media outlets that homosexualy is a crime and a s and that gay people should be imprisoned, ” Baatour said. His oral shows what is like livg as an LGBTQ person a untry where homosexualy is nmned and illegal, and the social stigma of beg exposed n have dire nsequenc on people's a recent terview wh Democracy Exile, Belhadj said that his se was overwhelmgly publicized whout his knowledge while he was prison.

Ali Boselmi, the executive director of Mawjoud—"We Exist, " Arabic—a Tunisian NGO fightg for LGBTQ rights, nfirmed Belhadj's acunt of prison and scribed the majory of Tunisian society as homophobic.

A QUEER FILM FTIVAL TUNISIA — WHERE BEG GAY IS ILLEGAL

"When Mounir Baatour, who is also the head of Tunisia's Liberal Party, announced 2019 that he would n for the untry's princy, he beme the first openly gay printial ndidate not only Tunisia but throughout the Arab world. Asked why the Tunisian ernment allows the NGOs to operate while the penal crimaliz homosexualy, Baatour said that there is a difference between civil and crimal law: "The civil law allows to create an associatn, but the crimal law nmns homosexualy.

"LGBTQ activists and human rights lawyers prott outsi a urt Tunis after filg a requt mandg the crimalizatn of homosexualy the untry, followg an appeal agast the sentencg of two Tunisians jailed unr the strict penal , Dec.

Although there are signs that attus towards Tunisia's lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people are improvg, activists say police grew embolned followg antiernment protts this year as the untry's enomy flailed amid the COVID-19 Interr Mistry and the leadg police unn did not rpond to requts for ment on activists' is a veteran activist who found his first LGBTQ rights group 2002, when tocratic Print Ze El Abide Ben Ali still led Tunisia.

DISVER THE 5 MOST GAY-IENDLY ARAB UNTRI

The bed number is five tim higher than prev years, acrdg to the Tunisia has sunk more eply to a polil and enomic crisis, wh Print Kais Saied takg on sweepg powers July that threatened the untry's mocracy, has bee more difficult for activists to keep LGBT rights on the Baabou thks that the crimalizatn of homosexualy is unlikely any time soon, he is more optimistic about "middle term" prospects. The ftival is jt one element of the anizatn’s missn, which clus advotg for the repeal of Article 230 (a law created durg the French lonial perd that crimalized homosexualy and still stands), and fendg the rights of the “margalized, stigmatized and crimalized, ” the words of Cyre Hammemi, 24, the ftival’s regnal plite thgs further, Tunisia, trans people are not addrsed at all legal terms, and are lumped together the otherns that is nsired gayns.

TRAVEL TO TUNISIA FOR GAY PEOPLE - TUNISIA FOM

”Among the films screened were a short film about a young boy foster re who is rejected by new foster parents over his nonnormative behavr (“The Orphan, ” a Brazilian short by Carola Markowicz); a silent gay love story om India (“Sisak, ” directed by Faraz Arif Ansari, who holds actg workshops for the Indian trans muny so that he n st a trans actor a feature film); a Tunisian documentary short followg three trans women as they prepare to go out on the town, an pe om their everyday, socially nstricted liv (“Travtie, ” by the Tunisian director Safo Ablali); and, to close the ftival, a documentary about a Syrian refugee livg Turkey who attempts to get a visa through the Mr.

Gay Syria, ” by the Turkish director Ayse Toprak) ftival striv to balance celebratg queer and trans inty wh tnal efforts around safety; panels were held on subjects like “Self-Doxxg Trag” and “Digal Hygiene and Risk.

” Other panels were more joyo, like “Delonize the Dancefloor, ” a visual history lson of dance styl that origated the gay participants, life at the ftival stood stark ntrast to the one jt outsi, full of utn and fear. Muny here and elsewhere remaed the after-party, Talel, 20, a Tunisian lol, was beamg watchg the crowd dancg eely beneath the multilored lights “I feel so happy, ” he said, “’s my first gay party. His tentn was to addrs Tunisian stereotyp: “For me, my goal, and I hope I will succeed dog this at least once, is to screen out of a safe ntext wh people which clu the homophobic majory, and that people start -stereotypg and stigmatizg the L.

