This Gay Man Esped From Afghanistan. Ameri Has Abandoned Him a ‘Terrifyg’ Limbo.

GAY AFGHANISTAN: HOMOEROTICISM AMONG KABUL'S WARRRS
GAY AFGHANISTAN, AFTER THE TALIBAN. HOMOSEXUALY AS TRADN
THE TALIBAN RAPED AND BEAT A GAY MAN KABUL AFTER TRICKG HIM TO A MEETG WH A PROMISE OF PE OM AFGHANISTAN, SAYS REPORT
MEN OM AFGHANISTAN'S SECRET GAY MUNY SAY THEY ARE LIVG THROUGH A 'NIGHTMARE' AND FEAR THAT THE TALIBAN WILL EXECUTE THEM AT ANY MOMENT
THE LIFE OF A GAY MAN AFGHANISTAN
THIS GAY MAN ESPED FROM AFGHANISTAN. AMERI HAS ABANDONED HIM A ‘TERRIFYG’ LIMBO.‘I AM IN A PRISON’THE PLIGHT OF A GAY AFGHAN MAN WHO PED THE UNTRY BUT IS NOW LANGUISHG A REFUGEE MP A HOMOPHOBIC UNTRY IS SHARED BY HUNDREDS OF OTHERS, SAY LGBTQ MPAIGNERS.TIM TEEMANSENR EDOR AND WRERUPDATED DEC. 16, 2021 1:08PM EST / PUBLISHED DEC. 16, 2021 12:42PM EST EXCLIVEPHOTO ILLTRATN BY ELIZABETH BROCKWAY/THE DAILY BEAST/GETTYC SAYS ALL HE N SEE ARE TALL BUILDGS SURROUNDG HIM. “IT FEELS LIKE I HAVE PED ATH, BUT NOW I AM A PRISON,” HE TOLD THE DAILY BEAST THROUGH A TRANSLATOR. “I AM A BOUNDARY SURROUND BY FOUR WALLS, NOT ALLOWED TO GO ANYWHERE.”C IS 26, GAY, ORIGALLY OM KABUL, AND HAS BEEN A REFUGEE MP FOR TWO AND A HALF MONTHS, HAVG PED AFGHANISTAN SEPTEMBER FEAR FOR HIS LIFE. C ASKS THE DAILY BEAST TO NOT E HIS REAL NAME. HIS FAY IS STILL AFGHANISTAN, AND HE WORRI ABOUT BOTH THEIR REJECTN AND WHAT THE TALIBAN WOULD DO TO THEM IF HIS INTY WERE KNOWN. HE ALSO ASKS NOT TO NAME THE REFUGEE MP, OR S LOTN, AS HE FEARS FOR HIS OWN LIFE AND SAFETY WH THE MP SHOULD HIS SEXUALY BE DISVERED. C FEELS FOTTEN BY AMERI, AND WORRIED THAT HE WILL BE PORTED BACK TO AFGHANISTAN “WHERE I FEAR I WILL BE KILLED,” HE TOLD THE DAILY BEAST. HE IS NOT ALONE. THE ADVOCY ANIZATN RABOW RAILROAD, WHICH HAS BEEN HELPG FACILATE THE PE AND RETTLEMENT OF QUEER AFGHANS, TIMAT THERE MAY BE “HUNDREDS” LIKE HIM—LGBTQ PEOPLE WHO MANAGED TO PE THE UNTRY, BUT WHO HAVE NOT YET MA TO THE U.S., THE UK OR OTHER WTERN UNTRI, AND ARE STEAD REFUGEE MPS UNTRI HOSTILE TO LGBTQ RIGHTS AND PEOPLE.JILL KELLEY, A FORMER HONORARY AMBASSADOR TO U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND WHO HELPED EVACUATE HUNDREDS—CLUDG C—DURG THE CHAOTIC DASH TO LEAVE THE UNTRY WHEN THE TALIBAN ASSUMED NTROL OF , SAYS THE STATE DEPARTMENT HAS “BEHAVED TERRIBLY” TOWARDS C, AND OTHER LGBTQ AFGHANS LIKE HIM. “HE IS AN NOCENT LGBTQ ACTIVIST. THIS IS WHAT HUMANARIAN EFFORTS ARE MA FOR,” KELLEY TOLD THE DAILY BEAST. “IF HE IS ULTIMATELY SENT BACK TO AFGHANISTAN, OUR ERNMENT