Everythg you need to know about beg gay Mlim untri | LGBTQ+ rights | The Guardian

Contents:

• GAY-IENDLY: MARRAKECH FOR HOMOSEXUALS
• WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY … MOROC?
• DOZENS OF GAY MEN ARE OUTED MOROC AS PHOTOS ARE SPREAD ONLE
• GAY PRI
• MOROCNS’ GAY PRI MARCH AIMS TO RVE OUT NEW SPACE OM A DISTANCE
• GAY MOROC TRAVEL GUI
• EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
• MOROC GAY TRAVEL

GAY-IENDLY: MARRAKECH FOR HOMOSEXUALS

The movie tells the story of an Algerian-French heterosexual young man begng a soclogy study of gay islamic homosexuali and disverg gay love wh a young French steward. A documentary by Peter Barbosa and Garrett Lenoir, I Exist giv a voice to gay and lbian Amerins om the Middle East, who often rema silent out of shame and fear. Filmed 12 untri and 9 languag, this documentary, directed by gay Mlim filmmaker Parvez Sharma, tells the lorful and varied stori of gay and lbian Mlims om all over the world.

Enuraged by Sandra, Ama lnch a blog lled “A Gay Girl Damasc, ” reprentg a margalized voice the Middle East on polics, relign, and sexualy. In this portra that is multi-layered both terms of form and ntent, a gay man nonts the ghosts of his past and explor hidn longgs, unrequed love and tormentg feelgs of guilt.

After beg tranged om his fay for his homosexualy, we observe a young Arab man over four seasons and om far away as he navigat his solu – all the while attemptg to rennect wh his mother. A short documentary that tells the stori of Mashrou’ Leila, a Lebane rock band wh an outspoken gay sger, and Sarah Hegazy, an Egyptian activist. Between realy and animatn, the story of Nidhal is told, a young homosexual Tunisian who fend dividual eedoms Tunisia through his work rad.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY … MOROC?

Even though Marrakech’s clubs and hotels do not openly e labels such as “gay” or “gay-iendly” for advertisg, is the new “Pk Cy”, havg overtaken the formerly ternatnal zone of Tanger. The gay night life n be bt experienced one of the clubs mentned above, but is advisable to keep a keen md even there: It is not unlikely that the young man showerg you wh pliments is a prostute, and the police are rather strict their effort to nta prostutn, pecially as is gradually creasg Moroc. For those who heard about the se of Ray Cole—a Brish tourist arrted last year Marrakech, Moroc, on spicn of mtg “homosexual acts” and sentenced to four months’ hard time a Morocn jail prr to his early release— is perhaps difficult to image that Moroc was somethg of a gay paradise for whe men of standg the aftermath of World War II.

Gay life tak place the pths of certa hammams (Turkish baths) and the back rows of cemas, if people happen to know the right spots; needls to say, cisg plays an important role.

Seen this light, the se of Ray Cole n be said to be another part of the story of the wherg away of gay life Moroc, or at the very least, the end of turng of a bld eye to . But what is more signifint about Cole’s se is that monstrat the te realy for gay men Moroc, namely, that while the laws on homosexualy are enforced nsistently, there is evintly a double standard employed their applitn.

DOZENS OF GAY MEN ARE OUTED MOROC AS PHOTOS ARE SPREAD ONLE

The lerature available to potential gay travelers to Moroc—of which there is a great al sce, spe of laws and social norms there, Moroc remas a prime statn for package holiday-goers om Bra, France, and Germany—is very clear settg out what is and isn’t acceptable. Gay upl should rea om public displays of affectn and would be advised to seek out hotels and riads (a tradnal hoe wh an terr urtyard) known to be gay-iendly. The scen of Cole’s fay greetg him at Bra’s Gatwick Airport ntrast starkly wh how gay men are treated Morocn society: looked down upon, rejected by their fai, dismissed wh the Maghrebi Arabic slur zamel.

“More than [Cole’s] own se, what happened to him shows how vulnerable gay Morocns are, ”Abllah Taïa, a Morocn wrer and filmmaker who now liv exile, wrote The Guardian, “They are at the mercy of anyone. ” To the qutn of what is like to be gay Moroc, then, the answer very much means one thg to a Wtern visor and que another to Morocn natnals, who are nsired by their society and their state to be of lser value.

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe ia was to show the hypocrisy of Morocn society by showg how many gay men are livg quietly straight society. It backfired S/Agence France-Prse — Getty ImagPARIS — At least 50 to 100 gay men were outed Moroc over the last two weeks, rights activists say, after the men were intified on lotn-based meetg apps while shelterg at home amid a ronavis at least three s, men were kicked out of their ho, L.

GAY PRI

”In Moroc, a North Ain kgdom where homosexualy and sex outsi marriage are crim, gay people are pafully acctomed to the feelgs of peril and rejectn, and many keep their sexual inti unr, their ver has been blown a way that would be crimal most Wtern societi, rights advot say.

”What mak this episo particularly paful, gay lears say, is that was igned by someone who had also been sgled April 13, a Morocn transgenr Instagram personaly based Istanbul, Naoufal Mosa or Sofia Talouni, was sulted about her sexual orientatn. In a rage, she released a profany-laced vio enuragg women to download the lotn-based meetg apps, like Grdr and Pla Romeo, which are ually ed by gay subsequent vios, she said her aim was to reveal the hypocrisy of Morocn society by showg her attackers how many gay men were livg their vicy, perhaps even their own people followed Ms. Mosa’s lead and created fake acunts on the apps to gather photos of gay men, which they then posted on private and public Facebook pag, settg off the homophobic attacks igned a firtorm of cricism, both of Ms.

