As a rearcher and advote for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights the Middle East and North Ai (MENA) regn, I am often asked: “What is like to be gay the Middle East?”
Contents:
- TEL AVIV, ‘GAY CAPAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST,’ WEL RETURN OF PRI CELEBRATN JUNE 8TH-12TH
- THE REAL STORY OF THE GAY MIDDLE EAST
TEL AVIV, ‘GAY CAPAL OF THE MIDDLE EAST,’ WEL RETURN OF PRI CELEBRATN JUNE 8TH-12TH
In Sarah Hegazy’s now famo photo she is hoisted on a iend’s shoulrs, sg elatedly as she wav a rabow flag at a 2017 performance Cairo by Mashrou’ Leila, the popular Lebane band whose lead sger is openly gay. In what beme a massive mpaign of arrts agast hundreds of people perceived as gay or transgenr, Egyptian thori created fake profil on same-sex datg applitns to entrap LGBT people, reviewed onle vio footage of the ncert, then proceed to round up people on the street based on their appearance.
While livg Riyadh as an undocumented migrant, he posted a vio on Twter clarg his support for LGBT rights; this prompted homophobic outrage om the Sdi thori and the public. He was charged wh promotg homosexualy onle and “imatg women, ” sentenced to 10 months prison, and faced portatn to Yemen upon release.
Secury officers held him solary nfement for weeks, subjected him to a forced anal exam, and repeatedly beat him to pel him to “nfs that he is gay.
THE REAL STORY OF THE GAY MIDDLE EAST
As a rearcher and advote for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights the Middle East and North Ai (MENA) regn, I am often asked: “What is like to be gay the Middle East? It assum a uniform “gay experience” across the regn, that do not align wh realy.
The answer to that qutn reveals the state-sponsored homophobia that negatively impacts the liv of LGBT people the regn. In Tunisia, the thori have prosecuted and imprisoned men spected of beg gay and transgenr women unr Article 230 of the penal , which provis for up to three years prison for “sodomy.