Gay Rights Tunisia: Not Illegal, but Taboo

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS TUNISIANOT ILLEGAL, BUT TABOO
• TUNISIAN URT VICTORY BOOSTS PH TO END GAY SEX BAN
• GAY-RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TAKE TO THE AIR TUNISIA

GAY RIGHTS TUNISIANOT ILLEGAL, BUT TABOO

“The vis provis an important opportuny to asss the implementatn of human rights standards to bat vlence and discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual, trans and genr-diverse people the untry, ” said Madrigal-Borloz.

“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.

TUNISIAN URT VICTORY BOOSTS PH TO END GAY SEX BAN

“While stat and ternatnal bodi have mend Tunisia for s progrs on human rights, the crimalizatn and prosecutn of homosexual nduct signals otherwise.

The police then attempted to persua them to “nfs that they are gay” by bullyg, sultg, and threateng to imprison them, Darraji said. 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. Homosexualy⚢✖ Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)Censorship✖ Imprisonment as punishmentNon-bary genr regnnUnknownDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsConversn Therapy✖ Not banned. Illegal (imprisonment as punishment) Penal Co of 1913: Article 230: “The mascule homosexualy and feme homosexualy that is not vered by any of the other prev articl, is punished wh imprisonment for three years” (unofficial translatn) Male illegal, female legalPunishment of 2- 3 years prison.

GAY-RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TAKE TO THE AIR TUNISIA

“The urt’s sistence on upholdg sodomy charg agast the fendants and lockg them up for one year is a grave jtice, ” said Rasha Youn, lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights rearcher at Human Rights Watch. Hassa Darraji, the lawyer who reprented the men before the appeals urt, said she brought to the urt’s attentn the fendants’ statements that the police bullied, sulted, and threatened them to get them to nfs to beg gay, and attempted to persua them to unrgo an anal exam, purportedly to tt for sodomy, which they refed. Darraji also told the urt that the police discrimated agast one of the fendants durg the prelimary vtigatn by statg that his appearance dit that he is gay.

The judge has sentenced six stunts to three years prison on homosexualy charg 2015 the town of Kairouan and banned the stunts om the town for three years after their release om prison.

Durg Tunisia’s 2017 Universal Perdic Review (UPR) hearg at the UN Human Rights Council, Tunisia formally accepted a remendatn om several untri to end forced anal exams as a method of “provg” homosexualy. More than two years have passed sce Mounir Baatour, the first openly gay printial ndidate Tunisia, announced his ndidacy Augt 2019. Before a sectn on Tunisia’s LGBTQ muny was clud the overall sectn on the state of the LGBTQ movement around the world, Baatour worked wh advot to ph for the aboln of Article 230, which punish homosexualy for up to three years prison.

Workg njunctn wh human rights anizatns, the activists succsfully lled on their ernment to disntue the practice of anal examatns, which was ed to terme one’s sexual orientatn and subsequently punish homosexualy.

An assumptn that homosexualy n be disvered through analyzg the shape of the an or the tone of the anal sphcter has been accepted by examers who are admisterg or approvg the exams. “Begng 2013, and ntug to this day, Tunisia’s attu toward gay rights began to improve slightly as a rult of the growg onle iativ llg for change, ” Aymen explaed.

Acrdg to Baatour, who is also the print of the Tunisian LGBTQ rights group Shams – Pour la Dépénalisatn L’homosexualé en Tunisie (Shams – for the Decrimalizatn of Homosexualy Tunisia), women’s movements the untry, cludg the Tunisian Associatn of Democratic Women, “were on the ontl” when me to advotg for LGBTQ rights and repealg Article 230. However, acrdg to Aoui, Tunisia’s queer muny ntu to face social rejectn and is burned by a burecratic ernment and homophobic policians.

“When Ghannouchi refed to meet wh and refed to engage any type of dialogue about LGBTQ rights, the party took a more aggrsive stance toward the muny, clarg var lol media outlets that homosexualy is a crime and a s and that gay people should be imprisoned, ” Baatour said. (Tunis) – Tunisia should revise s laws and practic to regnize and protect the rights of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people, Human Rights Watch said today on the Internatnal Day agast Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia. The Tunisian ernment has taken steps to whdraw the legal registratn of a leadg Tunisian LGBT rights anizatn, Shams, claimg s work on behalf of sexual mori ntraven “Tunisian society’s Islamic valu” and laws that crimalize homosexual acts.

While the Tunisian thori 2017 mted to endg anal tts as evince homosexualy prosecutns, the urts ntue to orr this practice, which has no scientific basis and has been nmned by ternatnal experts as torture.

The would provi for crimalizatn of homosexual acts and a rights-rpectg procs by which trans people uld change their sex marker on legal documents. As a stunt and gay man his early twenti, Hosem is unwillg to give his real name for fear of discrimatn and possible timidatn. He don't talk to the Tunisian media at all about his onle work as a gay rights advote, bee all too often the people makg the quiri turn out not to be journalists.

In the jubilant atmosphere after 14 January 2011, Hosem and a group of like-md dividuals found Gayday, an onle magaze for homosexuals Tunisia. Sudnly what had appeared impossible unr dictator Ze El Abide Ben Ali seemed to be wh reach: beg able to exprs onelf openly on gay rights issu whout fear.

Even though this article is seldom enforced and do not apply only to homosexuals, hangs as a nstant threat over gays Tunisia. Asked about Gayday magaze on a talk show, the Tunisian Mister for Human Rights, Samir Dilou, a member of the Islamic Ennahdha Party, said even eedom of exprsn has lims. Even though untls civil society anizatns were found after the uprisg of January 2011, not one is specifilly foced homosexual rights.