From arrts to honor killgs to ld-blood murrs, when Mahmoud Hasso saw the rights of Syria's lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muny trampled the btal civil war, he wanted to fd a way to tell the world.
Contents:
- GAY, BISEXUAL MEN AND TRANS WOMEN SPEAK OF SEXUAL ABE SYRIA
- THE DOUBLE THREAT FOR GAY MEN SYRIA
- IS IT ILLEGAL TO BE GAY IN SYRIA?
- GAY LIFE SYRIA: AN INTERVIEW WH A GAY 'REFUGEE'
- MR GAY SYRIA
- GAY LIFE SYRIA: CHANGG REALI
- OPN THE DOUBLE THREAT FOR GAY MEN SYRIA
- FDG SYRIA'S MR GAY: FILM HIGHLIGHTS ABE OF LGBT SYRIANS WAR
GAY, BISEXUAL MEN AND TRANS WOMEN SPEAK OF SEXUAL ABE SYRIA
Y, is illegal to be gay Syria. There is no specific law that crimaliz homosexualy, but same-sex relatns are not regnized by the ernment * gay in syria *
People Human Rights Watch terviewed said that gay and bisexual men, transgenr women, and nonbary people were subject to creased vlence based on their actual or perceived sexual orientatn or genr inty. Human Rights Watch nducted terviews Lebanon wh 40 gay and bisexual men, transgenr women, and nonbary dividuals, as well as four heterosexual men who experienced sexual vlence Syria. Report documentg acunts of survivors who fled to Lebanon tails stigma and gaps aid for sexual abe, Lebanon – Gay and bisexual men and transgenr women (GBT) have been subjected to creased vlence at the hands of Syrian state and non-state actors due to their actual or perceived sexual orientatn, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said a new report.
THE DOUBLE THREAT FOR GAY MEN SYRIA
Beg gay anywhere the world n e wh challeng, but Syria probably isn't as bad as most would expect. Jt like everywhere else the world gay people still exist here, be an unrground nature. Is the suatn ial for them? Hardly. Do life still go on? Always." name="scriptn * gay in syria *
One uple, intified as gay based on text msag between them, were beaten, referred to pejoratively as “tante” (ntie) and for 10 nights were forced to strip and have sex wh each other ont of their Syrian army terrogators, who ed chalk to make up their fac. A 26-year-old told of beg bldfold and handcuffed to a ceilg by unintified men who said they were affiliated wh al-Qaeda and who tried to get him to reveal the nam of his gay iends.
IS IT ILLEGAL TO BE GAY IN SYRIA?
Mr Gay Syria: Directed by Ayse Toprak. Mr. Gay Syria follows two gay Syrian refuge who are tryg to rebuild their liv. He is a barber Istanbul, livg a double life between his nservative fay and his gay inty. Mahmoud is the founr of Syria's LGBTI movement and is a refugee Berl. What brgs them together is a dream: to participate an ternatnal bety ntt as an pe om their trapped liv and an answer to their visibily. Will the dream e te or will the refugee crisis and the harsh nsequenc of beg gay the Mlim world shatter to piec?" data-id="ma * gay in syria *
In addn to this abe, perpetrated by all parti to Syria’s nflict, more than half the gay Syrians whom Human Rights Watch terviewed told paful stori of fay rejectn, rangg om ostracism to vlence — and, five stanc, ath threats. In at least two s Human Rights Watch documented, gay men were subjected to anal exams by the Lebane Internal Secury Forc — spe lls om the Lebane doctors’ syndite and the jtice mister 2012 to abolish that practice, which amounts to torture. Humanarian assistance provirs and the Lebane ernment, wh the support of ternatnal donors, mt make sure gay Syrian refuge are receivg basic levels of assistance and protectn.
Isis has btally persecuted LGBT people for several years and nsirs beg gay to be a crime punishable by a number of ternatnal volunteers fightg alongsi Kurdish forc northern Syria have formed an LGBT ary un and named “The Queer Insurrectn and Liberatn Army” (TQILA) – pronounced “tequila” group was set up unr the umbrella of the Internatnal Revolutnary People’s Guerrilla Forc (IRPGF), an anarchist group takg part the fight agast 's formatn was announced a statement posted on s Twter page.
Pictur posted on social media showed masked soldiers ary uniforms holdg guns and standg ont of a banner readg: “The Faggots Kill Fascists, TGILA-IRPGF” the background other soldiers hold the rabow flag and a banner showg the group’s logo – an AK47 on a pk has equently murred people Iraq and Syria who ems to be LGBT, cludg releasg vios showg gay people beg phed off buildgs and stoned to group also claimed rponsibily for a 2016 attack on a LGBT nightclub Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people. One gay man’s rponse has been to abandon his native Syria and s current upheaval state and live Turkey where he fds support om the LGBT muny but still leav him a man whout a untry.
