1st public gay marriage Yemen draws rage | Al Bawaba

Contents:

• GAY LIFE YEMEN--AN INTRODUCTN
• 1ST PUBLIC GAY MARRIAGE YEMEN DRAWS RAGE
• ALAA JARBAN: ONE OF YEMEN'S FIRST OPENLY GAY MEN
• FIRST GAY MARRIAGE YEMEN STIRS ANGER
• THE SECRET LIFE OF A LONELY GAY CHRISTIAN IN YEMEN
• GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY LIFE YEMEN: ONE MAN'S STORY OF DTY AND CHOICE
• NO PLACE FOR GAYS YEMEN
• 13 UNTRI WHERE BEG GAY IS LEGALLY PUNISHABLE BY ATH
• WHAT DO THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE?
• EGYPT JAILS EIGHT MEN AFTER ‘GAY MARRIAGE’ CEREMONY ON NILE
• FOR YEMEN’S GAY MUNY SOCIAL MEDIA IS A SAVUR

GAY LIFE YEMEN--AN INTRODUCTN

In Yemen, homosexualy is both bee no one is willg to speak or wre about public or the media, spe the evable prence of a gay unrground that is kept well hidn om the scty of the moraly thugs and vlent thori. In more than a of rerdg thoands of news and reports about LGBT life around the world, GlobalGayz has only found eight reports about homosexualy Yemen. The official posn is that there are no gays Yemen, yet Yemeni law that stipulat severe punishment for homosexual activy acknowledg s existence.

One Sana’a-based journalist has said, “ Yemen there is no gay muny, bee acrdg to Islamic Sharia ’s prohibed, Yemen isn’t the Uned Stat. Only three Mlim natns (Sdi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan) are known to have rried out the ath penalty for alleged homosexual acts recently years (1990-2010). However, the homosexual ‘liftyle’ was outed 2010 when om a safe distance Paris the Yemeni thor and filmmaker Hamid Aqabi published a review of an Egyptian film, “Heena Maysara” (“Till thgs get better”), which ntas a lbian love scene.

In his ments he noted that homosexualy was “part and parcel of our society” and went so far as to ll on the parliament to extend more rights to gay people and suggted that the Yemeni ernment nsir allowg gay marriag, as the Wt.

1ST PUBLIC GAY MARRIAGE YEMEN DRAWS RAGE

Homosexualy⚢✖ Illegal (ath penalty as punishment)Censorship✖ Imprisonment as punishmentNon-bary genr regnnUnknownDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsConversn Therapy✖ Not banned. Illegal (ath penalty as punishment) Even though the Yemeni Law says that only married Mlim man n be punished wh the ath penalty if the man is ught havg a homosexual activy.

The imag drew the wrath of many, who lled the police to immediately arrt the men for promotg LGBTQ+ and gay marriag their nservative muny. Another vio was also shared on Sunday showg one of the sheikhs, rryg a Kalashnikov weapon, at a lol tribal meetg, mandg that the lol thori execute the two gay men.

ALAA JARBAN: ONE OF YEMEN'S FIRST OPENLY GAY MEN

Image ptn, Alaa Jarban's "I'm Queer" post has provoked a backlashThe issue of homosexualy is wily taboo the Middle East, cludg Yemen where the penalty for beg gay n be severe. Last week, spired by the hope the revolutn created, Alaa beme one of the first people to e out publicly as gay while still livg Yemen. "In his post, Mr Jarban revealed timate thoughts and reflected on a perplexed and isolated perd of adolcence growg up as a gay boy a nservative society.

Fdg posive support shared on a public platform, regardls of how small, shows a distct shift attus towards homosexualy among some Yemen.

But while for some that is a good thg, for others rerc the ia that Yemenis need to prerve their tradns orr to fight off this creepg so-lled "Wtern morny" prospect of acceptg homosexual people seems distant a untry that do not acknowledge their existence. "I asked iends where is the gay muny, and people said there are no gays Yemen, " wrote a girl who was aaid to share her real inty on Alaa's blog, which has bee a platform for ntributors om the LGBT [lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr] muny.

FIRST GAY MARRIAGE YEMEN STIRS ANGER

"When the protts reached Yemen, I cid to take part the hope of fdg a new si to my untry, a si I uld fally relate to, " said Mr that hope began to wane as he watched the limed impact the revolutn had on tradnal Yemeni life and attus - spe the otg of a print who had led for 32 ptn, Kamal al-Solaylee says his cisn to e out as a gay Yemeni enuraged othersKamal al-Solaylee - thor of Intolerable: A Memoir of Extrem, a book about the trials he faced g out as member of the Yemeni diaspora - scribed Mr Jarban's cisn as brave, pecially for a man so young. Acutely aware of those nsequenc, Mr Solaylee is nearly 50 and liv his book was published, gay Yemeni men sought him out, eager to share experienc and embrace their sexual inty an acceptg Yemeni Solaylee was luged wh emails and letters. "I beme the godfather of gay Yemeni men, " he feels protective of Mr Jarban and wants to help him, but there is ltle he n do if the 23-year-old cis to stay Yemen.