HAS FAILED HORRIBLY. IT IS TERRIFYG AND SHAMG. LGBTQ RIGHTS ARE A KEY PART OF THE BIN ADMISTRATN’S PLATFORM, AND ’S TIME FOR THEM TO PUT THEIR MONEY WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS. WE ARE SUPPOSED TO SET AN EXAMPLE TO THE WORLD AROUND HUMAN RIGHTS. THE LENS OF OUR VALU AND OUR MOCRACY WILL BE SHOWN BY WHATEVER THIS YOUNG MAN’S FATE IS.”MARK PFEIFLE, PUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRINT AND PUTY NATNAL SECURY ADVISER FOR STRATEGIC MUNITNS AND GLOBAL OUTREACH AT THE WHE HOE OM 2007 TO 2009, ALSO HELPED C’S EVACUATN. HE TOLD THE DAILY BEAST THAT THE UNED STAT “MT BRG PEOPLE HERE WHOSE LIV WILL BE STROYED IF THEY ARE SENT BACK TO AFGHANISTAN. THEY SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO A PLACE WHERE THEY N LIVE AND HAVE A FUTURE.”THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT DID NOT RPOND TO REPEATED REQUTS FOR MENT ON C’S SPECIFIC SE, AND WHY HE WAS STILL THE MP HE IS —OR WHAT WAS DOG FOR LGBTQ AFGHANS REFUGEE MPS ANTI-LGBTQ UNTRI.INSTEAD, ASKED THE DAILY BEAST TO LAY PUBLISHG THIS STORY UNTIL AFTER S ANNOUNCEMENT OF A SPECIAL ENVOY FOR AFGHAN WOMEN, GIRLS AND AT-RISK POPULATNS ON THURSDAY. THIS PERSON, AN OFFICIAL DITED, WOULD BE FOCED ON ISSU FACG LGBTQ AFGHANS. THE OFFICIAL ALSO SENT A TAILED LIST OF THE VAR WAYS REFUGE N APPLY TO ENTER AMERI. KELLEY AND PFEIFLE SIST THEY HAVE PASSED ON C’S TAILS TO OFFICIALS, AND TRIED TO RAISE HIS SE NUMERO TIM TO NO AVAIL. THE DAILY BEAST—WH C’S NSENT—HAS OFFERED TO PASS HIS TAILS TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT, BUT NO OFFICIAL HAS, AT THE TIME OF WRG, BEEN TOUCH TO TAKE THEM.KIMAHLI POWELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF RABOW RAILROAD, TOLD THE DAILY BEAST THAT THE CHAOS AND SPERATN OF LATE AUGT MANY AFGHANS, CLUDG LGBTQ PEOPLE, SHED TO GET OUT OF THE UNTRY ANY WAY THEY ULD, SOMETIM WHOUT KNOWG WHICH UNTRI THEY WERE GOG TO. “THE ERNMENT HAS SIGNALED TO THAT THEY ARE VERY AWARE OF PEOPLE LIKE THE MAN YOU ARE REPORTG ON. WE WOULD JT LIKE TO SEE THEM MOVE FASTER TO HELP THEM.”— KIMAHLI POWELL THE ANIZATN, POWELL SAID, HAD ONLY FACILATED TRAVEL TO UNTRI WHERE LGBTQ AFGHANS’ SAFETY ULD BE GUARANTEED, “BEE WE WERE NCERNED ABOUT LGBTQ PEOPLE BEG PUT NEIGHBORG UNTRI WHICH WERE STILL HOSTILE TO LGBTQ PERSONS.” MANY THOANDS OF DISPLACED AFGHANS THE REGN ARE AWAG RETTLEMENT, CLUDG LGBTQ PEOPLE, POWELL SAID. THE ANIZATN HAD RECEIVED 900 REQUTS FOR HELP TOTAL, AND POWELL TIMATED THAT HUNDREDS OF LGBTQ AFGHANS WERE A SIAR POSN TO C REFUGEE MPS ANTI-LGBTQ UNTRI, WHERE THEY MAY BE NIED ACCS TO SERVIC, WHILE FEARG EXPOSURE, PREJUDICE AND VLENCE OM FELLOW MPMAT WHO MAY BE HOMOPHOBIC AND TRANSPHOBIC.