Mounir Baatour: An openly gay ndidate is nng for print Tunisia - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• TUNISIA HAS S FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE FOR PRINT
• PRéSINTIELLE TUNISIENNE : QUI T MOUNIR BAATOUR, LE PREMIER NDIDAT OUVERTEMENT GAY ?
• OPENLY GAY LAWYER SEEKS TUNISIAN PRINCY FIRST FOR ARAB WORLD
• TUNISIA'S FIRST GAY PRINTIAL CANDIDATE FAC THREATS FROM EXTREMISTS
• AN OPENLY GAY NDIDATE IS NNG FOR PRINT TUNISIA, A TONE FOR THE ARAB WORLD
• IN FIRST FOR ARAB WORLD, OPENLY GAY NDIDATE NS FOR TUNISIA’S PRINCY
• MOUNIR BAATOUR, LE PREMIER NDIDAT GAY à LA PRéSINCE EN TUNISIE
• MOUNIR BAATOUR, FIRST OPENLY GAY CANDIDATE TUNISIA, IS RUNNG FOR PRINT
• EN TUNISIE, LE PREMIER NDIDAT GAY à LA PRéSINTIELLE DéRANGE
• TUNISIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY ASPIRG PRINTIAL NDIDATE
• OPENLY GAY TUNISIAN PRINTIAL CANDIDATE FAILS TO QUALIFY
• TUNISIA: OPENLY GAY PRINTIAL CANDIDATE FAILS TO QUALIFY
• HERE'S THE FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE NNG FOR TUNSIA'S PRINCY
• FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE TUNISIA’S PRINTIAL RACE
• FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE JOS TUNISIA'S PRINTIAL RACE
• ANTI-GAY NDIDATE LEADS TUNISIA’S PRINTIAL ELECTN
• TUNISIEMOUNIR BAATOUR, GAY ET NDIDAT à LA PRéSINTIELLE TUNISIENNE
• ALL 4 NY EPISPAL BISHOP NDIDAT WILL ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE IF ELECTED
• TUNISIA HAS S FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE FOR PRINT

TUNISIA HAS S FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE FOR PRINT

Jt months after a Tunisian printial missn remend the crimalizatn of homosexualy, the North Ain natn has s first openly gay ndidate for print: Mounir Baatour.

Baatour’s ndidacy is noteworthy bee Tunisia homosexualy is still a crime that is punishable by up to three years prison.

Baatour himself was jailed 2013 for an accatn of “homosexualy, ” and he said prison was “very hard, and the psychologil impact is very sad, and after that I was prsn for one year. Baatour vowed to go to urt to challenge any effort to bar his ndidacy, though he said he llected double the number of signatur required to June, the Commtee on Individual Freedoms and Equaly, known by s French acronym COLIBE, released a report that remend an overhl of Tunisia’s penal — cludg endg the untry’s crimalizatn of homosexualy. “Therefore the missn remends ncelg [the crimalizatn of homosexualy], sce vlat the self-evint private life, and bee has brought cricism to the Republic of Tunisia om ternatnal human rights bodi.

PRéSINTIELLE TUNISIENNE : QUI T MOUNIR BAATOUR, LE PREMIER NDIDAT OUVERTEMENT GAY ?

“The ma ia of my ndidacy is to fight more for more eedom Tunisia, more dividual rights, and to stop the persecutn agast LGBT muny engaged by the ernment agast all homosexuals my untry. The Tunisian uprisg spired siar movements Yemen, Libya, and Egypt that also posed prints, while an uprisg Syria morphed to the civil war that ntu to this Karger, who his 2012 Republin primary n beme the first openly gay Amerin to n for print, ngratulated Baatour on Twter.

Mounir Baatour, ouvertement homosexuel et présint l’associatn Shams qui e pour la dépénalisatn l'homosexualé en Tunisie, t ndidat à l’électn présintielle tunisienne du 10 novembre 2019.

"Libérer la Tunisie s vix partis"L'article 230 du Co pénal tunisien ndamne l'homosexualé à "trois ans d'emprisonnement". Selon lui, avant "l'arrivée s islamist pouvoir – la troïka en 2011, l'alliance entre Nidaa Toun et Ennahdha en 2014", l persécutns envers l homosexuels en Tunisie étaient mos urant qu'jourd'hui. Rennu à l’étranger pour son bat pour la défense s dros s homosexuels (il a notamment reçu en 2018 le prix Idaho en France), Mounir Baatour a déjà pu rassembler pl que l 10 000 signatur né ndidature a également provoqué s réactns négativ.

