Gay Afghanistan, After the Taliban. Homosexualy as Tradn

young gay afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — To be homosexual Afghanistan is to live fear. Naveed and Rameen, young gay men the pal Kabul have lost unt of the number of tim they've been lured to dangero suatns on what they believed to be dat. Both men scribe beg robbed, beaten up and blackmailed, and receivg ath threats. They've even elud police "honey traps" that uld have seen them thrown prison whout charge, simply on spicn of beg gay. They know they uld be killed, wh impuny, if they reveal their sexualy. Rameen, 31, tells the story of his iend, Zabi, who was killed by his fay after g out as gay, a so-lled "honor killg" ually rerved for young women. "He was shamg the fay by beg open about . They stabbed him so many tim," Rameen said. "It was a warng for , for other gays. Now we keep to ourselv; we live a hidn life. And a hidn life is no life at all." Both men e fake nam among gay iends, and said none of their relativ or lleagu know the tth about their sexualy. Meetg other gay men is difficult as there are no regular gatherg plac, and the need to be discreet means velopg relatnships is almost impossible, they said. As a rult, most enunters are for sual sex, which n lead to treachero terra. Naveed, 24, said he recently turned up at one of Kabul's major hotels to get together wh a man he'd met a doctor's wag room who had asked for his phone number. "He seemed nice, and he was que handsome, so I thought: why not?" Naveed said. "But was a set up; he tried to kidnap me. He drove me to a place where a gang of men were wag wh guns — I'm sure they would have killed me, but I ran away." In Afghanistan's nservative, relig society, sex outsi marriage and same-sex sexual activy are illegal. "Perasty," which is unrstood to refer to sodomy or sex between an adult man and a boy, is punishable by 5 to 20 years prison, acrdg to the Jtice Mistry. The ath sentence n be applied if the subject di as a rult of the act. Prsure to nform n e profound distrs, and "creat a lot of psychologil problems for the person themselv and their fai," said Khalil Rahman Sarwary, a psychology lecturer at Kabul Universy. "It is difficult for homosexuals to fd partners, and if they do, both parti are aaid of beg found out," Sarwary said. "When the exact needs of a person are not beg fulfilled, when a homosexual man is forced to marry and have children, n lead to terrible unhapps, divorce, even vlence wh the fay. I know of s where the tratn has built to the pot where the man has even killed his wife." Same-sex sexual activy is not unual Afghanistan's strictly segregated society. "Bacha bazi" is a culturally-sanctned form of pedophilia, which pre-teen boys — many om poor fai, often sold to the practice — are sponsored by powerful and wealthy men to drs as girls and dance for parti of mostly middle-aged men. The boys ually live wh their sponsors, who also abe them for sex until they are their teens, when they are disrd. Yet the "bacha baz," as the sponsors are known, are rarely punished for the years of abe they m agast the dancg boys, and is not unual to see olr men public wh their young sex slav. The practice pre-dat Islam, and is believed to volve boys bee of the general accsibily of girls. While the boys themselv n rry the stigma of their dancg days throughout their liv, their sponsors, most of them married wh children, are not regard as homosexual, and their actns are often jtified wh the sayg "women are for children, boys are for fun." Openly proclaimg to be gay Afghanistan, however, n rry severe nsequenc. The few gay Afghan men who dared to speak of their sexualy scribed a stggle of nfn and guilt as they grew up tryg to pe wh feelgs they didn't unrstand. And once they did, not only uld they not share them, they had to supprs them for their own safety. Hamid Zaher, 43, said that when he was growg up Kabul, "nobody knew what gay was and all gay people were supprsed. They uld never accept themselv or talk to anyone about their feelgs." Like the other gay men who spoke to The Associated Prs, he said that as a young man he felt that he wanted to be "normal," and ncealed his sexualy, until jt beme too difficult. In 2008, Zaher left the untry and settled Toronto, Canada where he works the nstctn dtry. He scrib the transn as om "zero percent eedom to 100 percent." He wrote a book that beme his g-out manifto and said "acrdgly, my fay disowned me." Sce the Taliban's extremist regime was overthrown the U.S. vasn of 2001, the flow of rmatn to Afghanistan has helped boost awarens, but unrstandg and tolerance of homosexualy are still a long way off, even pared to regnal neighbors. Rsia is notorly tolerant toward homosexuals, but the practice self is legal. In Cha, homosexualy was legalized 1997 and removed om the official list of mental illns 2001. Young gay men Afghanistan still largely grow up wh inty cris, wag for perplexg feelgs to subsi and make way for "normaly." Rameen said that om the age of 4 he was "feelg very strange. I liked playg wh girls, wh girls' toys, I liked fashn, and people ed to make jok about me." When he enrolled universy to study journalism, he thought the "strange feelgs" he had toward men would leave him "bee I didn't know what gay is," he said. He ved to prsure om classmat to fd a girliend, but said "It was not realistic. Nothg changed." After hearg a iend talkg about homosexualy, Rameen went to an ter fe and looked up what means to be gay. "I read so many stori, and I realized that is somethg real wh me. It will never change. It is natural." That led him to a gay datg webse, through which he met an expat workg Afghanistan. "That opened up a new wdow on life for me. "In a way, I am lucky," he said. "Thk of the generatns who me before me who had no ia what even meant to be gay." ___ Associated Prs wrer Karim Sharifi Kabul, Afghanistan ntributed to this report.