“THEY LIKELY HAVE A PRER STAT IF THEY HAVE ANY VISA STAT, AND THE UNTRY CRIMALIZ LGBTQ PEOPLE OR IS HOSTILE TO THEM,” POWELL SAID. “MOST OF THE UNTRI DON’T WANT REFUGE THE FIRST PLACE. THAT’S WHEN LGBTQ REFUGE’ SAFETY BE A NCERN, BEE WH A PRER VISA STAT THEY FACE PORTATN BACK TO AFGHANISTAN WHERE THEY FACE ALMOST CERTA PUNISHMENT AND POTENTIAL ATH BY THE TALIBAN.”POWELL WENT ON: “THAT’S WHY WE WANT THE U.S. ERNMENT TO FIGURE OUT A PATHWAY TO GET THE PEOPLE OUT IMMEDIATELY. THE ERNMENT HAS SIGNALED TO THAT THEY ARE VERY AWARE OF PEOPLE LIKE THE MAN YOU ARE REPORTG ON. WE WOULD JT LIKE TO SEE THEM MOVE FASTER TO HELP THEM. WE WANT THEM TO WORK WH CIVIL SOCIETY ANIZATNS ON THE GROUND, SO WE N INTIFY AND IMMEDIATELY RELOTE PEOPLE LIKE THE MAN YOU HAVE INTIFIED. IF YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN WHOUT ADVOCY, THAT’S HOW YOU GET LOST.” “ALL MY HOP WERE WASHED AWAY. THERE WAS NOTHG.”C, A STUNT AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST, KNOWS THE VLENCE OF THE TALIBAN ALL TOO WELL. “THEY KILLED MY FATHER, WHO WAS A POLICE OFFICER. THEY BURNED HIS WHOLE BODY. I AM VERY SRED, I DO NOT WANT TO ENDANGER MY FAY. THEY ARE DANGER RIGHT NOW BEE OF ME, AND BEE OF MY FATHER.”HE FIRST REALIZED HE WAS GAY WHEN HE WAS YOUNG. “IT WAS VERY HARD FOR ME. I DID NOT ACCEPT , BEE I WAS NOT FULLY AWARE OF BEG GAY.” WHEN HE DID ACCEPT HIMSELF AROUND THREE YEARS AGO, HE SAYS HE WAS RELIEVED.HIS FAY DO NOT KNOW THAT C IS GAY. “LGBTQ PEOPLE ARE NOT ACCEPTED AFGHANISTAN, AND MY FAY WOULD FEEL ASHAMED,” HE SAYS. HIS MOTHER DIED 16 YEARS AGO, AND HE SAYS HE WAS AAID TO E OUT “BEE I WAS WORRIED I WOULD LOSE MY FAY, AND THEY WOULD KICK ME OUT, WHICH I DID NOT WANT AFTER THE ATH OF MY FATHER.” HE IS ALSO THE FAY’S ONLY BREADWNER, SO HE WANTS TO BEG WORKG TO FANCIALLY SUPPORT THEM AS SOON AS HE N. KIMAHLI POWELL ATTENDS THE GAY TIM HONOURS 2021 AT MAGAZE LONDON ON NOV. 19, 2021 LONDON, ENGLAND.KARWAI TANG/WIREIMAGE/GETTY LIFE THE REFUGEE MP IS HARD, AND HE IS MENTALLY SUFFERG. “THERE ARE THOANDS OF AFGHANS HERE, AND IF ANYONE FDS OUT I WILL BE HARASSED HERE,” C SAYS. “I DO NOT KNOW ANY OTHER LGBTQ PEOPLE HERE. I AM NOT NTACT WH ANY HOMOSEXUALS. THAT’S WHY MY MENTAL STATE IS NOT GOOD. I HAVE NOT BEEN NTACT WH ANYONE FOR THREE MONTHS.” C ALSO HAS A PARTNER WHO HE HAS NOT SEEN FOR A LONG TIME. “I MISS HIM. I WANT HIM TO BE MY ARMS, BUT HE IS NOT. HE IS ALSO G TO AMERI, AND ONE DAY I HOPE WE WILL BE RNED.”