Gay-Friendly Countri / GLBTQ+ Friendly Countri 2023

Contents:

• DISVER THE 5 MOST GAY-IENDLY ARAB UNTRI
• BAHRA GAY TRAVEL - LGBT RMATN AUGT 2023
• GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI / GLBTQ+ FRIENDLY COUNTRI 2023

DISVER THE 5 MOST GAY-IENDLY ARAB UNTRI

The report also builds upon prev rearch nducted by Human Rights Watch wh LGBT activists and other LGBT people Lebanon, Tunisia, Moroc, Egypt, Kuwa, Iraq, and the Uned Arab Emirat, and on Human Rights Watch’s prev reportg on vlatns agast LGBT people the regn, cludg the reports Digny Debased: Forced Anal Examatns Homosexualy Prosecutns (2016); “It’s Part of the Job”: Ill-treatment and Torture of Vulnerable Groups Lebane Police Statns (2013); “‘They Hunt Down for Fun’: Discrimatn and Police Vlence Agast Transgenr Women Kuwa (2012); “They Want Us Extermated”: Murr, Torture, Sexual Orientatn and Genr Iraq (2009); and In a Time of Torture: The Asslt on Jtice In Egypt's Crackdown on Homosexual Conduct (2004). [7] Egypt is a serial offenr terms of systematic e of such provisns agast LGBT people: a law prohibg “bchery, ” ially promulgated 1951 for the purpose of crimalizg sex work and then replaced by Law 10/1961 on the Combatg of Prostutn, has been ed by the thori sce the 1990s to prosecute homosexual nduct between men, rultg hundreds of arrts.

Acrdg to an analysis by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr and Intersex Associatn (ILGA), laws regulatg non-ernmental anizatns Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Moroc, Bahra, Jordan, Kuwa, Oman, Qatar, Sdi Arabia, and the Uned Arab Emirat make virtually impossible for anizatns workg on issu of sexual orientatn and genr inty to legally register. An Iraqi activist livg another untry the regn said that although he is “out” as gay to a broad circle of iends, he mt be ut when anizg events that uld out him more publicly—not out of fear of what might happen to him his host untry, but bee of what might happen if he is ever returned to Iraq. Gay men and transgenr women have also scribed other forms of torture and ill-treatment at the hands of police officers and other members of secury forc the regn: beg beaten wh electric bl and raped wh an iron rod (Lebanon)[60]; police who “took off their belts and put them around our necks and ma walk like dogs” (Egypt)[61]; beg raped by police and then thrown out of a movg police r to the street (Kuwa)[62]; and beg hung upsi down om a hook the ceilg (Iraq).

Human Rights Watch has documented such vlence Kuwa, where men sexually asslt transgenr women wh impuny[64]; Moroc, where people perceived to be gay or transgenr have been subjected to mob vlence[65]; and Iraq, where gay men reported severe beatgs and ath threats at the hands of their own fay members. A study published 2017 by OutRight Actn Internatnal found that Arabic language media tend to e “gradg and rogatory terms” when discsg LGBT people, equently ed relign to jtify transphobia and homophobia, and often ed accatns of homosexualy “as a tool to reputatns of dividuals regardls of the actual sexual orientatn of the person who is beg targeted. To mark the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT) May 2017, the regnal MantiQna work ordated a multi-untry social media iative lled “Our Colours Are the Crime” which addrsed “persecutn, vlence public spac and on the streets jt for existg” Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mrania, Moroc, Sudan, and Tunisia.

BAHRA GAY TRAVEL - LGBT RMATN AUGT 2023

Elie Ballan, an activist wh M-Coaln Beit, told Human Rights Watch that Lebanon, open discsn of LGBT rights first grew out of discsns startg the late 1990s about the HIV crisis and the need to target key populatns for preventn and treatment, cludg MSM (a term ed by HIV service provirs to clu not only men who intify as gay or bisexual, but also those who may not affirm such inti but neverthels engage same-sex relatns). Human Rights Watch has documented homophobic vlence and threats faced by gay men and trans women Antigua and Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda has unrgone LGBTI sensizatn trag to better protect the rights of LGBTI people, facilated by Caribbean 2016, followg s UN Universal Perdic Review, the mister of social transformatn announced that she was willg to troduce to bet a remendatn to strike down the buggery laws, but as of 2019, they rema place Antigua and November 2019, the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversy and Equaly announced planned to lnch a legal challenge agast the crimalizatn of private, nsensual same-sex sexual the full Eastern Caribbean Report ». Egypt ntu to subject people acced of homosexual nduct to forced anal examatns, which are cel and gradg and n rise to the level of March 12, 2020, durg s third Universal Perdic Review (UPR), Egypt rejected remendatns by several stat to end arrts and discrimatn based on sexual orientatn and genr inty.