OPENLY GAY LAWYER SEEKS TUNISIAN PRINCY FIRST FOR ARAB WORLD

For the first time, an openly gay ndidate has thrown his hat the rg for a printial electn Tunisia. Baatour, a lawyer at Tunisia’s hight urt and the print of Shams, a group seekg the crimalisatn of homosexualy the untry, has officially applied for a spot on the ballot ahead of the September 15 printial electn. "The fact that I'm gay don't change anythg.

TUNISIA'S FIRST GAY PRINTIAL CANDIDATE FAC THREATS FROM EXTREMISTS

‘Liberate Tunisia om the old parti’In Tunisia, homosexualy is punishable by three years prison.

He argu that persecutn of homosexuals was ls pervasive before 2011, the year Ennahda first joed a erng aln the wake of the Arab Sprg uprisg that toppled longtime lear Ze al-Abide Ben Ali.

Congratulatns and wishg you well @mounirbaatour Tunisia printial electn I was 1st openly gay major-party ndidate to n for print US 8 years ago We face many obstacl but will give hope to lns and make easier for all who follow our path ?️‍??️‍? Fred Karger (@edkarger) Augt 10, 2019.

AN OPENLY GAY NDIDATE IS NNG FOR PRINT TUNISIA, A TONE FOR THE ARAB WORLD

Regnised abroad for his gay rights work – Baatour won France’s Idaho Prize for his efforts 2018 – he had already assembled the 10, 000 signatur need to get his name on the printial ballot a month ago. Meanwhile, a number of gay rights groups have sought to distance themselv om Baatour’s bid, postg a petn onle claimg he “do not reprent the LGBTIQ+ muny or our movements Tunisia”, although the iative has so far gathered only two-thirds of s 500-signature target. “It is hard to tell which posn will hurt Baatour’s electoral chanc more, his stance on gay rights or his support for normalisatn wh Israel”, the left-leang daily nclud.

IN FIRST FOR ARAB WORLD, OPENLY GAY NDIDATE NS FOR TUNISIA’S PRINCY

A longtime human rights lawyer who is nng for Tunisia’s princy as the untry's first gay ndidate says he is receivg threats om radil Islamist groups.

MOUNIR BAATOUR, LE PREMIER NDIDAT GAY à LA PRéSINCE EN TUNISIE

Law 230 of the Tunisian crimal jtice system f homosexualy as a crime and penaliz people nvicted of beg homosexual wh up to three years prison. Dpe Baatour's low chanc of wng, some gay advocy groups have exprsed ncerns that his nomatn uld enrage extremist groups the untry and th put the LGBTQ muny danger.

Last month, 18 Tunisian anizatns reprentg gay rights signed a petn that refed to support him. Lawyer Mounir Baatour officially announced his ndidacy for the Tunisian princy Thursday, beg the first known openly gay printial ndidate the Arab world and heraldg a major step forward for LGBT rights a untry that still crimaliz gay sex.

Freedom of exprsn has expand signifintly the new mocracy and prevly reprsed polil groups have burst onto the natnal LGBT Tunisians rema margalized, and thori have ntued to prosecute Tunisians for engagg gay sex — a crime punishable by up to three years prison unr Article 230 of Tunisia’s crimal . Baatour, 48, has ma a name for himself the small North Ain untry as a champn of gay rights.

MOUNIR BAATOUR, FIRST OPENLY GAY CANDIDATE TUNISIA, IS RUNNG FOR PRINT

Rabow flags adorn his social media acunts, and he has talked openly about his sexualy and wrten op-eds mandg the repeal of Article 2015, he found the advocy anizatn Shams — “sun” Arabic — which has phed for the crimalizatn of gay sex and fought the ongog practice of thori forcg men they spect of havg sex wh other men to subm to anal Tunisian ernment has repeatedly tried to shut down Shams — most recently Febary, when the ernment petned an appeals urt to overturn a lg the anizatn’s favor. In s petn to the urt, the ernment wrote that homosexualy is “ntrary to Islam” and that “this associatn offends the Arab-Mlim sensibily of the Tunisian people, ” acrdg to an op-ed Baatour published HuffPost Maghreb. Baatour’s ndidacy is no small feat a regn where tolerance of homosexualy remas low across the board.

