24 Apr 14 | Lebanon, News and features, Religion and Culture, Young Writers / Artists Programme
Hamed Sinno, who is openly gay, is the lead singer of Mashrou’ Leila
While walking the streets of the upscale downtown district of Beirut, or sipping cocktails in one of El-Hamra’s bustling bars, one could easily forget that Lebanon is a country where civil liberties are still in debate.
Article 534 of the Lebanese penal code states: “Any sexual intercourse contrary to the order of nature is punished by imprisonment for up to one year.” The vaguely worded article has and is still being used to crackdown on the LGBT community in Lebanon. Compared to its neighbours in the Middle East, Lebanon has long been considered one of the least conservative countries in the region. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Centre in 2013, 18% of the Lebanese population thinks that homosexuality should be accepted in the society, putting it way ahead of Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia where almost 97% of the population views homosexuality as deviant and unnatural.
The Lebanese Psychiatric Society issued a statement in early 2013 saying that: “The assumption that homosexuality is a result of disturbances in the family dynamic or unbalanced psychological development is based on wrong information” — making Lebanon the first Arab country to dismiss the belief that homosexuality is a mental disorder. On 28 January 2014, Judge Naji El Dahdah of Jdeideh Court in Beirut dismissed a claim against a transgender woman accused of having a same-sex relationship with a man, stating that a person’s gender should not simply be based on their personal status registry document, but also on their outward physical appearance and self-perception. The ruling relied on a 2009 landmark decision by Judge Mounir Suleimanfrom the Batroun Court that consenual relations can not be deemed unnatural. “Man is part of nature and is one of its elements, so it cannot be said that any one of his practices or any one of his behaviours goes against nature, even if it is criminal behaviour, because it is nature’s ruling,” stated Suleiman.
Despite the recent positives, being gay in Lebanon is still a taboo. In a country drenched in sectarianism, debates about homosexuality are easily dismissed in the name of religion and homosexuals are accused of promoting debauchery.
“People in Lebanon, and across the region, still act like homosexuality doesn’t exist in our society,” said Kareem, who requested that Index only use his first name. “I think it’s important that we start the conversation and get the issues out in the open, so people can start acknowledging it and then decide their stance on. The fight for our rights comes later on,” he added.
In 2013, Antoine Chakhtoura, mayor of the Beirut suburb of Dekwaneh, ordered security forces to raid and shut-down Ghost, a gay-friendly nightclub. “We fought battles and defended our land and honor, not to have people come here and engage in such practices in my municipality,” the mayor asserted.
Four people were arrested during the raid and brought back to municipal headquarters where they were subject to both physical and verbal harassment: forced to undress, enact intimate acts which included kissing, as well as being violently beaten. Marwan Cherbel, minister of interior at the time of the incident, backed the mayor’s actions, adding that: “Lebanon is opposed to homosexuality, and according to Lebanese law it is a criminal offence.”
Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident. In a similar raid on a movie theatre in the municipality of Burj Hammoud known to cater for a gay clientele, 36 men were arrested and forced to undergo the now abolished anal probes — known as tests of shame. The raid came only a few months after Lebanese TV host Joe Maalouf dedicated an episode of his show Enta Horr (You’re Free) to exposing a porn cinema in Tripoli where it was claimed that young boys were being sexually abused by older men.
“The fact that these incidents received a lot of media coverage, some of which denounced the raids, is a sign that the public is little by little taking an interest in the issue of gay rights,” said Kareem. “Five or six years ago, this could have easily gone unnoticed. While the gay community might not be fully accepted or tolerated in Lebanon, it has been gaining a lot more visibility in recent years.”
Helem, a Beirut-based NGO, was established in 2004 to be the first organisation in the Middle East and Arab world to advocate for LGBT rights. In addition to campaigning for the repeal of Article 543, Helem offers a number of services, including legal and medical support to members of the LGBT community. Organisations like Helem and its offshoot Meem, a support group for lesbian women, had a huge impact on raising awareness and correcting misconceptions about homosexuality. Support from Lebanese public figures has also been on the rise in recent years. For example, popular TV host Paula Yacoubian and pop star Elissa have both shown support for the LGBT community in Lebanon via their Twitter accounts.
While the struggle to change the law continues, young artists have been challenging social norms through art. Mashrou’ Leila, a Beirut-based indie rock band, has sparked a lot of controversy thanks to their songs, in which they unapologetically sing about sex, politics, religion and homosexuality in Lebanon. In Shim el Yasmine, the band’s lead singer, Hamed Sinno, who is openly gay, sings about an old love, a man whom he wanted to introduce to his family and be his housewife. Director and art critic, Roy Dib, recently won the Teddy Award for best short film in 2014 at the 64th Berlinale International Film Festival with his film Mondial 2010. The film tells the story of a gay Lebanese couple on the road to a holiday weekend in Ramallah, Palestine. It tries to explore the boundaries that make it impossible for a Lebanese person to go into Palestine, as well as the challenges faced by a homosexual couple in the region.
