The ‘Nightmare’ of Beg Gay Tunisia - DAWN

Contents:

• TUNISIA ULTIMATE ERARY: THGS TO DO AND SEE WH 10 DAYS GAY TUNISIA
• GAY LIFE TUNIS? - TUNIS FOM
• COMMENT çA SE PASSE EN TUNISIE QUAND ON T GAY ?
• OP-ED: GAYS IN THE NEW, COMPLITED TUNISIA
• THE 'NIGHTMARE' OF BEG GAY TUNISIA
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à TUNIS
• RENNTRE GRATUE GAY TUNISIE
• TUNISIA JT INDIRECTLY REGNIZED A GAY MARRIAGE
• RENNTRE GRATUE GAY MAROC
• VERY VERY GAY IENDLY HAMAM - DAVUTPASA ISKELE HAMAMI
• A QUEER FILM FTIVAL TUNISIA — WHERE BEG GAY IS ILLEGAL
• VISER LE MAROC EN éTANT GAY?

TUNISIA ULTIMATE ERARY: THGS TO DO AND SEE WH 10 DAYS GAY TUNISIA

What I almost never saw om my seat at my favore hnt—the Café Paris, chosen bee, not attached to a hotel, always attracted more Tunisians than tourists—were any signs of a visible, easily intifiable gay or lbian culture. While the gay visor particular might be thrown ially by the ways which two men or two women openly display their physil affectn—whenever we would cross the avenue together, for example, my iend Hs would grab my hand to make sure that I would not be n down by one of Tunis’s notorly reckls b drivers—and while the sight of a man walkg down the street wh a jasme blossom tucked behd his ear might (wrongly) suggt otherwise, open signs of Wtern-style gay inty are owned upon if not absolutely taboo.

GAY LIFE TUNIS? - TUNIS FOM

In some s, this adolcent homosexual behavr is nsired a stage of life that will soon be left behd, so men who ntue the practice to adulthood—or, worse, who still prefer the passive role—are open to cricism, or worse. In more recent tim, however, as a rult of global media broadsts via satelle televisn and the Inter, Tunisians are regularly exposed to Wtern notns of gay inty. Though sometim clumsily censored, Wtern shows wh gay characters—like The OC or the Spanish Un Dos Tr, a Fame-style show about a performg arts school—are easily available via satelle dish, as are gay phone sex ads that ma me blh.

We also sometim fet the ways which, even the Wt, gay style is munited through the media and “assumed” by as we figure out how to reprent ourselv to each other and to a larger heterosexual public.

As Tunisians who feel same-sex sire see more Wtern reprentatns of gay life, they’re likely to imate the ways of beg and actg, however nstraed by the nf of an Islamic social system.

COMMENT çA SE PASSE EN TUNISIE QUAND ON T GAY ?

Bee a visible gay inty is often seen the Islamic world as a product of the Wt, is difficult to untangle a rejectn of gay inty om a rejectn of the Wt wh s profoundly different standards of public behavr and private moraly.

Somethg to nsir, then, is the possibily that the tenncy of our media to portray Islam a negative light is makg harr for those Tunisians who wish to “e out” as pennt women, as gay, or as otherwise nontradnal. The fact that gay inty is built precisely upon a public acknowledgment of beg gay plit thgs a society where, for example, men are so most that they shower their unrwear at the gym, or where, until recently, heterosexual upl uld not so much as hold hands public. I equented the tablishment bee was one of the only plac Tunisia where I uld experience some semblance of a gay culture, but I had to learn to pe wh the daily proposns.

His homosexualy, along wh his antipathy for relign of any kd and his awarens of the many ironi of his role as a universy profsor a police state, had left him, if not exactly jad, at least world-weary om a lifetime of knowg, but never beg able to say out loud, that the emperor has no cloth. At this fé, where Jacqu met his rent boy, I saw what I would intify as the only visible signs of a gay inty that I saw: some young men nductg surveys about safer sex practic.