Police lnched an vtigatn to Vasadze's claims but there was no publicly known oute at time of events associated wh Tbilisi Pri took place, and on July 8, 2019, around 40 activists and LGBT supporters held a pri march outsi the Interr November 2019, ultra-natnalist groups and their supporters anized protts agast the screeng of a Swedish-Geian gay love-themed film, “And Then We Danced, ” Tbilisi and Batumi, harassg and at tim attackg moviegoers. On September 14, 2017, Nasser Atabati, prosecutor of Arbil provce, told media that six people had been arrted Arbil for “promotg homosexualy” on the Telegram msagg March 2017, before the Commtee on the Rights of the Child, Iran nied allegatns that ercive treatment and electric shocks were beg ed agast lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people.

Sce then, the challeng facg LGBT people the untry have been further exacerbated by the lack of clary and divergent opns regardg the legaly of the moratorium on arrts and prosecutns for nsensual homosexual September 2013, the Malawi High Court issued a notice that would review the nvictn of three dividuals for “unnatural offens, ” based on the nstutnaly of this provisn. The backlash agast participants was vol and severe, wh some reportg harassment on social media, cludg threats of April 2019, activist Numan Afifi was summoned for police qutng regardg a speech he gave at Malaysia’s Universal Perdic Review about the suatn facg LGBT people the Augt 2019, Malaysian thori censored gay scen om the Elton John bpic, Rocketman, sparkg nmnatn by art transgenr women were killed between November 2018 and January 2019. In April 2020, Human Rights Watch lled on the Morocn ernment to protect gay and bisexual men om onle harassment, after a mpaign of “outg”– the act of disclosg a person's sexual orientatn or genr inty whout their nsent – emerged Moroc and led to the targetg of dozens of men g onle datg applitns.

GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI / GLBTQ+ FRIENDLY COUNTRI 2023

In January 2019, Lagos state police spokperson Dolapo Badmos, through her private Instagram acunt, warned gay people to leave Nigeria or risk prosecutn unr the Same Sex Marriage Prohibn December 2019, 47 men were put on trial for public displays of affectn wh members of the same sex, an offence that rri a 10-year jail term unr the law. Laws Gaza punish “unnatural terurse” of a sexual nature, unrstood to clu same-sex relatnships, wh up to 10 years Augt 2019, the Paltian Authory police spokperson announced a ban on activi by the Paltian lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) group Al-Qaws for Sexual & Genr Diversy Paltian society and vowed to prosecute s members. Police claimed they were vtigatg for “creatn and nng brothels and tradg prostutn, ” an offense unr the penal , implyg that regular night club activi, such as dancg and shows as well as the distributn of ndoms, nstute prostutn if they volve gay Equaly March, held Kyiv  June 2019, was Ukrae's largt-ever Pri event, drawg 8, 000 participants.

Wh so much do see and do, Mt is bt seen by tour b, allowg you to hop off at untls mms, the Sultan’s Palace and the Mutrah Corniche wateront, before venturg further afield on day trips to the beach and turtle-filled lagoons for divg and of the slightly more tolerant untri the regn, Oman is said to have once had s own gay sultan – Sultan Qaboos b Said al Said – although the state prs is quick to ny this as a pric mour!

In realy, the laws are rarely upheld except high-profile s, however, and gay Oman remas a perfectly safe place to | Photo: Katera KerdiPetra, particular, is the crowng glory of Jordan, protected wh sandstone cliffs and offerg an unrivalled llectn of monuments, cludg the fg Siq to the Treasury on an ethereal sert se of red rock and dun known as Wadi Rum2.