Btal crackdown has gay and transgenr Egyptians askg: Is time to leave? - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• A VOICE FOR THE VOICELS: AMIDST A BTAL CRACKDOWN, THIS GAY EGYPTIAN LOOKS FOR HOPE
• BTAL CRACKDOWN HAS GAY AND TRANSGENR EGYPTIANS ASKG: IS TIME TO LEAVE?
• HOW ONE GAY EGYPTIAN WOMAN STOOD UP TO HOMOPHOBIA AND PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE
• PICTURES: MOHAMMAD RAMADAN THE GAY PORN VIO
• ARRTED FOR WAVG RABOW FLAG, A GAY EGYPTIAN TAK HER LIFE
• EGYPTIAN OFFICIALS SYSTEMILLY ABE AND TORTURE GAYS, RIGHTS GROUP SAYS

A VOICE FOR THE VOICELS: AMIDST A BTAL CRACKDOWN, THIS GAY EGYPTIAN LOOKS FOR HOPE

An openly gay man onts Lebanon's Mashrou' Leila – and when fans waved rabow flags at a show outsi Cairo, the arrts soon followed. The lol micians’ syndite banned Mashrou’ Leila om playg the untry, and Egyptian thori lnched what activists and human rights observers are now sayg is the worst-ever crackdown on the untry’s gay muny, arrtg dozens on “bchery” charg.

“My life spent wh rights mortgaged off to your sentiments / My history erased om our books like they were yours to claim, ” Sno sgs their song “Tayf” (“Ghost”), a solemn but fiant tribute to a Beit gay bar that was shut down by Lebane thori 2013.

As the ernment secured ntrol over the untry, police began to crack down on the gay muny, lnchg a seri of raids and arrts while pro-ernment media outlets stoked public sex sndals. Acrdg to Dalia Abl Hameed, genr and women’s rights officer at the Cairo-based Egyptian Iniative for Personal Rights, gay men specifilly are often targeted entrapment schem through datg apps like Grdr. For Sno, all of this mak him reflect on his role as an openly gay artist makg mic the Middle East and North Ai – feelg a sense of rponsibily towards LGBTQ fans, while also feelg the need to be an artist and person on his own terms.

BTAL CRACKDOWN HAS GAY AND TRANSGENR EGYPTIANS ASKG: IS TIME TO LEAVE?

The msag e om iends and strangers alike, members of the gay Egyptian muny I left behd five years ago when I me out as gay and whdrew om the untry, hound by threats of vlence, timidatn and even ath.

HOW ONE GAY EGYPTIAN WOMAN STOOD UP TO HOMOPHOBIA AND PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE

In recent months, Egyptian police have begun stoppg men they spect of beg gay on the street, searchg their phon for crimatg photos or hookup apps, and throwg them prison for sentenc rangg om six months to six years. The supposed impet for this crackdown was a wily circulated vio om a September ncert Cairo, durg which some atten waved rabow flags support of the band’s gay sger. The imag spurred a wave of hateful rhetoric om Egyptian cultural mentators, who claimed the bched radils (as gay Egyptian people are imaged to be) reprented a slap the face to our untry’s inty and goals.

They hear the stori wh the horror you’d expect, but I n’t help spectg that ’s laced wh some fat admonishment, and behd their py I hear: “Well, what did you expect, havg the foolishns to be born a gay Egyptian? Though the untry’s nservative talkg heads pat the gay Egyptian muny as treachero radils, our goals are the same as the ernment’s: secury, stabily and enomic prospery.

PICTURES: MOHAMMAD RAMADAN THE GAY PORN VIO

That answer will partly e down to the untry’s accs to posive gay Egyptian reprentatns media, sce storytellg is still one of the most effective ways to change perceptn; for now such stori are censored. For Mostafa, a gay Egyptian man his mid-20s, seeg rabow flags flyg at an open-air rock ncert the Arab world’s most populo natn was thrillg.

ARRTED FOR WAVG RABOW FLAG, A GAY EGYPTIAN TAK HER LIFE

Some were also beaten and subjected to vasive physil exams, spreadg panic lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr of Mostafa’s iends are letg their profil on cellphone datg apps and scbbg their social media acunts, which police have long ed to ensnare people spected of beg gay or transgenr. Hundreds of gay and transgenr people have been round up, part of a broad crackdown that has seen polil dissints jailed, public protts harshly put down and the untry’s once vibrant civil society, human rights activists say the sle of this latt asslt on Egypt’s LGBT populatn is unprecented. Homosexualy is not specifilly outlawed Egypt, but thori there have a history of g a 1961 law that prohibs “bchery” to target the populatn.

EGYPTIAN OFFICIALS SYSTEMILLY ABE AND TORTURE GAYS, RIGHTS GROUP SAYS

22 ncert Cairo by the Lebane die-rock group Mashrou’ Leila, whose lead sger, Hamed Sno, is one of the few openly gay performers the Middle was a special show for the band, which was twice barred om performg Jordan over accatns of not rpectg the untry’s tradns and beliefs. ”Rpondg to the public outcry, Egypt’s top prosecutor, Nabil Sak, orred an vtigatn to the flag later, Egypt’s media regulatory body issued an orr prohibg verage that promot or legimiz homosexualy, which labeled a “sickns and disgrace.

Though he is not gay, acrdg to his lawyers, he said he had borrowed a flag om another dience member to support the band’s lead sger. )Hegazy, who ni she was one of the flag wavers, told her lawyers that she was sexually harassed and beaten a holdg cell on her first night ctody after police rmed fellow mat about the reason for her least five men were subjected to anal exams to terme whether they had had gay sex — a practice that leadg rights groups cludg Amnty Internatnal and Human Rights Watch say amounts to five members of Mashrou’ Leila were on a plane bound for the Uned Stat when news broke about the arrts.

Many gay and transgenr people who have the means have already done for all the hatred directed agast his muny, he said, there has also been an outpourg of support on social media.