“SCE AFGHANISTAN IS A NSERVATIVE SOCIETY, PEOPLE ARE NOT MATURE WHEN TO THE SORTS OF ISSU,” C SAYS ABOUT GROWG UP GAY THE UNTRY. “IT’S NOT A SAFE PLACE FOR LGBTQ PEOPLE, EVEN BEFORE THE TALIBAN PTURED THE ERNMENT, BUT AT LEAST THEN THERE WAS A CHANCE OF LIVG. I WAS LIVG. YOU ULD HAVE PARTI AT NIGHT, MEET IENDS, ENJOY LIFE A B. BUT I ULD NOT BE OPEN ABOUT WHO I AM, PEOPLE WOULD TEASE ME ABOUT , AND NOW IF PEOPLE KNEW THEY WOULD PROBABLY KILL ME.” “WHEN THE ERNMENT LLAPSED AND THE TALIBAN TOOK OVER THE UNTRY. I FELT, ‘I AM AD.’”— "C" “WHEN THE ERNMENT LLAPSED AND THE TALIBAN TOOK OVER THE UNTRY, I FELT, ‘I AM AD.’ ALL MY HOP WERE WASHED AWAY. THERE WAS NOTHG. NOW YOU NNOT LISTEN TO MIC, OR WEAR WHAT YOU WANT. THE TALIBAN SAID THEY WERE FIVG PEOPLE. THIS IS FALSE. THEY ARE TAKG PEOPLE AWAY, AND KILLG THEM. I FEEL VERY HOPELS, AND ALSO DISAPPOTED AT WHAT IS HAPPENG TO MY UNTRY RIGHT NOW.”“THE BIGGT FEAR PEOPLE REACH OUT TO ABOUT IS BEG OUTED AND HAVG THEIR INTY EXPOSED,” POWELL SAID, BOTH SI REFUGEE MPS AND ALSO WH AFGHANISTAN. BEFORE THE TALIBAN TAKEOVER, WHILE NDNS WERE “NOT GREAT” FOR LGBTQ PEOPLE THE UNTRY, SAID POWELL, “AT LEAST THERE WAS SOME GREE OF MUNY. NOW THAT SENSE OF SECURY HAS BEEN PROMISED.” THE ANIZATN HAS HEARD STORI OF THE TALIBAN SEARCHG HOM, BEATG PEOPLE UP, AND THREATENG TO RETURN. LGBTQ PEOPLE FACG SUCH SUATNS THE UNTRY ARE “UALLY HIDG OR LIVG UNR PRER CIRCUMSTANC, WORRIED THEY N’T STAY ONE PLACE FOR LONG,” SAID POWELL. “THE AMOUNT OF DISPLACEMENT IS HUGE RIGHT NOW.”C SAID AFTER THE TALIBAN TOOK NTROL OF THE UNTRY HE HAD BEEN UNABLE TO SLEEP. “EVERY SGLE MOMENT AND MOMENT I WAS TERRIFIED THAT I WOULD BE EXECUTED. I WAS LIVG A LIFE OF TERROR, PG ONE PLACE AND THEN ANOTHER PLACE.” “I WAS NOT AAID. ALL I ULD THK ABOUT WAS GETTG OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. I WAS READY TO TAKE ANY RISKS.”— "C" KELLEY, C SAID, HAD KEPT HIM SAFE FOR THE FOLLOWG THREE WEEKS, -ORDATG SAFE HOE AFTER SAFE HOE, AND PROTECTN AND GUIDANCE LEADG TO HIS ULTIMATE EVACUATN. HE WAS AT KABUL AIRPORT, HOPG TO GET ON A FLIGHT OUT OF THE UNTRY, THE DAY OF THE SUICI BOMB BLAST THAT KILLED AT LEAST 183 PEOPLE. “I WAS 20 METERS AWAY. I WAS NOT AAID. ALL I ULD THK ABOUT WAS GETTG OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. I WAS READY TO TAKE ANY RISKS. I WAS WORRIED ABOUT THE PEOPLE AROUND ME THE SAFE HO. WERE THEY SPI? BUT THEY WERE JT PEOPLE LIKE ME, WH SAD, SAD STORI ABOUT WHY THEY HAD TO LEAVE THE UNTRY. WE WERE ALL HOPG FOR BETTER LIV. JILL’S SUPPORT WAS AMAZG. SHE KEPT ME GOG ALL THE WAY THROUGH.”C FELT SAFE WHEN, MANY WEEKS LATER, HIS PLANE TO EEDOM WAS THE AIR. “IT STARTED TAKG OFF, THEN STOPPED. I FELT TERRIBLE AND WORRIED, AND THOUGHT, ‘IS SOMEONE G TO TAKE ME OFF? I’M A AD MAN.’ BUT WAS A TECHNIL ISSUE. WE TOOK OFF AGA, AND 15 MUT LATER I WAS HAPPY. AT LAST I HAD MA . I STARTED REJOICG.” C SAID HE KNEW OF FOUR OTHER LGBTQ PEOPLE WHO HAD PED AFGHANISTAN—TWO ARE THE U.K., AND TWO ARE PAKISTAN AWAG RETTLEMENT CANADA OR THE U.K. “I DREAM EVERY NIGHT OF BEG ABLE TO LIVE OPENLY AS WHO I AM.”C SAID THE FUTURE FOR LGBTQ PEOPLE AFGHANISTAN WAS BLEAK. “THEY NNOT LIVE THERE. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LIVE THERE. YOU EHER HAVE TO FET ABOUT YOUR FEELGS OR ACCEPT YOU N’T LIVE THERE. THE TALIBAN DO NOT BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE OF THE SAME SEX N HAVE THOSE FEELGS FOR EACH OTHER. THERE IS NO POSSIBILY OF CHANGG THIS PERCEPTN, AND THERE IS NOTHG ELSE BUT THEIR TENTN TO JT KILL OR GET RID OF LGBTQ PEOPLE.”HE ADD: “IF THEY E TO KNOW SOMEONE IS LGBTQ, THEY WILL FELY KILL THEM. IT IS VERY HARD FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME. YOU HAVE TO LEAVE THE UNTRY BEE THERE IS NO POSSIBILY TO LIVE THERE BEE OF WHO YOU ARE. BUT THIS IS THE UNTRY WHERE YOU WERE BORN, AND YOU NNOT LIVE THERE BEE OF WHAT YOU ARE. THE ONLY OPTN IS NOT TO LIVE THERE. LGBTQ PEOPLE AFGHANISTAN, AND REFUGE LIKE ME, NEED THE HELP OF WTERN UNTRI TO HELP THEM GET OUT OF THERE.”IN OCTOBER, RABOW RAILROAD FACILATED THE SAFE PASSAGE OF 29 LGBTQ AFGHANS TO THE U.K., AND POWELL SAID THE GROUP ULD HELP OVERSEE SIAR RELOTN EFFORTS. “WE JT NEED ERNMENTS TO E TO THE TABLE. WE WILL SUPPORT THE LGBTQ PEOPLE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE AS WE WA FOR THE ERNMENT TO LIVE UP TO S MMENTS AND PROMISE.”KELLEY TOLD THE DAILY BEAST SHE OFFERED HER HELP TO EVACUATE C, BEE LIKE OTHER DIVIDUALS TO WHOM SHE OFFERED THE SAME ASSISTANCE, “I FEARED HE WOULD SUFFER THE MOST HORRIBLE, BARBARIC ATH IF THE TALIBAN FOUND HIM.” THEY STAYED TOUCH BY TEXT, CLUDG TERRIFYG MOMENTS SUCH AS DURG A GUNFIGHT, OR WHEN C, THE TNK OF A R, ULD HEAR THE TALIBAN ASKG QUTNS OF THE DRIVER. “I AM ATHLY AAID THAT HE MAY BE SENT BACK TO AFGHANISTAN. WE NNOT LET THAT HAPPEN.”— JILL KELLEY “I EMAILED OUR POLIL LEARS ABOUT THIS LGBTQ ACTIVIST, AND NO ONE RPOND,” KELLEY TOLD THE DAILY BEAST. “I THOUGHT, ‘HOW DARE WE LET THIS HAPPEN? THIS IS WHY I PAY MY TAX DOLLARS.’ IF I DIDN’T HELP HIM, WHO WOULD? IT’S STILL JT AS BAD. MY LAWYERS ARE TRATED WH THE STATE DEPARTMENT, AND HOW PETENT AND UNANIZED THEY SEEM TO BE. I JT HOPE THE STATE DEPARTMENT LETS HIM, AND OTHERS, EVENTUALLY, SO HE N BE EE TO BE GAY HERE. I AM ATHLY AAID THAT HE MAY BE SENT BACK TO AFGHANISTAN. WE NNOT LET THAT HAPPEN.” KELLEY SAID SHE HAD OVERSEEN A VETTG OF C HERSELF WHEN HELPG HIM PE, TO ENSURE THAT HE DID NOT REPRENT ANY KD OF DANGER.PFEIFLE TOLD THE DAILY BEAST THAT HE WAS ALSO TERMED TO HELP C. “I N ONLY IMAGE WHAT MT BE LIKE TO BE THE TNK OF A R, SRED FOR YOUR LIFE, YOUR CELLPHONE BATTERY GOG DOWN, HEARG WHAT IS GOG ON OUTSI. THE WORRY NOW IS THAT AFGHAN WHDRAWAL CHALLENG HAVE FAD OFF TO THE SUNSET. SOUTHERN BORR ISSU HAVE BEE THE FOC OF EVERYONE’S ATTENTN, AND PEOPLE LIKE THIS MAN ARE GETTG LOST BURECRACY AND FOTTEN ABOUT. I AM EXTRAORDARILY WORRIED ABOUT HIS AND OTHER LGBTQ REFUGE’ SAFETY AND WELL-BEG.” “I AM VERY STRONG. I DO NOT ACCEPT FEAT AT ALL.”— "C" “THE PEOPLE AT THE TOP OF THE U.S. ERNMENT NEED TO ASSIGN PEOPLE TO FOC ON THIS. IT’S A FIGHT AGAST TIME. WE VAD THAT UNTRY 2001, WE HAD AN CREDIBLE NUMBER OF IENDS AND ALLI ON THE GROUND WHO HELPED . NOW WE NEED TO HELP THEM, AND THE GROUPS WHO ARE MOST VULNERABLE UNR TALIBAN LE WE NEED TO BRG TO SAFE PLAC WHERE THEY N LIVE AND HAVE A FUTURE. THAT IS OUR DUTY. THIS MAN REPRENTS ALL THAT’S GOOD, ALL THAT’S POSSIBLE ABOUT OUR FUTURE, AND SHOULD BE A PRRY OF ANY ADMISTRATN—CLUDG THE CURRENT ONE—TO DO EVERYTHG N TO BRG HIM TO A PLACE WHERE HE N LIVE AND PROSPER. WHOUT THAT, I FEAR THE WORST.”OF HIS OWN FUTURE, WHICH HE HOP IS AMERI, C SAYS, “IT’S DIFFICULT AND HARD. NOTHG IS KNOWN YET.” IF HE FALLY MAK TO AMERI, C WANTS TO NTUE HIS STUDI POLIL SCIENCE, NTUE HIS SOCIAL ACTIVISM THROUGH YOUTUBE AND OTHER MEDIA, AND THEN GET “ANY JOB” UNTIL HE N SPECIALIZE HIS CHOSEN FIELD OF IT.“I DREAM EVERY NIGHT OF BEG ABLE TO LIVE OPENLY AS WHO I AM, SPENDG TIME WH OTHER LGBTQ PEOPLE, SHARG AND LIVG WH THEM. I AM LIVG FOR .” C TOLD THE DAILY BEAST. “PHYSILLY, I AM GOOD, BUT PSYCHOLOGILLY I WANT TO BE WH SOMEONE. I HAVEN’T SPOKEN WH ANYONE, OR SHARED MY FEELGS, WH ANYONE FOR SO LONG. I ACHE TO BE WH MY PARTNER, A MAN I N LOVE.”KELLEY SAID C WAS “VERY DOWN. ALL I TELL HIM IS, ‘DON’T WORRY, WE’RE GOG TO FIX THIS. I AM GOG TO HELP YOU. YOU’VE GOT TO STAY STRONG. KEEP FIGHTG.’”“I AM VERY STRONG,” C TOLD THE DAILY BEAST. “I DO NOT ACCEPT FEAT AT ALL.” TIM TEEMAN