The battle for gay rights in Lebanon is multilayered, and while change is starting to feel tangible, there is still a lot to be done.
This article was originally posted on 24 April 2014 at indexoncensorship.org
06 Feb 14 | News and features, Religion and Culture, Russia
Human Rights Watch released a video documenting the treatment of LGBT Russians on 3 February ahead of the opening of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Drawing a screen around the realities of life for Russian gays and lesbians, Russian president Vladimir Putin and the organizers of the Sochi Winter Olympic games are presenting a decidedly friendly face to international visitors.
Even though Sochi’s mayor, Anatoly Pakhomov, would prefer to believe “there are no gays” in his city, the mayor of the Olympic village, Elena Isinbayeva, offered to make LGBT athletes to feel welcome — despite her earlier homophobic comments. The girl band Tatu, most popular during the early 2000s when they exploited homoeroticism in their live appearances and videos, will perform at the opening ceremonies.
The real Russia has turned ugly and brutish toward its LGBT citizens.
The recent spate of homophobic violence has its roots in a controversial law that bars the promotion of non-traditional relationships as being equal to traditional relationships. While the law’s backers say they are protecting children, the effect has been to silence the push for gay rights by threatening fines for “homosexual propaganda.”
While official Russia will be demonstrating what it sees as tolerance in Sochi, a court in the city of Nizhniy Tagil will issue a ruling on the case of Elena Klimova – a young journalist who created a group on Vkontakte – Russia’s answer to Facebook. Klimova’s group, Children 404, contains letters from young LGBT people, who have been subject to physical and psychological attacks. Their letters to each other, according to Klimova, have been helping them cope with the pressure and continuing struggle for their rights. Klimova’s efforts to ease the isolation of LGBT children has drawn the ire of United Russia’s Vitaly Milonov, a proponent of the gay propaganda law, who has sued Madonna and been exposed as a bigot by Stephen Fry.
Klimova has also been active in raising concerns about the plight of a teen girl in the Bryansk region who has been put under administrative control by a local juvenile commission. Her crime? The girl openly identified “herself as a person with non-traditional sexual orientation and promote[d] information which misinforms minors about social equality of traditional and non-traditional relationship”. She will be monitored as if she were a criminal.
According to the latest Levada-Centre research, some 43% of Russian citizens consider homosexuality a bad habit, 38% reckon LGBT people should be “cured”, 47% say LGBT and heterosexuals are not socially equal and 73% approve the state’s effort to prevent public professions of an LGBT orientation.
The Russian Orthodox Church has done a lot to maintain these numbers.
Patriarch Kirill has repeatedly condemned equal marriage, saying in late January that marriage is “between a man and a woman, based on love, aimed at having children”. Kirill asked law makers to reflect his belief in drafting laws. Moscow Patriarchate’s spokesman Vladimir Legoida called equal marriage and homosexuality a sin in an interview to RIA-Novosti – the former Russian state news agency. Not to be outdone, Ivan Okhlobystin, an actor and former priest, said “gays should be burnt in ovens”.
In the meantime, on 3 February, the regional court of Kamchatka sentenced three people to 9-12 years in prison for the murder of a gay acquaintance.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993. In 1999 it finally was excluded from Russian official list of mental illnesses. The change in people’s mind is still yet to come.
This article was originally published on 6 February 2014 at indexoncensorship.org
15 Oct 13 | Digital Freedom, News and features, Pakistan
Pakistan’s move to ban access to a gay website reflects the conservative society’s inability to accept a “larger world view”, activists say.
“Freedom of speech remains in peril and online privacy and security is almost nonexistent in the country making dissidents worry for their and their families’ safety”, Nighat Dad, a lawyer working with the Digital Rights Foundation in Pakistan, said.
Dad was referring to last month’s blocking of a gay website www.queerpk.com by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for being “against Islam”.
But for others belonging to the LGBTQ community, the ban has not come as a big surprise.
“They banned YouTube, you think Queerpk would count at all?” said banker Imran, requesting only his first name to be used.
“It was quite expected and shows how immature this society is and how our government is keen on pandering to the idiocies of the worst among us”, said Ali (also preferring to use just his first name).
Kashif Khan, a gay university teacher, considers the website ban “just the tip of the iceberg” of a certain “mindset” that holds sway within the Pakistani society.