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GAY AFGHANISTAN, AFTER THE TALIBAN. HOMOSEXUALY AS TRADN

A gay stunt om Kabul tells Newsbeat how life has changed unr the Taliban. * young gay afghanistan *

If he'd spoken about his sexualy to the wrong person then, Abdul uld have been arrted and taken to urt for his sexualy, unr Afghan sce the Taliban seized ntrol of major ci Afghanistan last week, Abdul tells Rad 1 Newsbeat his sexualy beg revealed would now have him "killed on the spot" Taliban are a ary group who have taken ntrol of the untry, and are known to enforce extreme Islamic the Taliban's terpretatn of Sharia Law, homosexualy is strictly prohibed and punishable by last time they were power Afghanistan, between the late 90s and 2001, 21-year-old Abdul hadn't been born. Lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people Afghanistan, and others who do not nform to rigid genr norms, have faced an creasgly sperate suatn and grave threats to their safety and liv sce the Taliban took full ntrol of the untry on Augt 15, 2021.

”[3] A Taliban judge told the German tabloid Bild shortly before the fall of Kabul, “For homosexuals, there n only be two punishments: eher stong, or he mt stand behd a wall that will fall down on him.

”[4] A manual issued by the Taliban’s Mistry of Vice and Virtue 2020 stat that relig lears shall prohib same-sex relatns and that “strong allegatns” of homosexualy shall be referred to the mistry’s district manager for adjuditn and punishment. Gay: A synonym for homosexual many parts of the world; this report, ed specifilly to refer to the sexual orientatn of a man whose primary sexual and romantic attractn is toward other men.

‘JT LIKE THE NAZIS’: GAY AFGHANS FACE ‘EXTERMATN’ UNR TALIBAN

Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) Afghans and people who do not nform to rigid genr norms Afghanistan have faced an creasgly sperate suatn and grave threats to their safety and liv unr the Taliban, Human Rights Watch and OutRight Actn Internatnal said a report released today. * young gay afghanistan *

Most terviewe scribed themselv terms bt translated as gay or bisexual men or transgenr women, but we also terviewed a small number of lbian women, transgenr men, and a person who intified as asexual.

Unr the prev ernment, there was at least one Afghan civil society anizatn workg wh gay men and trans women, while we were unable to intify and ntact any formal anizatns that worked wh lbian and bisexual women or trans men.

Ali earned a livg as a makp artist at a queer-iendly bety salon and picked up extra sh as a dancer a karaoke bar where gay men gathered. A male uple fled their cy together after several gay iends of theirs were killed; the men believed the were targeted killgs rried out by the Taliban, although they were not certa whether their iends had been killed bee of their sexualy, bee they had participated an anti-Taliban prott, or both. They blamed Hamid, sayg they had heard mors that Hamid was gay, and feared their son might have been killed by Taliban members or supporters bee of their relatnship.

GAY AFGHANISTAN: HOMOEROTICISM AMONG KABUL'S WARRRS

“The Taliban regime is tly the dark ag for Afghan LGBTQ people,” a 21-year-old gay artist Kabul said. * young gay afghanistan *

“Almost everyone is locked their rooms and n't go outsi, ” said a project manager of an anizatn that provid medil and mental health servic for gay men and trans women. He passed through the first checkpot whout trouble, but at the send, Ramiz said, one of the armed men shouted after him g a rogatory term for gay people, “You are an izak! The danger of journeys to Kabul is illtrated by the experience of a small group of trans women and gay men who cid to travel to the pal om their home cy early November.

FEAR, SECRECY AND DANGER A WAY OF LIFE FOR AFGHAN GAYS

Afghan men skatg along the edg of gay life Last fall (2004) I found myself Afghanistan, a natn at the center of the upheaval and change roilg * young gay afghanistan *

[39] At least four gay men and trans women said they were ntacted over Facebook or the gay datg app Grdr by people offerg to help them get out of the untry wh the goal of extractg personal rmatn or trickg them to meetg. Sajjad G., a 21-year-old gay man one of Afghanistan’s major ci, posted vios of himself dancg on TikTok; he also worked as a mol and appeared mic vios onle. Ihsan put on a blue chadar (shawl) and snuck out the back drsed as a woman, and then fled the cy wh his wife, who he said did not know he was gay nor about his work.

Male homosexualy has a well-documented history Afghanistan, and love between men has been celebrated Afghan lerature gog back hundreds of years.

Attus towards homosexualy—as well as sexual vlence agast men and boys—are heavily shaped by bacha bazi (“boy play”), a longstandg abive practice—distct om nsensual same-sex relatns— which femized, pre-pubcent boys are held a form of sexual slavery by warlords, police manrs, and other powerful men.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* YOUNG GAY AFGHANISTAN

Gay Afghanistan: Homoeroticism Among Kabul .

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