A World of Pri: Gay Digners Talk About Acceptance and Challeng - Interr Dign

Contents:

• ‘IN PAKISTAN YOU HAVE GAY FASHN SIGNERS AND ALSO THE TALIBAN’
• A WORLD OF PRI: GAY DIGNERS TALK ABOUT ACCEPTANCE AND CHALLENG
• FAMO GAY DIGNERS WHO CHANGED HOW WE DRS
• PAKISTANI GAYS, FASHN DIGNERS AT ANTS’ H-LIST
• HOW GAY IS PAKISTAN?

‘IN PAKISTAN YOU HAVE GAY FASHN SIGNERS AND ALSO THE TALIBAN’

When Abdullah Qurhi returned to Pakistan after studyg the UK, he found many people the LGBTQ muny did not necsarily intify as ‘gay.

’ Dcribg his six years studyg art London as “an explorative phase for me, where I was generally lookg at issu of genr and sexualy, ” Qurhi nonted the challenge of intifyg his sexualy Pakistan, a Mlim-majory untry, where members of the queer muny practice their liv secret, face discrimatn om society, and endure a strict penal om the lonial era, which threatens to punish homosexualy wh prison.

But while relig clerics nmn homosexualy and uphold the tradnal stutn of fay Pakistan, private spac persist where queer people n ngregate and exprs themselv, cludg creative spac like fashn, smetics, and the arts. For example, there were people who risted the e of the word ‘gay’ altogether Pakistan. Today, gay Pakistanis and Indians wh a reasonable e radi of each other e datg apps to form cross-borr relatnships.

A WORLD OF PRI: GAY DIGNERS TALK ABOUT ACCEPTANCE AND CHALLENG

When he has shown this work, he also plements wh an terview he nducted wh a gay Iraqi migrant, the sound of the man’s voice eerily transposed over the vio of his penis black and whe. “A lot of gay men were beg rejected om the LGBT clubs [ Helski] and over time beme clear was bee they were Iraqi [migrants], ” Qurhi said.

I thk 's important to regnize that the fashn dtry is often perceived as gay-iendly due to the prence of women and gay men.

FAMO GAY DIGNERS WHO CHANGED HOW WE DRS

But this perceptn overlooks the issue at hand: the privileged posn held by gay cis men, particularly the fashn world. It is ccial to acknowledge this dispary, as is all too easy for a list of LGBTQ+ signers and brands to be domated by gay men who already hold signifint platforms the dtry. Marc ed his fame for good 2009 when he troduced a le of shirts llg for the legalizatn of gay marriage.

High-femme, dramatilly draped creatns by New York Cy-based signer Hana Holquist pay homage to the eccentricy and energy of the gay nightlife scene while also beg remiscent of the classic Christian Dr silhouette. He equently repurposed materials to make stallatns and stum for gay performers that are “larger-than-life, ” “novative, and subversive. In Pakistan you have gay fashn signers and also the Taliban.

It’s an old stereotype: the gay terr signer.

PAKISTANI GAYS, FASHN DIGNERS AT ANTS’ H-LIST

Ltle data exists regardg how many gay men are out the sign dtry around the world, but ’s whout a doubt a iendlier dtry than, say, profsnal sports. And no matter the profsn, clearly the experience of gay men tersects wh other forc—race and class power dynamics, ageism, health, geography—and differs om the experienc of other members of the muny, cludg lbians and trans/non-bary/genr nonnformg sign profsnals.

But on the ocsn of World Pri month, Interr Dign reached out to gay men around the physil and virtual worlds to get a sense of where thgs stand today, om Tulsa to Turkey.

“There are que a lot of gay upl livg eely and accepted, ” he says, “but not mentned a lot by the neighbors.

HOW GAY IS PAKISTAN?

Homosexualy to them was a very big al. They have a posive gay role mol around them as they’ve grown up, and that’s a powerful thg. They may even, like Saghian, e to see a gay inty as a benef.