THE SECRET LIFE OF A LONELY GAY CHRISTIAN IN YEMEN

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups. Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years.

In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

GAY MARRIAGE

Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs. That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S. Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v.

The state fally troduced the untry to gay marriage (m the feral benefs) when began issug same-sex marriage licens on May 17, that year, the U. 2004 was notable for upl many other stat as well, though for the oppose reason: Ten typilly nservative stat, along wh Oregon, enacted state-level bans on gay marriage. Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire.

Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007. Perry legalized same-sex marriage early 2010s ntued the state-level battl over gay marriage that fed the precedg , wh at least one notable event.

GAY LIFE YEMEN: ONE MAN'S STORY OF DTY AND CHOICE

For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal. Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000.

Introductn: The followg story was sent to GlobalGayz by a thoughtful Yemeni gay man who was willg to share his observatns and feelgs about gay life his untry.

This story is not a cheerful one for a gay person but the wrer seems to be strong and wise and able to manage some satisfactn his daily livg, thanks no small part to LGBT iends he has found onle. I ed to have dreams of livg somewhere outsi Yemen where I n live as a ee gay, but I am more mature now, and I want to have my own fay wh my parents.

NO PLACE FOR GAYS YEMEN

Beg gay do not fe me, I am still a human beg who wants to love and be loved, earn rpect by my ethics and morals, re about others and help the unfortunate; I dream and work to achieve my goals. The future is unknown and I n’t build a future life as a gay person bee neher my parents nor my relign will accept me, and I want to have all.

I thk of as one way or the other, beg gay and fallg love wh a man, or keep my sir hidn and fulfill my parents wish and fay duti. Dpe the existence of gays here the ernment won’t adm their prence the untry; the general muny n’t tolerate gay people or rpect their liv.

13 UNTRI WHERE BEG GAY IS LEGALLY PUNISHABLE BY ATH

Although dog that may seem gay don’t necsarily make teenagers gay although a mory of them may be naturally attracted to other men. Standg on the street alone like a prostute is beg a trend nowadays; is hard to say if the are really gay and lookg for sex or if they are unrprivileged teenagers lookg to make money dog that. In my se, I wasn’t aware of my homosexualy and I had a very strong Islamic fluence so I didn’t have any sexual exploratn until I was 16 years old.

I found out that most of the guys onle were lookg for sex only and some of them are not even gay; they were jt lookg to be satisfied. Certaly, gays are not allowed to live out of the closet, and if some of are open about , the muny will make sure we are an outst.

WHAT DO THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE?

They prefer secret relatnships bee they are eher married or don’t want to their fay’s reputatn, as is the se wh all cent Yemeni gays. I have never seen or wnsed any gay sndals, but I heard stori about gays who were thrown out of rtrants, cloth shops, ter f and ffee shops bee they were actg feme or gay.

(Please unrstand that my rmatn may not be wholly accurate bee I have never wanted to get ep the gay world here Yemen, sce ’s very dangero and dark. My advice for any gay who is thkg to vis Yemen is to be discreet and secretive about their sexual orientatn and if he is lookg for an adventure that clus sex then datg webs like are a way to fd gays here, but he should make sure they are ted and cent.

“In practil terms, ” Brian Whaker, former Middle East edor at The Guardian and thor of Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lbian Life the Middle East, told IPS, “the biggt problem is the attus of fai and society rather than the law self. The untry’s nservative society has no place for them s midst, the law se homosexualy as a crime punishable by ath, while the extremists take thgs to their own hands, killg homosexual men.

EGYPT JAILS EIGHT MEN AFTER ‘GAY MARRIAGE’ CEREMONY ON NILE

“Ansar al-Sharia has been workg on killg them (gays), but the ernment has taken no actn, ” the secury officer told IPS on ndn of anonymy.

FOR YEMEN’S GAY MUNY SOCIAL MEDIA IS A SAVUR

This crimalisatn of homosexualy has driven ternatnal rights groups to ll on the Yemeni ernment to end laws that treat same-sex relatnships as a crime. The culture of nial ntued at the plats partment of the mistry, where an official said he did not know of any rerds of prosecutn or tentn of any gay people.