OP-ED: GAYS IN THE NEW, COMPLITED TUNISIA

We do have gays and lbians jt like any other society, but ’s a very closed circle of people and they do everythg to hi and keep secret. Tunisia ultimate erary: thgs to do and see wh 10 days gay TunisiaStori > Iterari > Tunisia ultimate erary: thgs to do and see wh 10 days gay TunisiaSomethg of a sand-buried secret North Ai is the natn of Tunisia, beneftg om both Mederranean beach and Saharan dun that enclose much the way of unique natnal culture.

In realy, homosexualy is a crimal offence Tunisia (punishable by up to 3 years imprisonment), meang that beg open is not advisable while travellg the untry. Dpe this, creased lol LGBTQ+ activism and acceptance has risen up sce the 2011 revolutn, makg Tunisia one of the better plac the Arab world to be Tunisia gay scene is not easy to fe but, thanks to the ter, ’s bee ever easier to tap to s varyg levels. From ‘straight’ unhappy hbands to ‘same-sex-not-gay’ liaisons between iends, the gay work certaly exists, allowg for discreet (yet cisy) nnectns at any time.

The lack of anisatn and outward stutns however means ’s hard to form a legimate gay muny, but ongog work om anisatns like ‘Associatn Shams’ and ‘Mawjoud’ helps prent a proud face for gay Tunisia. The gay lols I met there through iends on Facebook had no problem wh my beg Jewish, and some even took me to vis a cemetery that clus the grav of Jewish-Amerin soldiers who helped liberate Tunisia om the Nazis.

THE 'NIGHTMARE' OF BEG GAY TUNISIA

)Tunisia is also the only Mlim untry I have vised so far which I met gay men who had e out to their fai voluntarily; of the two such men I enuntered, one's parents were divorced and the other's father was ad. There are no official meetg spots for gay people, and the only place I saw gay men socializg public was at a small hamam, or bathhoe, hidn on a ty street.

) Bee public exposure remas a risk--I met two guys whose angry ex-boyiends had tattled on them to their fai--many gay men prefer to socialize wh Wternized women iends, or travel to Europe if they n get visas. Although straight Tunisian men often walk wh their arms around their iends' shoulrs, my gay Tunisian iends don't allow themselv to do the same.

In the long term, sce sgle men over 30 are nsired spic, some wealthy and ted gay men adopt beards: women om relig backgrounds, who will be ls likely to qutn shadowy life has gotten even darker the past two years. Laws agast homosexual activy were rarely enforced unr Ben Ali, a pro-Wtern ary lear whose regime helped sulate Tunisia om the risg ti of relig fanaticism that has engulfed much of the Mlim world.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

) Gay Tunisians tell me that arrts for homosexualy have been on the rise, sometim rultg jail terms of up to three years, om which some prisoners--victims of harassment, rape and vlence om other mat--never return. But gay people om the regns I'm wrg about, who read those same articl, wre om across the world to thank me for llg attentn to the misery they face unr relig le. They worry sperately that their stori are not beg heard; they believe that they will be abandoned by Wtern mocraci more tertg zyg up to the new regim than protectg the rights and liv of gay people, women and relig more gay Amerins took time to meet their unterparts the Mlim world, they might be shocked at what they learned.

RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à TUNIS

In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that. “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer.

“Puttg a product wh the word gay the tle is reprentatn self,” which he hop reclaims the word om the negativy ’s sometim associated wh. The two chatted about the limed amount of gay people wh , and wh Hodson burnt out om his tradnal day job tech, started the nned cktail.

RENNTRE GRATUE GAY TUNISIE

Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water. “Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”. For now, Gay Water is sold largely onle (wh a few retailers) and four sugar-ee flavors — watermelon, lime, peach and grapeu — at lnch.

Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN.

“There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said.

TUNISIA JT INDIRECTLY REGNIZED A GAY MARRIAGE

Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space. Belhadj, who was 38 years old at the time, was charged wh homosexual activy and taed the civil prison of Mornaguia, southwt of the Tunisian pal.

Belhadj's story is all-too faiar Tunisia, where the crimalizatn of homosexualy ntradicts the right to privacy and nondiscrimatn that is supposedly enshred Tunisia's 2014 nstutn. His oral shows what is like livg as an LGBTQ person a untry where homosexualy is nmned and illegal, and the social stigma of beg exposed n have dire nsequenc on people's a recent terview wh Democracy Exile, Belhadj said that his se was overwhelmgly publicized whout his knowledge while he was prison.