A 2019 Arab Barometer survey of more than 25, 000 people across the Arab world found that Algeria — the untry most tolerant of gay people — only 26 percent of rponnts reported fdg homosexualy acceptable.

If do so, Baatour will face an uphill battle durg the two-week mpaigng perd early profsor Kaïs Saïed, pollg send after Nsma TV founr Nabil Karoui, has suggted homosexualy is a foreign plot.

EN TUNISIE, LE PREMIER NDIDAT GAY à LA PRéSINTIELLE DéRANGE

Many Islamists, meanwhile, protted a printial task force report last year that remend, among other thgs, the crimalizatn of homosexual activy.

Liberal Party lear Mounir Baatour, an openly gay lawyer, announced on Thursday he would stand Tunisia's printial electns, markg a first for the Arab world. 'The fact that I'm gay don't change anythg'"The fact that I'm gay don't change anythg. Baatour is -founr of the Shams associatn, through which he has for years mpaigned agast Tunisia's crimalisatn of gay sex, which rri a sentence of up to three years.

TUNISIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY ASPIRG PRINTIAL NDIDATE

It rerd more than 25 nvictns the first quarter of month's petn agast his potential ndidacy was signed by numero anisatns for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, tersex and queer rights. L'avot d'affair a décidé s'engager en venant le tout premier ndidat ouvertement homosexuel à une présintielle dans le mon arabe.

OPENLY GAY TUNISIAN PRINTIAL CANDIDATE FAILS TO QUALIFY

Sur la qutn l'homosexualé, la Tunisie sera le pays le mos tolérant du Maghreb, selon un sondage réalisé pour la BBC mois ju.

À pee 7% la populatn tunisienne time que l'homosexualé t «acceptable». Depuis quelqu anné, il lui arrive plair pour la défense dans s procès pour homosexualé.

«En tant qu'avot je me suis retrouvé en première ligne pour défendre l homosexuels […].

TUNISIA: OPENLY GAY PRINTIAL CANDIDATE FAILS TO QUALIFY

«J'étais surveillé et notoirement nnu me homosexuel. Pl d'une centae d'homosexuels sont terpellés et il n'y a personne pour suivre l affair.

Celui qui rêve venir le premier présint gay son pays gar ux paquets vant lui pendant notre entrevue. Voici l'avot accé vlatn la vie privée, urir après l médias pour rendre publics l act homophob «sans se soucier s danger xquels s'exposent [l victim]», parfois même sans avoir lr acrd. Cx qui disent que la société tunisienne n't pas enre prête à dépénaliser l'homosexualé.

HERE'S THE FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE NNG FOR TUNSIA'S PRINCY

No, no voulons la dépénalisatn tout sue et c't pour cette raison que no montons créne chaque fois qu'il y a s propos homophob ten par s personnalés, c't pour cela que no no plaignons dès qu'il y a s arrtatns Conseil s dros l'homme l'Onu. For the first time Tunisia’s history, an openly gay ndidate is nng for print.

His anizatn, Shams Associatn, has been engaged the crimalizatn of homosexualy Tunisia sce 2014. In January 2019, Baatour told the French Le Pot: “homosexuals are cizens whout rights Tunisia.

Homosexualy is still a polil and societal taboo Tunisia. Asi om the fact that a majory of Tunisians believe homosexualy is a mental illns, there are many who ll for murrg members of the LGBT+ muny.

FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE TUNISIA’S PRINTIAL RACE

In 2015, several young people were arrted on charg of homosexualy. In 2016, a number of Tunisian celebri and well-known dividuals mand the ncelatn of Article 230 of the Penal Co, which crimaliz homosexualy.

FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE JOS TUNISIA'S PRINTIAL RACE

Fally, given the historic nature of his ndidacy, he was asked how he would crimalize homosexualy given the nservative attus towards homosexualy Tunisia: “Polil will is need to rce homophobia society.

Today too, polil will is need to crimalize homosexualy and fight homophobia. Mounir Baatour t un avot qui affiche clairement son homosexualé, mais il t ntté se la munté LGBT, qui le vo me un "énorme danger".