IS IT FALLY OK TO BE GAY IN TUNISIA?

What I almost never saw om my seat at my favore hnt—the Café Paris, chosen bee, not attached to a hotel, always attracted more Tunisians than tourists—were any signs of a visible, easily intifiable gay or lbian culture. While the gay visor particular might be thrown ially by the ways which two men or two women openly display their physil affectn—whenever we would cross the avenue together, for example, my iend Hs would grab my hand to make sure that I would not be n down by one of Tunis’s notorly reckls b drivers—and while the sight of a man walkg down the street wh a jasme blossom tucked behd his ear might (wrongly) suggt otherwise, open signs of Wtern-style gay inty are owned upon if not absolutely taboo. In some s, this adolcent homosexual behavr is nsired a stage of life that will soon be left behd, so men who ntue the practice to adulthood—or, worse, who still prefer the passive role—are open to cricism, or worse.

Though sometim clumsily censored, Wtern shows wh gay characters—like The OC or the Spanish Un Dos Tr, a Fame-style show about a performg arts school—are easily available via satelle dish, as are gay phone sex ads that ma me blh.

We also sometim fet the ways which, even the Wt, gay style is munited through the media and “assumed” by as we figure out how to reprent ourselv to each other and to a larger heterosexual public.

IS THERE ANY GAY BARS OR CLUBS HAMMAMET TUNISIA - HAMMAMET FOM

Bee a visible gay inty is often seen the Islamic world as a product of the Wt, is difficult to untangle a rejectn of gay inty om a rejectn of the Wt wh s profoundly different standards of public behavr and private moraly.

TUNISIAN LGBT ACTIVIST: GAY COMMUNY IS PERSECUTED AS SO-CALLED PROGRSIV STAY SILENT

Somethg to nsir, then, is the possibily that the tenncy of our media to portray Islam a negative light is makg harr for those Tunisians who wish to “e out” as pennt women, as gay, or as otherwise nontradnal. The fact that gay inty is built precisely upon a public acknowledgment of beg gay plit thgs a society where, for example, men are so most that they shower their unrwear at the gym, or where, until recently, heterosexual upl uld not so much as hold hands public. His homosexualy, along wh his antipathy for relign of any kd and his awarens of the many ironi of his role as a universy profsor a police state, had left him, if not exactly jad, at least world-weary om a lifetime of knowg, but never beg able to say out loud, that the emperor has no cloth.

If you n five the state-approved homophobia and are willg to act wh discretn while out and about, the Arab untri n reem themselv a thoand and one different ways, om the ancient centre of Petra to the glterg ephets of Bahra and to the serts beyond. While by and large closeted kgdoms, the handful of gay clubs the progrsive cy of Beit n allow you to be your te self, while the luxury ternatnal hotels across the regn n ensure your privacy is rpected. Wh so much do see and do, Mt is bt seen by tour b, allowg you to hop off at untls mms, the Sultan’s Palace and the Mutrah Corniche wateront, before venturg further afield on day trips to the beach and turtle-filled lagoons for divg and of the slightly more tolerant untri the regn, Oman is said to have once had s own gay sultan – Sultan Qaboos b Said al Said – although the state prs is quick to ny this as a pric mour!

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

In realy, the laws are rarely upheld except high-profile s, however, and gay Oman remas a perfectly safe place to | Photo: Katera KerdiPetra, particular, is the crowng glory of Jordan, protected wh sandstone cliffs and offerg an unrivalled llectn of monuments, cludg the fg Siq to the Treasury on an ethereal sert se of red rock and dun known as Wadi Rum2. Jordan crimalised homophobia as early as 1951 and while there remas social stigma and ‘public moraly’ laws that hr LGBTQ+ eedoms, gay Jordan gas tractn thanks to s unrground gay muny (most active on Grdr! Avoid the occurrenc and Lebanon will she, thanks to s fantastic beach rorts not far om the pal as well as s mounta vistas, ancient s and more, all urteoly attend by kdly Lebane social stigma rgs te and the ft array of Arabian gays is likely to be found onle (hello Grdr, my old iend) gay Lebanon is perhaps one of the few Arab natns where a tentative gay scene tak shape real life.