Beg gay Algeria, by Rose Schembri (Le Mon diplomatique - English edn, Augt 2019)

Contents:

• MAPPG ANTI-GAY LAWS AI
• BEG GAY ALGERIA
• BEG GAY ALGERIA: ‘I’LL NEVER LIVE WH THE ONE I LOVE’
• ON GAY RIGHTS, YOUNG AINS SHARE THE TOLERANCE OF THEIR ELRS

MAPPG ANTI-GAY LAWS AI

(Beit) – An Algerian urt on September 3, 2020 sentenced 2 men to prison terms and 42 others to spend terms after mass arrts at what the police alleged was a “gay weddg, ” Human Rights Watch said today. An Algerian lawyer volved the se told Human Rights Watch that the urt ed police reports scribg the ratns, flowers, and sweets ditive of a weddg celebratn, and the men’s supposedly gay appearance, as evince of guilt.

“Algerian thori’ attack on personal eedoms is nothg new, but arrtg dozens of stunts based on their perceived sexual orientatn is a flagrant gement on their basic rights, ” said Rasha Youn, lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights rearcher at Human Rights Watch. Acrdg to a 2019 analysis by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr and Intersex Associatn (ILGA), laws regulatg nonernmental anizatns Algeria make virtually impossible for anizatns workg on issu of sexual orientatn and genr inty to legally register. Along wh Domi, Guyana, Grenada, Jamai, Sat Lucia—the other five untri the Caribbean that crimalize gay sex—Sat Vcent and the Grenad ntu to be an outlier a hemisphere that has chewed the crimalizatn of nsensual gay sex.

Every LGBT person terviewed by Human Rights Watch said they wished to leave the untry immediately or had envisned their future abroad due, part, to the homophobic or transphobic vlence and discrimatn the untry.

BEG GAY ALGERIA

Some terviewe noted that fay rejectn was often uched moralistic terms, echog the homophobic rhetoric preached some church, which are a rnerstone of social life and shape social attus. Aled Henry, a 58-year-old bisexual man om Sat Vcent, said that March 2009, he suffered a homophobic attack that ed permanent damage to his speech, visn, motor functns, memory, and balance:. Kyle Wilson, the 19-year-old gay man om Sat Vcent mentned above, tried to file plats at the Kgston police statn about five tim, all related to harassment public spac, but said he gave up when police appeared unwillg to help.

For Melissa Ashton, the 28-year-old lbian om Sat Vcent, laws crimalizg same-sex nduct make her hant to go to the police for help related to homophobic vlence: “Nothg would e om gog to the police. Some terviewe noted that fay rejectn was often uched moralistic terms, echog the homophobic rhetoric preached some lol church, which are a rnerstone of social life and help shape social attus.

Sharon Nichols, a 29-year-old bisexual woman, said her mother recently beme more tolerant and is maly “ncerned about what others would thk” and about homophobic vlence agast Nichols. [92] She said that 2019, she heard one relative support the march by prentg arguments such as “thk of the children, ” “you don’t want to get your kids exposed, ” and “[homosexuals are] viants.

BEG GAY ALGERIA: ‘I’LL NEVER LIVE WH THE ONE I LOVE’

While some LGBT people terviewed by Human Rights Watch did not experience overt homophobia om their fay members, all terviewe said they had attempted to nceal their sexualy om their fai out of fear.

Samuel Sayers, a 25-year-old bisexual man om Sat Vcent, said that part of the reason he do not broach the subject wh his parents is that they go to a church where homophobic views are exprsed and that fluenc their views on sexualy.

Prevly, Wilson held a janorial job at a ntist’s office between December 2021 and October 2022, until his boss told him he “mt stop workg bee ‘the ctomers are talkg, why do they have a gay cleang?

ON GAY RIGHTS, YOUNG AINS SHARE THE TOLERANCE OF THEIR ELRS

Maxwell Smh, a 20-year-old gay man om Sat Vcent, also currently begs on the street for money bee he never gets llbacks, cludg om clothg stor where he has tried to get a job as a store clerk. Randolph Man, a 22-year-old gay man om Sat Vcent, said that January 2022, he tried to get a job at a supermarket and the person rponsible for hirg told him, “The [other] workers will not be pleased” about havg “his kd, ” referrg to his sexualy, “workg there. When I started workg, I noticed was very mon that a lot of male attendants weren’t fortable ridg the ont wh me bee they probably have prenceived notn that I was gay bee of the way I drs and my hair, so they sat the back.

Edwards endur the gay jok on top of a generally “misogynistic environment” the workplace, the latter of which mak her addnally unfortable and unwillg to pla or “have a eper nversatn” about her male lleagu’ behavr:. After she started disclosg her sexual orientatn at about the age of 14, she had girliends school, but she hid those relatnships for fear of homophobic teasg or bullyg, partly bee of the laws crimalizg same-sex nduct.

’ The peculiar habs of sgers are part of the folklore of Algeria’s barets, rai mic venu wh a reputatn for alhol, prostutn and homosexualy that are tolerated as long as they rema on the margs of pole society. Some acce the Wt of seekg to export a ‘gay inty’ that don’t exist Algeria; this may enurage homophobic behavur by the thori and nservative elements of society (1) Last July, some Arabic media plaed when the Brish embassy Algiers raised an LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual and trans) flag support of the Pri London para.

It’s very different for those born after the civil war (1992-2000); they are on new media all the time, and the offer a view of homosexualy that is not guilt-ducg, and posive role mols.

Am, a universy stunt, joked, ‘The character Mar, Degrassi [a Canadian drama seri that als wh the teenage problems and issu a realistic way], changed my life: I realised that beg gay was a thg. The poort are the most vulnerable, bee when public spac are the only place where you n have sex, there are many dangers: the police, homophobic attacks, theft, and health risks if you don’t have a ndom. The hierarchy of the sex and the domance of men fluence even homoerotic relatnships;many men prent themselv as active toprerve their digny, and assert their virily by rejectg anythg that might be perceived as feme.

The ncepts of gay inty and sexual orientatn that have served as a basis for claimg rights sce the rebelln of the patrons of the Stonewall gay club New York 1969 have worked for some, like Slimane. Though Algeria do not have reprsn on a sle parable to some Sub-Saharan untri, those nvicted of homosexual acts are subject to a fe of 500 to 2, 000 dars ($4 to $17) and between two and 24 months prison (the penalti are heavier if one partner is a mor).

If the populatn together to fight agast the patriarchy and the relig taboos that (unequally) opprs the sexualy of all, then gay people will feel eer to assert their difference: 10 October has been LGBT Day Algeria sce 2007 (6), but is only celebrated on social works. Same-sex nduct is not illegal  Rwanda, but thori there round up and arbrarily taed people regard as socially unsirable, cludg over a dozen gay and transgenr people, sex workers, street children, and others the months before a planned June 2021 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetg. They relied on a “bchery” law that had been ed the early 2000s agast gay men and transgenr women and was revived wh a vengeance followg the 2013 up, when the ernment, led by Print Abl Fattah al-Sisi, appeared to embrace persecutn of gays and trans people as a polil strategy.