ANTI-GAY NDIDATE LEADS TUNISIA’S PRINTIAL ELECTN

ASSOCIATED PRESS TUNISIE - L’avot tunisien Mounir Baatour qui affiche son homosexualé et se présente me défensr s dros s LGBTQ même s’il t ntté se cette munté, a déposé ce jdi 8 août sa ndidature pour la présintielle en Tunisie, une première dans le mon arabe. Pour sa formatn, le Parti libéral, cette ndidature t “une première qui fera, nul doute, référence dans l’histoire: un ndidat ouvertement gay se déclare ndidat à l’électn présintielle tunisienne”. Toutefois, près d’une vgtae d’associatns défendant l dros s personn homosexuell et trans en Aique du Nord et sur le pourtour méderranéen ont timé dans une pétn que Mounir Baatour représente un “danger” pour la munté LGBTQ (Lbienn, gays, bisexuels, transgenr et en qutnnement).

“Le fa que je sois homosexuel ne change rien du tout. Par aillrs, ell dénoncent une volonté médiatisatn à outrance s act homophob, qute parfois à mettre en danger l victim en rompant lr anonymat, sans qu’ell soient nsentant.

TUNISIEMOUNIR BAATOUR, GAY ET NDIDAT à LA PRéSINTIELLE TUNISIENNE

Mounir Baatour is the first openly gay man aspirg to ntt the printial electn Tunisia.

ALL 4 NY EPISPAL BISHOP NDIDAT WILL ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE IF ELECTED

“Among the thgs that I will surely do is to guarantee the rights of the LGBT muny that is beg persecuted Tunisia, and pecially the aboln of Article 230 of the Penal Co, which penaliz homosexualy, ’‘ Baatour said. Homosexualy is reprsed this North Ain natn. But nearly a dozen groups fendg rights of gay and trans people North Ai and the Mederranean say the Print of the Liberal Party reprents ‘‘danger’‘ for the LGBTQ muny.

Dpe the fact that his nng for printial electns Tunisia set a precent the untry's history, and regardls of his promise to crimalize homosexualy if he ws, the LGBT muny rejoiced after Mounir Baatour's ndidacy was rejected. " This statement clud the anizatns 'Damj "Mawjoud" "Alwani" "Mouja" "Gayday Magaze" "Honna", "Collectif Chaml" ”Associatn pour la promotn du dro à la différence" (ADD) and others.

TUNISIA HAS S FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE FOR PRINT

The signatori add “We unrstand, how empowerg would feel, havg someone om the LGBTIQ+ muny openly reprent their ndidacy for the printial electn a untry, where homosexualy is still illegal, but we would never support someone jt bee of his sexualy/genr inty/ genr exprsn, whout havg a eper unrstandg of their eds. The LGBT muny Tunisia do not tolerate the practic regardls of whether gay or not”.

It is jt the ndidacy of a Gay man Tunis projects an image that n be sold abroad whout creatg any real impact the untry” The executive director of Mawjouen go further, argug that Baatour pos a "great risk" to Tunisian society general and LGBT specifilly bee he is rpt and has the money and power to help him m more rape and harassment public, as well as boast of normalizatn.

Boselmi explas "Shams do not have any on the ground activi to fend LGBT people, and only when someone is arrted bee of their homosexualy, Baatour tak up their se and acts as their lawyer and then he spreads this on social media orr to bee famo when often, realy, he is absent om urt heargs and we or another anizatn have to hire a lawyer for the imprisoned person” He also acced Baatour and his associatn of "llectg and stealg huge funds om those terted LGBT rights Tunisia and Europe on the pretext of tablishg activi for the associatn, which later turned out to be unte, " he add, “ we don’t want any thori to believe and discred Shams whout evince what we want is greater foc on what is our past statements and our accatns” The Common Mistake On the other hand, Boselmi do not ny that one of the reasons for the promence of "Shams" as a reprentative of the LGBT muny Tunisia, pecially abroad, is due to mistak mted by other anizatns some of which sist "to exercise all their activi secret to protect members of the muny spe all the wonrful work they do” As for his anizatn Mawjood, he poted out that they mted a siar mistake “At the outset, due to extreme utn, took a long time to anize any activy to avoid harmg our members, ” he said. LGBT Tunisia: Rift over Israel, tactics, morals of gay ndidateEleven Tunisian LGBT rights groups have attacked gay printial ndidate Mounir Baatour and his LGBT associatn, Shams, cricizg them for lack of hostily to Israel, for alleged sexual abe, and for their tactic of “outg” policians and ntent-wi LGBT rights anizatn Pan-Ai ILGA rpond to the dispute by urgg activists the Middle East / North Ai (MENA) regn to make sure that the accatns agast Baatour are based on firm evince:Mounir Baatour is directly lked to [our anizatn]. Arab World’s First Openly Gay Printial Candidate Runs Tunisia.