Exclive terview: 'There is a place for gays Islam'

Contents:

• WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY … MOROC?
• HOW MOROC BEME A HAVEN FOR GAY WTERNERS THE 1950S
• GAY MOROCN WRER TAK ON HOMOPHOBIA
• EXCLIVE TERVIEW: 'THERE IS A PLACE FOR GAYS ISLAM'
• THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS
• THE GAY GLADIATORS OF SDI ARABIA
• DOZENS OF GAY MEN ARE OUTED MOROC AS PHOTOS ARE SPREAD ONLE

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY … MOROC?

The law b wh a strongly nservative society to create a real sense of danger for members of Moroc’s lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) muni.

HOW MOROC BEME A HAVEN FOR GAY WTERNERS THE 1950S

And, as I pot out my book, the weight of Islam – Moroc is a predomantly Mlim untry – adds another dimensn, accentuatg gay people’s feelgs of nial, self-loathg and guilt. They were later released, but not before the UN Human Rights Commtee reacted to the story by llg on Moroc’s thori to crimalise homosexualy. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly echoed this ll, potg out that the crimalisatn of homosexualy do not ply wh Moroc’s 2011 Constutn.

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. Somethg of the gay scene moved to Marrakech, but suffice to say, is far removed om Tangier’s heyday and very much nfed to the margs. 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 .

GAY MOROCN WRER TAK ON HOMOPHOBIA

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. 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.

EXCLIVE TERVIEW: 'THERE IS A PLACE FOR GAYS ISLAM'

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.

THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS

“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.

THE GAY GLADIATORS OF SDI ARABIA

” 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.

Rather, Mlim social spac are portrayed as promotg physil closens and ntact between bodi – Mlim societi are lked to nsirable levels of homosocialy and tolerance for homoeroticism. There was a time though when Moroc was renowned as a haven for gay Amerins and Brons, who fled rtrictns their own untri to take advantage of s relaxed a walk down one of the ma streets Tangier, the Boulevard Pastr, turn left before the Hotel Rembrandt and scend towards the sea.

Its bookshelv are another remr of Tangier's huge lerary legacy which clus Jean Ge, Andre Gi, Tennsee Williams, Tman Capote, Gore Vidal and Joe Orton, all of whom were gay or bisexual, as well as many others, om Samuel Pepys to Mark Twa, who were source, AFPImage ptn, Tangier's Boulevard Pastr, 1944For s Tangier and other Morocn ci were mags for gay tourists. But as Moroc's first high-profile, openly gay man, Taia has ma his missn to w acceptance for homosexuals throughout the Mlim has fied Morocn society's don't-ask, don't-tell attu toward homosexualy — and prison sentenc that are still on the books the North Ain kgdom — to wre five tobgraphil novels about growg up poor and gay the northern astal cy of novels, peppered wh sexually explic passag, have tapulted him to fame his native untry and ma him the -facto poster child of s buddg gay rights work has sparked harsh cricism. A crimal his untryLike nearly all Arab untri, Moroc nsirs homosexual relatns a crime, punishable by f and prison sentenc of six months to three years.

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

Such penalti are rarely applied, though, and practice, Moroc has a long history of leniency toward homosexualy and other practic forbidn by whether he se himself as urageo, Taia said, "The most difficult thg was to work up the urage to pick up the pen and wre for the first time. Another distctive feature of the latt Morocn lerature is that several of the thors are openly gay and wre about topics related to homosexualy.

The story unravels as Khalil be associated wh polil parti and his love tert, Naji, and multiple iends die the book won Barakat an Al-Naqid prize, a lerary award, for beg one of the first books by an Arab thor to posss a lead homosexual character.

Dcribed by Interview Magaze as a "lerary transgrsor and cultural paragon, " Taia's revolutnary tobgraphil novel, An Arab Melancholia, revolv around the thor's path towards self-acceptance as a bicultural gay man.