GAY AFGHANISTAN: HOMOEROTICISM AMONG KABUL'S WARRRS

Afghan men skatg along the edg of gay life Last fall (2004) I found myself Afghanistan, a natn at the center of the upheaval and change roilg * afganistan gay ifşa *

He is gay, a nvert to Christiany and a member of the Hazara ethnic mory – three groups that have been historilly persecuted by the Taliban.

In public statements July, one Taliban judge said there were only two punishments for homosexualy – stong or beg cshed unr a toppled wall. “He was threateng to jump off a buildg bee he thought would be a ls paful way to die than gettg ught and behead by the Taliban as a gay man.

“The Taliban is well known to have executed many LGBTQ people when was power and there have been reports of gay men beg murred sce took over Augt this year, ” said Aws Jubair, director of the Aman Project, a Turkey-based group that advot for the LGBTQ muny the Middle East. Details magaze discsed the homosocial standards of much of Islamic culture, based on separatn of the genrs, and reviewed Trolley Prs’ 2003 book “Taliban, ” which photographer Thomas Dworzak prented imag of effemate Taliban warrrs that he unearthed. ” I wanted to go to Kandahar bee s homosexual reputatn seemed most pronounced, and Mohammed’s stori about the cy volved relatnships between grown men, rather than a man wh a youth, as seemed more mon elsewhere.

GAY AFGHANISTAN, AFTER THE TALIBAN. HOMOSEXUALY AS TRADN

* afganistan gay ifşa *

At the pool, when I qutned the swimmers through my translator about the Taliban’s notns about body image, several ma a joke of the qutn, claimg that the old regime was ma up of gay men––Kandahar “playboys” as they lled them––who loved to see naked, even as Afghan men joked about the Taliban beg gay, they did not seem terribly put off by the subject of homosexualy.