GAY LIFE SYRIA: AN INTERVIEW WH A GAY 'REFUGEE'
Gay Life Syria is slightly posive but wh ever-prent chang the polil i that has historilly reprsed gay cizens. * gay in syria *
He is currently a man whout a untry, forced om Syria by a dangero revolutn, fay disagreements as well as ary threats, not so much for his beg gay but for tryg to make a polil statement of fiance toward the Assad regime that’s currently slghterg thoands of own cizens. Adad’s views beme known through his two psdonymo web blogs which advote for human and gay rights agast the ernment treatment of gays as well as the btaly and rptn of the currently lears.
Although Turkey is nsirably more tolerant of LGBT life than most other Middle East untri (along wh Israel and Lebanon) is still a culture steeped homophobic discrimatn. ” A gay fay member was ually upsettg at first but life had more important thgs that mattered–food, secury, safety, earng e, children’s school lsons and not drawg attentn to yourself or your fay. But then a new police chief felt the need to prove his effectivens, not agast wispread rptn the ernment or the civil service, but agast the meager gay muny for imaged immoral behavr agast the natural orr.
However, that fervent actn only lasted for a few months late 2010 when thgs went back to normal “tolerance wh reason” and gay iends ntued to meet and greet each other certa f and private small parti. When Adad was taed by the police a send time the officer charge, probably tryg to timidate him, displayed a large rmatn book wh nam and photos taken om onle social work webs of allegedly gay people Syria (and elsewhere) along wh their profil and iends.
MR GAY SYRIA
* gay in syria *
When asked if he has had any trouble om namg gay venu on his webse he said “no, as long as there is not trouble stirrg we are mostly ee to go about our own affairs but they still try to sre and warn agast any big parti or public showgs.
Asked where he would want to live: “of urse I want to live my home culture near my fay but that will not happen any time soon; perhaps a untry where gay people are given some feelg of rights and equaly, like France or Germany. Soon after the short-lived police gay party bts and tentns end December 2010, (why they end is a mystery to Adad; perhaps anticipatn of bigger thgs to e), the ‘Arab Sprg’ reached Syria as the mostly unarmed populace rose up agast the heavily armed ernment.
Curly, however, Adad reported that even after the revolutn started the gay muny seemed to be left alone and not specifilly targeted as a moral or secury risk, even as the ernment vilified the opposn forc as ‘homosexual revolutnari’ needg to be put down. Beg gay has always been a reason for firg someone om their job and that is creased now out of fear; the thori may spect an otherwise nocent employer if he is found to have a gay person workg for him.
GAY LIFE SYRIA: CHANGG REALI
No, we are not sellg Syria as the new Mykonos, San Francis or Sydney, however our experience we have found that Syria and the people there are surprisgly liberal, and ’s a lot easier to travel there as a gay person than you might expect.
OPN THE DOUBLE THREAT FOR GAY MEN SYRIA
And no, bee well, our experience we have wnsed first-hand, gay ctomers talkg wh our lol Syrian guis about this exact issue and our lol guis have been nothg but open and acceptg.
A/HRC/29/23, 4 May 2015; Graeme Reid, “The Double Threat for Gay Men … Contue readg The documented ab clu forced nudy, rape, and anal or vagal “examatns” rried out by Syrian Government forc (and by armed groups), often as a tool of ercn or punishment tentn facili. ” See: Ree Erlich, “Gays jo the Syrian … Contue readg Wr large, throughout the nflict, terrori held by armed surgent groups have arguably been the most overtly hostile environments for LGBTQ+ Syrians, particularly areas held by vlent extremists.
S/2016/361, 20 April 2016; Michelle Nichols, “Gay Men Tell UN Secury … Contue readg Although sweepg claims should be approached utly, foreign-born armed group fighters were generally more zealo and punive LGBTQ+ matters than Syrian batants the same groups. [27]Razan Ghazzawi, “Delonisg Syria’s so-lled ‘queer liberatn’, ” Al-Jazeera (2017):; Ayman … Contue readg SDF manr Mtafa Bali subsequently downplayed the apparent PR stunt: “while emphasizg our ep rpect for human rights, cludg the rights of homosexuals, [we] ny the formatn of such a battaln wh the amework of our forc. Followg the flux of Syrian refuge to Turkey the early years of the nflict, the untry me to host what was arguably the first anised Syrian LGBTQ+ movements and associatns, lnched large part by gay men Istanbul (see set: Milton of the Syrian LGBTQ+ Movement Turkey).
FDG SYRIA'S MR GAY: FILM HIGHLIGHTS ABE OF LGBT SYRIANS WAR
Several important factors have facilated mobilisatn wh the Syrian LGBTQ+ muny Turkey: Homosexualy has long been crimalised the untry, although social stigma persists, pecially more nservative, outlyg areas. [29]In 1858, Sultan Abdul Majid I crimalised homosexualy, th grantg homosexual adults the right to engage sexual activy whout threat of legal, Turkey has a long rerd of receivg and grantg protectn stat to sexual mori om plac such as Iraq and Iran; the untry has creasgly acted as a crossroads for migratn om Asia and Ai to Europe, which — recent years — has cid wh a rise the numbers of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers.
” This ncept unrwrote LGBT Rad, a statn that was meant to lnch on 17 May (the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia) 2013, as the first Arab rad statn addrsg gay issu.