Gay Datg Apps Are Protectg Users Amid Egypt's LGBTQ Crackdown

Contents:

• GAY DATG EGYPT
• GAY DATG APPS ARE PROTECTG USERS AMID EGYPT'S LGBTQ CRACKDOWN
• GAY DATG APPS GRDR AND HOR HELP LGBT EGYPTIANS STAY SAFE AMID CRACKDOWN
• AMID EGYPT'S ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN, GAY DATG APPS SEND TIPS TO STOP ENTRAPMENT
• 'YOU N'T BE OUT': GAY EGYPTIANS NTUE TO FEAR PERSECUTN
• BT GAY DATG APPS FOR HOOKUPS, RELATNSHIPS, AND EVERYTHG BETWEEN
• THE TOP LGBTQ+ DATG S AND APPS: 14 BT GAY DATG S
• EGYPTIAN POLICE ARE G GRDR AND OTHER DATG APPS TO ARRT GAY MEN

GAY DATG EGYPT

Media ptn, Watch: Ahmed Shihab-Eld meets a member of the LGBT muny who has been targetedIn Egypt, homosexualy is highly stigmatised, and there have long been allegatns that police are huntg LGBT people onle. Now BBC News has seen evince of how the thori are g datg and social apps to do victims' nam have been changed Havg grown up Egypt, I am aware of the pervasive homophobia that permeat every part of s society. There is no explic law agast homosexualy Egypt, but our vtigatn has found that the crime of "bchery" - a sex work law - is beg ed to crimalise the LGBT muny.

Lah says the police also tried to get him to rm on other gay people he knew ptn, Lah (right) - the inti of all our ntributors need to be disguisedHow we disguised ntributors' intiFor the BBC documentary Queer Egypt Unr Attack we ed novative face-trackg 3-D maskg to ensure inti remaed protected - the aim was to give the film a more attractive athetic than the ual blobbg technique of disguise allows. '" The Egyptian ernment has spoken publicly about s e of onle surveillance to target what scribed as "homosexual gathergs" 2020, Ahmed Taher, former assistant to the Mister of Interr for Inter Crim and Human Traffickg, told the newspaper Ahl Masr: "We reced police the virtual world to unver the mass of group sex parti, homosexual gathergs.

It shocked me to learn, the urse of vtigatn that one gang lear, Yahia, is gay and actively postg onle about his own sex perhaps giv him a crimal edge - he knows jt how vulnerable his targets are. Grdr, the world’s most popular gay datg app, sent a warng to all of s ers Egypt this week followg reports that dozens of LGBTQ people had been arrted the untry over the weekend. “We have been alerted that Egyptian police is actively makg arrts of gay, bi, and trans people on digal platforms, ” the warng msage, first sent on Monday, says.

GAY DATG APPS ARE PROTECTG USERS AMID EGYPT'S LGBTQ CRACKDOWN

Homosexualy is still crimalized 67 untri and jurisdictns, acrdg to Human Digny Tst, a global advocy group for LGBTQ rights. Ugandans who have gay sex would be sentenced to life prison if the legislatn be ValleJay Valle reports and produc digal ntent for NBC Out.

They had met onle, part of a growg muny of gay Egyptians g servic like Grdr, Hor, and Growler, but this was their first time meetg person. Targets meet a iendly stranger on a gay datg se, sometim talkg for weeks before meetg person, only to fd out they’re beg targeted for a bchery se.

GAY DATG APPS GRDR AND HOR HELP LGBT EGYPTIANS STAY SAFE AMID CRACKDOWN

The most recent wave of arrts started last September after an dience member unfurled a gay pri flag at a rock ncert, somethg the regime took as a personal sult.

Homosexualy isn’t illegal Egypt, but the LGBTQ muny has bee a eful spegoat for the el-Sisi regime, and the General Directorate for Protectg Public Moraly is beg ed to jail and prosecute anyone perceived as mtg a transgrsn.

In plac where the gay muny has been driven unrground, datg apps are often the only way to reach them — somethg that’s led a number of nonprofs to seek out Grdr as a rearch tool. “So many guys will get on Grdr who have never told anyone they’re gay, ” says Jack Harrison-Qutana, the director of Grdr’s social-good divisn, Grdr For Equaly. “In untri where ’s unsafe to be gay, where there are no gay bars, no clive sports teams, and no queer performance spac, the Grdr app provis our ers wh an opportuny to fd their muni, ” Qutana-Harrison told me.

AMID EGYPT'S ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN, GAY DATG APPS SEND TIPS TO STOP ENTRAPMENT

Was onle this weekAhmed, 28From CairoAllGayLbianSearch settgs[154 049] people om are lookg for iendship and munitn on MambaSign upStart chattg right now! The Egyptian Iniative for Personal Rights, a lol human rights group, said at least 232 people who were LGBT, or perceived to be, were arrted between 2013 and rights activists have warned of police officers g gay datg apps to entrap ers, lurg them to meetgs only to arrt them. Several gay datg app pani and LGBT Egyptians said they did not know of an stance where police ed entrapment the current crackdown, but they did worry about the practice spread of smartphon and ubiquo ter e have created new risks, acrdg to Stt Long, a longtime human rights activist focg on LGBT issu.