“We, as minorities, are not the only one affected by this heightened sense of self righteousness and religiosity which stems from this complete inability to entertain and appreciate any world view other than our own,” he said.
Further, he points out: “The closing of the mind and quashing of this spirit of inquiry is probably because a lot of beliefs that we have held sacred might not stand the test of rationality and empirical evidence.”
But Ali, for one, does not think it was a great idea for a group of LGBTQ community to try and create a space a space for themselves in public domain.
“Gay people here do not want a gay rights movement because this society isn’t the kind of society in which a gay rights movement can take place,” he said.
For too long, the LGBTQ community has remained invisible. They continue to enjoy both peace and relative freedom, but many fear that the moment they try to rock the boat and start demanding their rights, they may invite the attention of the religious extremist elements within society -much to their detriment.
Even the Pakistani law refuses to take a tolerant view of their existence. Article 377 of the Pakistan Penal Code prescribes up to 10 years in jail and a fine for those caught engaged in homosexual activity. Consenting sex between a man and a woman outside of marriage is criminalised and punishment awarded.
On the other hand, safeguarding citizens’ privacy is enshrined in Pakistan’s constitution, which calls “privacy rights” inviolable.
It is for that very reason Shahzad Ahmad, country director of Bytes For All, Pakistan, says that the Pakistani society “first acknowledge and recognise that the LGBTQ community exists”. It is also important, he said, to give more space to such portals where the gay community can discuss their issues in a “mature, understandable and engaging way”.
Even for Queerpk team the ban was not unexpected “given the backlash the website had received online and ‘reporting’ to PTA”. The team was prepared with a Plan B. “We mirrored the website onto a new domain, routing all traffic to the new website,” the website’s spokesperson (who didn’t want his name to be made public) wrote in an email exchange.
In addition, the website ban has not affected the netizens visiting the website in any way: “It hasn’t! If anything, it has brought together several thousand more users, hundreds of whom have written to us in appreciation and support, many of whom were not connected to any support online or offline. So for all reasons, the blockade has worked in our favour,” the spokesperson added.
When it comes to freedom of expression, Pakistan is not the most generous of countries. Freedom House’s annual report Freedom on the Net 2013 put Pakistan among the top ten countries where internet and digital media freedom is curbed.
“The recent ban of Pakistani gay websites is a clear sign that the new government is following what the past governments have been doing in Pakistan,” Dad said.
According to Ahmad the government’s “moral policing policy” curbs alternate and progressive discourse was the reason behind the blockade of Queerpk. This is not the first time that gay websites have been targeted, he explains: “I remember, another LGBTQ social networking website ManJam was banned in Pakistan and that ban still exists for Pakistani users.”
Currently there are over a dozen dating and social networking websites aimed at the Pakistani LGBTQ community. But the case of QueerpK is different, say experts, because it was more than a networking website. “Many important and relevant issues were being discussed on the website and an alternate discourse on sexual minorities’ rights was, for the first time, discussed in a very mature manner in a conservative society like Pakistan,” said Ahmad.
“With the government’s internet censorship policies over last few years it is quite evident that this new medium for communication for LGBTQ community won’t last long,” he added.
For that reason, BFA feels compelled to work with different international organisations in support of Queerpk to voice its concern against the ban. “We have also raised this issue at different forums and are also planning to raise it at the Internet Governance Forum,” Shahzad told Index.
This article was originally posted on 15 Oct 2013 at indexoncensorship.org
03 Jun 13 | Europe and Central Asia
Despite intolerance and government suppression, LGBT supporters held the first gay pride march in the Ukraine. (Photos: Ivan Chernichkin for Index on Censorship)
Despite an initial ban by the authorities, Ukraine successfully held the country’s first ever gay pride parade but the level of intimidation faced by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and proposed legislation outlawing ‘homosexual propaganda’ are causing concern for many. Andrew Connelly reports from Kiev
Last week, around 50 LGBT activists gathered on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Kiev to conduct the first ever equality march in the post-Soviet nation’s history. The event took place amidst an unprecedented amount of security with several hundred riot police and Special Forces drafted in to protect participants from thousands of protesters from the Orthodox Church, Ukrainian and Russian nationalists and football hooligans.
The parade was originally planned to take place in the centre of town, beginning at Independence Square, the scene of Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution which (temporarily) overthrew pro-Russian President Victor Yanukovich. However, the Kiev district city court banned the event citing the clash with Kiev Day, a series of cultural events held across the city. In reality it would seem that, whilst this was a consideration, the amount of anti-LGBT demonstrators that also submitted applications to hold parallel marches may have more profoundly influenced the authorities’ decision. Still, the move was enough to prompt organiser Stas Mischenko to accuse them of “depriving our right to freedom of assembly” and an alternative location had to be hastily arranged.
