Gay rights e to the fore as Lebanon prepar to vote | CNN

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS IN LEBANON
• GAY RIGHTS E TO THE FORE AS LEBANON PREPAR TO VOTE
• GAY BEIT

GAY RIGHTS IN LEBANON

(Beit) – Lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people and their rights  Lebanon are part and parcel of the natnwi protts that began on October 17, 2019, Human Rights Watch said today a web feature.

Homosexualy⚢✖ Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)Gay Marriage⚭✖ UnregnizedCensorship✔ No censorshipChangg Genr✖ Legal, but requir surgeryNon-bary genr regnn✖ Not legally regnizedDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsDonatg Blood✖ Banned (fe ferral)Conversn Therapy✖ Not banned.

GAY RIGHTS E TO THE FORE AS LEBANON PREPAR TO VOTE

Public OpnRearch atttus towards LGBTQ+ issu Lebanon have intified a strong opposn to LGBTQ+ rights, reflectg unrlyg homophobic sentiments.

Lebanon Surveys Of Lebane between 15 and 80 years had severe homophobic on Homosexualy of Lebane people thk homosexualy is never jtifiableHistoryHomosexual activy Lebanon? Illegal (imprisonment as punishment) Acrdg to Lebane Law, homosexualy is met wh up to 1 year prison acrdg to article 534 of the Lebane Penal . (Beit) – Lebane thori have unlawfully banned peaceful gathergs of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) people, the Coaln to Defend Freedom of Exprsn Lebanon said today.

” The judg nounced the law’s discrimatory tsn to people’s private liv and clared that homosexualy is not “unnatural. ” The lg followed four judgments om lower urts sce 2009 clg to nvict gay and transgenr people unr article 534. The mistry argued that LGBTQ events vlate ctoms, tradns and "prcipl of relign" Lebanon, where polil power is spl along fah l between Shie and Sunni Mlim, Christian, Dze and other threatsLebanon's LGBTQ muny 2018 sred a succs when a urt led that same-sex nduct is not unlawful, but sce then has seen more setbacks than Beit port blast heavily impacted an ner-cy district wh many gay-iendly spac, also stroyg the Helem offic which have only recently reopened.

GAY BEIT

The Beit port blast heavily impacted an ner-cy district wh many gay-iendly spac, also stroyg the Helem offic which have only recently reopened ANWAR AMRO AFP. LGBTQ people have also featured disproportnately Lebanon's snowballg populatn exod that is generatg an epimic of queer mory "has suffered greatly over the past three years and is already ma hyper-vulnerable by the socenomic discrimatn has been facg, " said Zeidan, the latt cisn, he said, "is really exacerbatg that feelg of anxiety and that feelg of fear livg Lebanon" state move triggered an avalanche of homophobic slurs and threats om policians, relig thori and radil activists, as secury forc banned even private workshops and movie screengs. To the left, graffi clarg ‘homophobia is a crime’ is spray-pated above the slogan ‘down wh sectarianism.

Lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights, once nsired taboo and exclud om the polil terra, have entered the mastream as a pillar of ristance for the first time.

” Over time, this rponse to homophobic chants gaed tractn and beme an effective unter-narrative, a way of rrectg the public rerd and shamg those who perpetuate homophobia and transphobia. Ask, say, a transgenr woman Egypt, who has stggled her entire life to fd a job bee of her genr exprsn, if she “intifi” wh a rich gay Egyptian man who has the rourc to live a fortable life. When a Lebanon urt of appeal upheld a lg July that adult, nsensual same-sex nduct is not an “unnatural offense, ” a wave of excement rippled through Lebane lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muni.

People who face multiple forms of opprsn Lebanon – transgenr women, for stance, or gay Syrian refuge – are often the most likely to be targeted, say Lebane activists who provi legal aid and other servic. The judge found that “homosexuals have a right to human and timate relatnships wh whomever they want, whout any terference or discrimatn terms of their sexual clatns. While the law down harst on gay men and transgenr people, cisgenr women face signifint barriers to openly intifyg as lbian or bisexual, cludg fay prsure to get married or not to “shame” their fai by g out.

Much activism has foced on lbian, gay, and bisexual issu, while signifint gaps rema terms of service provisn, rearch, and advocy foced around the specific ncerns of transgenr people.

On September 29, 2018, attempted to shut down the annual NEDWA nference of the Arab Foundatn for Freedoms and Equaly, which works to advance lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr (LGBT) and other human rights. General Secury officers also took tails of all nference participants om the hotel registry where the nference was beg held, cludg participants om untri such as Egypt, where police arrted over 70 people 2018 for beg gay or transgenr, and Iraq, where armed groups have murred LGBT people wh impuny. General Secury’s terference followed public statements om the Mlim Scholars Associatn accg the anizers of promotg homosexualy and dg abe.

The lg follows siar judgments om lower urts that have cled to nvict gay and transgenr people of “sexual terurse ntrary to nature” four separate lgs between 2007 and 2017. “This lg signals a new horizon for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people Lebanon, who have long been persecuted unr discrimatory laws, ” said Neela Ghoshal, senr rearcher on lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights at Human Rights Watch.

This recent lg related to the 2015 arrt of ne people a suburb of Beit whom police spected of beg gay and transgenr. A crimal urt cled to nvict them of “unnatural offens” 2017, when the judge said that “homosexuals have a right to human and timate relatnships wh whoever they want, whout any terference or discrimatn terms of their sexual clatns, as is the se wh other people.

While judg are not legally bound by the precent and may still nvict people of homosexual nduct unr article 534, Makhlouf told Human Rights Watch that they are likely to give ser nsiratn to the lg subsequent s. “Other urts uld still nvict people, but we’re very hopeful – we’re seeg that the trend now is not to crimalize homosexualy.

In a untry where homosexualy n be punished by up to a year prison, and relig stutns that reject same-sex relatns hold enormo power, the unnventnal chant reflected the fiance of the uprisg, and a surprisg shift attus toward LGBT rights. ” Prev surveys have shown that Lebane society generally do not have favorable views of homosexualy, wh a 2013 Pew Rearch poll sayg 80% of the popultn reject .

But LGBT advot are hopg the lls for polil change and wave of anti-ernment protts are also an opportuny to re-exame the place of anti-gay sentiment mastream Lebane society. While pro-ernment opponents of the protters have latched onto this by hurlg homophobic sults and raisg ncerns about the protters’ diversy and openns, activists are turng the smears around. For them, battg homophobia is part of a broar goal for a more clive, morn society ee of sectarianism and bigotry.