“My datg life Moroc was somehow OK as long as my partner and I were beg super discreet and ut, ” said one gay man who asked to be intified only by his ials, N. Abllah Taia, a proment gay thor and one of few to publicly clare his sexual orientatn Moroc, says that the state keeps people a gray area, makg them vulnerable to abe and discrimatn and forcg many to hidg.

MOROCNS’ GAY PRI MARCH AIMS TO RVE OUT NEW SPACE OM A DISTANCE

”Moroc’s Interr Mistry did not rpond to a requt for outg episo is seen by many as stroyg a agile balance that the untry’s unrground gay culture has built laborly over the years, ma even worse a time of uncertaty and enomic hardship. But they do have some support at Bezad, the print of the Pan-Ain Organizatn for the Fight Agast AIDS, said that while Moroc’s laws were unlikely to change, s health mistry enurag associatns like hers to help vulnerable populatns, cludg gay people. At a time when much of Europe and North Ameri imposed particularly nservative laws, Tangier was a liberal haven where alternative travellers uld e and dulge all the thgs that were taboo back home, cludg dgs, gay sex and prostutn.

On 24 Febary 2017, the Primary Court Tangier reportedly sentenced two men, a universy stunt and a real tate agent, to six months prison for ‘engagg homosexual acts’. On 02 June 2016, was reported that a young gay uple, who had gone to a serted area the outskirts of Guelmim, a southern cy of the north Ain untry on 26 May, were ught by police havg sex their r and arrted unr article 489 of the Penal Co, which crimaliz ‘lewd or unnatural acts wh an dividual of the same sex’.

GAY MOROC TRAVEL GUI

On 26 March 2016, was reported that a urt Beni Mellal had sentenced a homosexual man to two months imprisonment acrdance wh article 489 of the Morocn nstutn and obliged to pay a fe of 45 ros ($50). On 01 Febary 2016, a urt Tizn sentenced Hamza M and Osman A to one and a half years jail and fed them 2, 000 dirhams (£375) each on charg of homosexualy. On 13 Augt 2015, whilst homosexual activy remas unlawful, a urt the central cy of Fez sentenced two men to four months jail and orred them to pay a fe of 500 dirhams (around 50 ros/$55) for beatg up a prumed homosexual man bee of his appearance [R2.

On 23 May 2015, a urt Taourirt eastern Moroc was reported to have sentenced three men to three years prison each for practicg homosexualy. Authori Taourirt had arrted two of the men who were ught the act havg gay sex si a mechanic workshop and a third man said to be a mediator between the two men was also arrted [R2.

On 30 December 2014, the al Hoceima Appeals Court wh Judge Mohamed El-Andalosi pridg, upheld the nvictn of two men acced of nsensual homosexual activy for mtg a “viant sexual act wh a member of the same sex” (penal article 489) and “public cency” (article 483), but rced the sentenc for both men om three years prison and a fe to six months for one and one year for the other, who was also nvicted of attempted bribery (article 251) [R2.

EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI

On 18 December 2014, a urt the northern cy of El Hoceima sentenced an elected member om the municipal uncil of Imzouren and his lover, a stunt, to three years prison on grounds of homosexual nduct while a r of the municipal uncil [R2. On 12 May 2014, the Faqih Bensalah urt nvicted six men for homosexualy, cg prostutn, mediatg prostutn and beg dnk public, sentencg them to one, two and three years jail and orrg that they be expelled om the town and never allowed to return on pletn of their jail terms [R2. On 20 May 2013, the Temara Court nvicted two men, aged 28 and 19, of homosexualy and public cency and sentenced each to four months prison.

On 06 May 2013, the daily al-Akhbar reported that three Morocns om the northern town of Souq al-Arbaa recently received three years prison (and a fe of 1000 dirhams) for homosexualy [R2.

MOROC GAY TRAVEL

The LGBTQ+ rights movement has ma tremendo stris over the past few s and much of the progrs visibily is thanks part to gay pri paras and march that have taken place ci around the world.

The global landspe for LGBTQ+ rights, protectns and acceptance vari tremendoly by lotn, wh some statns attractg lns of visors to their events like Madrid Gay Pri, Sao Plo Gay Pri or San Francis Gay Pri, while more than 70 other untri have laws that allow discrimatn or persecutn of LGBTQ+ people. Gay Pri or rather LGBTQ+ pri events (ed to be more clive), cludg pri paras and ftivals were started major urban centers to improve the visibily, acceptance and legal protectns for LGBTQ+ people livg those muni. In June of 1969, a group of LGBTQ+ people New York Cy rted followg a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar loted on Christopher Street Greenwich Village.

As the years went on, addnal ci North Ameri and Europe began to hold their own public monstratns or pri day, eventually leadg to what we know today as a gay pri para, march, celebratn or ftival. Most gay pri paras and events also occur durg a peak season of the year when the weather most ial, yet another reason to book your trip durg the event. Whether travelg alone, wh iends or fay, visg durg a gay pri event n be a fun way to experience a new statn and IGLTA n help you fd LGBTQ-iendly bs almost any lotn to help make you trip memorable, safe and excg.