Counter demonstrators waved religious banners.
Despite the new site being kept secret, hundreds of crucifix-wielding protesters descended on Victory Avenue, waving banners with expressions such as ‘Kiev is not Sodom’ and ‘Homosexuality = Paedophilia’. LGBT activists were surrounded by lines of police yet the march was still intermittently disrupted when extremists managed to infiltrate the area, attempted to tear down banners and screamed ‘gays out of Ukraine’ and other epithets as they were dragged away into police vans. One firework was thrown that exploded in the middle of the crowd but nobody was injured. In total thirteen arrests were made.
Opponents of the gay pride march attempted to disrupt by tearing down banners.
Nevertheless, the occasion was a marked improvement from last year’s attempt to organise a parade which was cancelled when police withdrew their guarantee of security an hour before the start due to threats from far-right hooligans planning to disrupt the event. Organiser Syvatoslav Sheremet was pepper sprayed then viciously attacked by thugs resulting in his hospitalisation.
Despite being the first post-Soviet country to legalise homosexuality, it remains a strongly taboo subject in Ukrainian society. There are almost no publicly gay figures and legislation does not recognise discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Ukrainian civil society groups are trying to press for anti-discrimination legislation at the same time as resisting two draft laws that would marginalise and severely infringe the rights of the LGBT community in addition to having a chilling effect of the freedom of the press.
Law 0945 concerns “the protection of children’s right to a safe information space” and proposes a ban on the production and publication of content which “promotes” and propagates” homosexuality that extends to the use of TV, radio, printing of publications, creative writings, cinematography or video materials.
Related: Shutting down Russia’s LGBT community
Elena Vlasenko reports on the continuing official campaign against lesbians and gays.
If this wasn’t authoritarian enough, Law 1155 is even more detailed, far reaching and restrictive in nature, calling for the “prohibition of propaganda of same-sex relationships aimed at children” defining homosexual propaganda as “intentional activity which aims to and is expressed in dissemination of any positive information about same-sex relations which could negatively affect…the development of the child including forming a misconception of traditional and non-traditional marriage relations being equal, and in the future impact his or her choice of sexual orientation.” This extends to a ban on media disseminating information from others that portrays same-sex relations in a positive light. Olena Shevchenko, head of the Kiev-based LGBT NGO Insight, outlines what this means in real terms:
“If you encourage a group of people to read a book of Oscar Wilde, it will be propaganda. If I give an interview in the mass media, openly say that I am a lesbian and that I think that it is normal, just like heterosexuality, then that will also be propaganda.”
Svitlana Tuchynska is a journalist at the Kyiv Post:
“If this law passes it will introduce media censorship. You will not be able to cover any activities of the LGBT community at all, any problems that they face or any opinions they have on their sexuality.”
The list of criteria is extensive, covering demonstrations, mass gatherings, workshops and classes amongst other public meetings. Violations of the law may result in fines reaching up to €2,400 or jail sentences of up to six years
“This legislation will affect us because we are spreading information about homosexuality amongst LGBT and the general population, that’s part of our job and this will definitely be considered propaganda”, Kiev Pride organiser and Vice President of Gay Alliance Ukraine Stas Mischenko explained.
“Such laws are very dangerous because I work in HIV prevention and people who are living under these harsh conditions don’t take care of themselves. They hear from other people that they are second class and they have no future, so they have risky sexual behaviour. If you are not able to explain to them that they are normal and good people, they will have more risky behaviour and the level of HIV will double or triple”, Mischenko said.
Ukraine currently has the highest HIV infection rate in Europe.
Hostile attitudes towards sexual minorities remains deeply rooted in Ukrainian society and these prejudices are now legitimised in parliament. Following the 2010 elections, the ultranationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party won 10% of the popular vote and have since stirred up homophobic, anti-Semitic and xenophobic sentiment in the country. In December 2012, an LGBT protest was disrupted by activists from the party who tear gassed and assaulted demonstrators, one of whom received a broken nose. On the official Svoboda website, a spokesman boasted of “breaking up the Sabbath of perverts”. Hate crimes are not legally recognised as such and are often referred to as ‘hooliganism’ with perpetrators rarely brought to justice.
The government in Kiev is currently deliberating whether to choose closer integration with Europe or to strengthen ties with Russia, but for Ukraine’s LGBT community the proposed propaganda legislation risks dragging the country to a much darker place entirely.