“This mak really easy, on the one hand, for homophobic propaganda om onle media to sort of show up your face, and I thk ’s helpg to doctrate the public, ” Long, who lived Egypt om 2012 to 2016, told ABC News. ”Apps move to protect ersA variety of gay datg apps have proliferated Egypt recent years, givg LGBT people a new way to make iends and chase arrts have led several of the apps to re-exame the protectns they offer their ers app Hor sends general safety remendatns to s Arabic-speakg ers, which the pany said number over one ln, like holdg vio lls before meetg person and checkg wh iends before and after ers of Scff travel to one of more than 80 untri wh lims on same-sex acts, cludg Egypt, they receive an alert and rmatn about rtrictns. “At the end of the day, people -- gay people, straight people -- they’re gog to want to nnect, they’re gog to want to meet, ” Eric Silverberg, Scff's CEO, told ABC News.

'YOU N'T BE OUT': GAY EGYPTIANS NTUE TO FEAR PERSECUTN

Happs turns to fearWhile secury servic have picked up their persecutn of LGBT people recent years, was not always clear that the crackdown this fall would grow to what some believe is the worst wave Mohamed, a 30-year-old gay man om Cairo, saw the rabow flags raised at the Mashrou’ Leila ncert, he ially was, Egyptian media lnched tira after tira agast LGBT people.

Mohamed quickly leted photos, text msag and gay datg apps om his phone, and started g an encrypted munitns app.

”Harsher penalti proposedMeanwhile, sr of Egyptian legislators are lobbyg for a law that would explicly crimalize homosexual acts to ensure harsher penalti by replacg a 1961 anti-prostutn law that has been ed agast LGBT people for s. “Homosexualy” is not clearly fed or mentned Egyptian law, so thori have been prosecutg LGBT people unr charg of “habual bchery” that n send them to jail for up to three than 60 Egyptian members of parliament have backed a bill that for the first time would explicly punish those who engage “homosexual” acts or promote “homosexualy. ‘Miserably prsed’A gay man Cairo who attend the Mashrou’ Leila ncert told ABC News he knew three people who were arrted.

BT GAY DATG APPS FOR HOOKUPS, RELATNSHIPS, AND EVERYTHG BETWEEN

”Seekg a way outWhile not everyone is ready to give up their life Egypt, some don’t thk they have a real 2011, Egyptian Samer Habib, who is gay, moved to Canada to attend llege. “But of urse, there’s no gettg around the fact that the culture is embedd wh homophobia, and there’s nothg really I n do to change that.

”‘Queers make an easy target’Ahmed, a gay man his late 20s Cairo, said that LGBT people had been livg unr heightened prsure ever sce the ary took over four years before.

Grdr, the world’s leadg gay datg app, is warng s ers Egypt that police are allegedly g fake acunts to entrap those seekg dat on the platform, after a spike arrts of LGBTQ people last weekend. “We have been alerted that Egyptian police is actively makg arrts of gay, bi, and trans people on digal platforms, ” said a safety post that Grdr has been sendg, hourly sce Monday, to s ers Egypt.

THE TOP LGBTQ+ DATG S AND APPS: 14 BT GAY DATG S

It attracts about 12 ln monthly active ers, acrdg to pany and other platforms like n be a val source of nnectn for LGBTQ muni plac where beg gay is stigmatized or crimalized, and seekg nnectns person is pecially a report last month by Human Rights Watch outled how “state actors and private dividuals” five untri the Middle East and North Ai — cludg Egypt — have “entrapped” LGBTQ people on datg says has at least hundreds of thoands of ers Egypt, where LGTBQ people have long faced crackdowns and police entrapment, acrdg to human rights anizatns. ) Before this week, Grdr was sendg a more general, daily safety msage the untry; but the app ma the msage more specific and more often after lol rights groups rmed them that dozens of gay people had been reportedly arrted over the weekend, Lenihan homosexualy is not crimalized Egypt, officials have ed “public moraly” laws that punish “bchery” as a legal basis for prosecutg men who are spected of same-sex relatns, acrdg to the global aid anizatn Amera U.

State Department noted “signifint human rights” issu Egypt a 2021 report, cludg credible acunts of vlence “targetg lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, or tersex persons and e of the law to arrt and prosecute arbrarily such persons. ”Durg one reported stance, a 27-year-old gay man om Egypt told HRW he was arrted while meetg a man om Grdr Giza.

EGYPTIAN POLICE ARE G GRDR AND OTHER DATG APPS TO ARRT GAY MEN

Amid an anti-gay crackdown Egypt sce a rabow flag was hoisted at a Cairo ncert, gay datg apps are sendg ers tips on how to protect themselv om entrapment.

A Rabow Flag Has Sparked an Anti-gay Arrt Wave Egypt Lebane Rock Band Challeng Middle Eastern Norms Egypt Arrts 22 Most Recent Anti-gay Crackdown The flag was raised last month at a ncert headled by Mashrou' Leila, a Lebane rock band whose sger is openly gay.

It was a rare public show of support for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) rights the nservative Mlim untry, and was met wh a swift zero-tolerance rponse.

-based gay datg apps, like Grdr (which was found by an Israeli) and Hor, ed by lns globally, have provid Egyptian ers wh extra safety tips Arabic. "Signifint percentag of gay men the Middle East fd onle as a safer way to nnect, " Sean Howell, print of Hor, told the Thomson Rters Foundatn om New York.

The datg apps have sent the kds of warngs before var untri, such as Rsia where a law agast the promotn of homosexualy has been ed to stop gay pri march and ta gay rights activists.