The owner Wais, an Afghan Amerin om New Jersey now back his homeland, knew I was vtigatg Kabul’s gay si, but I was not out to his staff. He played wh the mcl on my arms, parg them to his own, his other hand bbg his was when the 20-year-old man simply blurted out, “Munir said you like to do homosexual thgs. I don’t thk I’ll fet those nights Munir’s hoe, but provid I thk only a ht at what homosocial and homosexual behavr means Afghanistan.

THE TALIBAN RAPED AND BEAT A GAY MAN KABUL AFTER TRICKG HIM TO A MEETG WH A PROMISE OF PE OM AFGHANISTAN, SAYS REPORT

Afghan activists told Insir that even durg the prev ernments, gay men would be lured to their aths through social media. * afganistan gay ifşa *

Homosexual behavr might simply be a replacement for physil timacy they n not get otherwise their liv––a workaround. Two more siar stori about the recurrence of Pashtun homosexualy, om the New York Tim (Febary 2002) and Tim of London (January 2002), n be found the Afghanistan News & Reports 2002-04. So proclaims a vigoroly relig ‘imam’ om his Inter pulp, makg clear the posn of the vast majory of Mlims regardg homosexualy.

From the wtern shor of ancient Moroc across thoands of sandy Islamic to the far eastern islands of Indonia, almost half the distance of our known world, homosexual behavr is pronounced anathema to the fahful. But simple and superst scrib of the fahs have wrten reams of florid, passnate and volnic vers that embrace an artificial dichotomy of homo-and-hetero sexual and emotnal orientatn. Bis s natural occurrence our gen and nrons, another reason homosexual behavr and sire has not been stamped out by every nceivable type of secular cure and sacred persecutn is that homosexualy serv both relign and culture well.

MEN OM AFGHANISTAN'S SECRET GAY MUNY SAY THEY ARE LIVG THROUGH A 'NIGHTMARE' AND FEAR THAT THE TALIBAN WILL EXECUTE THEM AT ANY MOMENT

Insir spoke to several Afghan gay men. One activist said he fears that gay people Afghanistan will be "weed out and extermated" by the Taliban. * afganistan gay ifşa *

It is perhaps one of the great anthropologil paradox (if not hypocrisi) that the history and behavr of homosexualy has been rried down through fifteen centuri by genr-segregated Mlim cultur and, as well, by male Christian monastic nferatns.

A thoughtful rear who engag cross-cultural studi will not get far before they disver what many wtern lbigay people already know about the digeno and hidn homosexual tradn practiced, lol varieti, by untls unmarried and married men Arab/Mlim untri. In the cultur, homosexual activy serv as a temporary (yet valid and important) proxy stage of growth between puberty and marriage.

(6) The great Mlim emphasis on fay life renrs homosexualy far ls threateng to Mlim societi than to Wtern on (Mlim men seekg formally to marry each other remas unimagable). In most morn Islamic ‘cultural’ (premaral) homosexual behavr there is a mute unrstandg that sex is mutually nsensual, temporary and that ’s a form of pannship, if not affectn, among peers. Whether the activy is mutual or forceful, there is an almost universal attu the eastern cultur that such sexual dulgence is not ‘gay’, that is, ’s not sex or love between two men who intify as homosexuals.

THE LIFE OF A GAY MAN AFGHANISTAN

) Rather, a llective mental shell game the meang of sex is re-amed: heterosexual men engage homosexual behavr which the younger guy is not a ‘fem’ but obedient and passive and the olr one is not a ‘butch queer’ but assertive and active.

It stirs up, aga, trigug issu of homosexual inty vs homosexual behavr: do behavr fe inty or is inty separate om behavr–and how do behavr and inty terface wh sexual orientatn…?