"Belhadj's story is all-too faiar Tunisia, where the crimalizatn of homosexualy ntradicts the right to privacy and nondiscrimatn that is supposedly enshred the nstutn. Ali Boselmi, the executive director of Mawjoud—"We Exist, " Arabic—a Tunisian NGO fightg for LGBTQ rights, nfirmed Belhadj's acunt of prison and scribed the majory of Tunisian society as homophobic. "When Mounir Baatour, who is also the head of Tunisia's Liberal Party, announced 2019 that he would n for the untry's princy, he beme the first openly gay printial ndidate not only Tunisia but throughout the Arab world.

RENNTRE GRATUE GAY MAROC

The stigma of beg intified as gay led to more discrimatn public, cludg whenever he went out to bars and f, and equent harassment by police.

Belhadj said that three bouncers at a mic venue Tunis beat him wh baseball bats a night after he attend a ncert there, bee they regnized him as the gay filmmaker who appeared on the news. Asked why the Tunisian ernment allows the NGOs to operate while the penal crimaliz homosexualy, Baatour said that there is a difference between civil and crimal law: "The civil law allows to create an associatn, but the crimal law nmns homosexualy. "LGBTQ activists and human rights lawyers prott outsi a urt Tunis after filg a requt mandg the crimalizatn of homosexualy the untry, followg an appeal agast the sentencg of two Tunisians jailed unr the strict penal , Dec.

VERY VERY GAY IENDLY HAMAM - DAVUTPASA ISKELE HAMAMI

Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

A QUEER FILM FTIVAL TUNISIA — WHERE BEG GAY IS ILLEGAL

Lol NewsMIAMI – The diplomatic ti between the Uned Stat and Jamai uld soon be jeopardy.There are reports that Jamai is refg to accred the spoe of a gay Amerin diplomat.“Our culture is not really acceptg of ,” said Renae Stevens, who was visg the Jamain nsulate Miami Wednday.Attorney Wayne Goldg is an advisor to Jamai’s ernment.“The whole ia of legislatn to legalize same-sex marriag, I thk they still have a long way to go,” he said. “Tunisia’s rerd of actively prosecutg people for nsensual same-sex nduct is eply worryg and a blatant vasn of their private life, ” said Rasha Youn, lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights rearcher at Human Rights Watch.

“While stat and ternatnal bodi have mend Tunisia for s progrs on human rights, the crimalizatn and prosecutn of homosexual nduct signals otherwise. Durg Tunisia’s 2017 Universal Perdic Review (UPR) hearg at the UN Human Rights Council, rponse to the remendatn om several untri, Tunisia formally accepted the remendatn to end forced anal examsas a method of “provg” homosexualy. In 2018, the Commissn on Individual Freedoms and Equaly, appoted by Print Beji Caid Essebsi, proposed, among other actns, to crimalize homosexualy and to end anal ttg crimal vtigatns to homosexualy.

VISER LE MAROC EN éTANT GAY?

By Thsa Lageman 8 July 2015 There are about seven anisatns Tunisia that fight for the rights of the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny (LGBT), but you wouldn’t know. Introductn: There are untls reports om many Arab/Mlim societi about persecutn, harassment or imprisonment of gay cizens, om Egypt to Iraq, Iran and Sdi Arabia where tolerance is the mon le. by Farah Samti and Jaber Belkhiria 26 January 2012 From: Tunisia The soc-polil upheaval Tunisia has unrgone sce the revolutn has led many Tunisians to qutn their place wh this new society – Tunisia’s often undiscsed homosexual muny is no exceptn to this uncertaty.

”The tone is a major first for the Arab and Mlim world, where homosexualy remas wily crimalized as a rult of 19th century lonial laws troduced by the Brish and French. Same-sex terurse is still punishable by up to three years imprisonment Tunisia, where gay men are equently subjected to forced anal examatns tend to “prove” their homosexualy upon arrt.