Disver our selectn of the most welg Arab untri for gay travellers: Oman, Jordan, Bahra, Tunisia and Lebanon.
Contents:
- CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
- LEBANON LNCH ARAB WORLD'S FIRST GAY PRI WEEK
- REPORT: SWATCH GROUP SU COUNTRY THAT ALLEGEDLY SEIZED ITS GAY PRI WATCH
- GAY, STRAIGHT, OR JT LEBANE?
- DISVER THE 5 MOST GAY-IENDLY ARAB UNTRI
- GAY PEOPLE ARE RECLAIMG AN ISLAMIC HERAGE
- LEBANON IS KNOWN AS GAY FRIENDLY. BUT PRI WEEK WAS SHUT DOWN.
- LIBAN : L GAY PRIS
CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
Lebanon this week be the first Arab untry to celebrate gay pri but the openg event a landmark n of ftivi was nceled after Islamists threatened vlence. * gay lebanese pride *
An entreprenr lnched a nned cktail this week lled “Gay Water” that’s aimed at LGBTQ drkers — and said he’s lookg to palize on Bud Light’s mistak.
LEBANON LNCH ARAB WORLD'S FIRST GAY PRI WEEK
Growg up gay Bahra, I was thrilled by the mp potential of Arab mic – but terrified of the reactn if I gave and danced the way I wanted to. Years later, a field London, I let myself go * gay lebanese pride *
But “Gay Water” — which adopts a moniker the gay muny has long given to the simple vodka and soda cktail — has been spired by the dtup to bee even bolr about the dience ’s targetg, founr and CEO Spencer Hodson told The Post.
Gay Water — a nned cktail brand that plays on the gay muny’s lloquialism for the vodka-and-soda mixed drk — lnched on Wednday and promis to unrstand s dience better than Bud Light. The 30-year-old Hodson said he is g suggtive — albe playful — msagg and imagery Gay Water’s social media and webse, cludg a provotive nod to the 12-ounce n’s 6.
“Our missn is to -stigmatize the word ‘gay’ and start to create reprentatn spac that tradnally don’t have queer-owned products, let alone products wh the word ‘gay’ their tle, ” Hodson told The Post. Founr Spencer Hodson, a gay man, says the brand is about reclaimg the word “gay” as a word that “jt means happy. “Part of the pot of lnchg outsi of Pri month is to rerce the msage that Gay Water is here to make the LGBTQ+ muny more visible 365 days a year, not jt a sgle month, ” he said.
REPORT: SWATCH GROUP SU COUNTRY THAT ALLEGEDLY SEIZED ITS GAY PRI WATCH
Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group is sug the unty that allegedly seized s gay pri watch, acrdg to multiple reports. * gay lebanese pride *
The movie tells the story of an Algerian-French heterosexual young man begng a soclogy study of gay islamic homosexuali and disverg gay love wh a young French steward. The batn of beg back his hometown, this prsure om his mother and his homosexualy him to have equent panic attacks. Out Loud is the first film om Lebanon wh a gay theme that sets a new standard for cema om the Middle East the midst of the Arab Sprg.
A documentary by Peter Barbosa and Garrett Lenoir, I Exist giv a voice to gay and lbian Amerins om the Middle East, who often rema silent out of shame and fear. Filmed 12 untri and 9 languag, this documentary, directed by gay Mlim filmmaker Parvez Sharma, tells the lorful and varied stori of gay and lbian Mlims om all over the world.
This timate documentary follows a number of young Morocn gay men their exploratn of their relig and sexual inty. For a gay filmmaker, filmg Sdi Arabia prents two ser challeng: filmg is forbidn the untry and homosexualy is punishable by ath. Enuraged by Sandra, Ama lnch a blog lled “A Gay Girl Damasc, ” reprentg a margalized voice the Middle East on polics, relign, and sexualy.
GAY, STRAIGHT, OR JT LEBANE?
In 2015, he me out as gay on Facebook, makg him the first openly gay man om Sudan, this a massive outrage the Sudane muny. In this portra that is multi-layered both terms of form and ntent, a gay man nonts the ghosts of his past and explor hidn longgs, unrequed love and tormentg feelgs of guilt. In post-Fran Madrid where he lived an openly gay existence, his life rembled one long Almodóvarian y, full of excs and sexual taboo-breakg.
After beg tranged om his fay for his homosexualy, we observe a young Arab man over four seasons and om far away as he navigat his solu – all the while attemptg to rennect wh his mother.
DISVER THE 5 MOST GAY-IENDLY ARAB UNTRI
A short documentary that tells the stori of Mashrou’ Leila, a Lebane rock band wh an outspoken gay sger, and Sarah Hegazy, an Egyptian activist. Between realy and animatn, the story of Nidhal is told, a young homosexual Tunisian who fend dividual eedoms Tunisia through his work rad.
BEIRUT (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - Lebanon this week be the first Arab untry to celebrate gay pri but the openg event a landmark n of ftivi was nceled after Islamists threatened Lebanon, a non-prof group promotg equal rights, was due to host a cultural event last Sunday as a kickoff to the entire week, but said was dropped by the venue after threats om the Associatn of Mlim Scholars Lebanon, a Salafist the gay rights movement has steadily grown Beit, homosexual acts are still punishable by up to a year Makso, director of Proud Lebanon, said the week marked a watershed gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr life, spe the threatened vlence and some lol opposn. TRAILBLAZERMost untri the regn do not tolerate an open celebratn of LBGT life, wh few Middle Eastern untri acrdg rights to gay, lbian, bisexual or transgenr cizens.
GAY PEOPLE ARE RECLAIMG AN ISLAMIC HERAGE
Many risk f, jail and even ath, wh reports of social excln and abe hosts a gay pri para Istanbul each year and Israel holds a week of events Tel Aviv every events are typilly held durg June - LGBT Pri Month - or at a time that memorat a turng pot a untry’s own LGBT history. Wednday marked Lebanon’s Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia, Transphobia and Bphbia (IDAHOBT) and the man who iated the tone pri week said was no cince.
“I wanted to pick a symbolic date, a day that would be hopeful, ” Hadi Damien, who set up Beit Pri, told the Thomson Rters Foundatn by there have been anti-homophobia ralli Lebanon, the 28-year-old said he wanted to make sure the gural event did not foc on protts or repealg laws. ”Polls show the vast majory of Lebane reject homosexualy but Beit is takg steps towards crimalisatn, wh a urt lg this year which a judge nced homosexualy is not a crime but personal choice.
In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that. “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer. The nned cktail is named after a lloquialism given to the popular mixed drk (vodka and soda) orred at bars by the gay muny.
LEBANON IS KNOWN AS GAY FRIENDLY. BUT PRI WEEK WAS SHUT DOWN.
“Puttg a product wh the word gay the tle is reprentatn self,” which he hop reclaims the word om the negativy ’s sometim associated wh.
He thought of creatg Gay Water about a year ago while on a vatn wh his iend that had got a job wh the beverage dtry. The two chatted about the limed amount of gay people wh , and wh Hodson burnt out om his tradnal day job tech, started the nned cktail.
LIBAN : L GAY PRIS
Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water. “Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”.