Arab and gay
The Arab and Muslim Evolution of ‘Deviance’ in Homosexuality
Late last year, two incidents brought homosexuality to the forefront of public debates on Arab social media. The first was in November, when British racing driver Lewis Hamilton wore a rainbow helmet in support of the LGBTQ community at the Formula One races in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The second was the anti-gay rhetoric offered in December by former Egyptian football player Mohamed Aboutrika on the Qatari pan-Arab TV channel beIN Sports, in which he urged Muslim soccer players to boycott the English Premier League’s Rainbow Laces campaign.
In reaction to these incidents, hashtags, memes, fake news and fierce debates flooded Arab social media, with participation from hundreds of thousands of users. While both those for and against homosexuality participated in this conversation, the debate itself, like many other social media controversies, unfolded within echo chambers where no party is exposed to or interested in engaging with opposing arguments. And even when the sides engaged in debate, the discussion only reinforced one’s opinions.
Amid this chaos, there is at least one aspect of homos
19/07/2023
Written by Zineb Khelif
Translated by Bertille Fitamant
If homosexuality remains a taboo in most contemporary societies, the relationship to it in the Arab-Muslim world is particular. Out of twelve countries where homosexuality is punishable by death, six are Middle Eastern countries (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Brunei, Iran) and it is illegal in all the other countries in the area. Local particularisms in fact diversify the study of the subject in each of the countries, but the selection made on the territory ranging from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula is linked through Muslim and Arab identity and by models of similar hegemonic masculinities on many points, such as virility and the position of patriarch, i.e. of a dominant. This patriarchal reality is not unique to this area but it is one of the common denominators among the unlike cultures found there. The other similar aspect is the mark of colonisation, whose struggle for independence on distinct scales continues to shape the various political and social landscapes. As a result, this part of the society has rigidified its laws and its relationship to homosexuality over the last few
Public opinion polls in particular regions of United Arab Emirates have found that homophobic beliefs persist.
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Homosexual activity in Together Arab Emirates
?Homosexual activity in United Arab Emirates is illegal (death penalty as punishment).
Same-sex marriage in United Arab Emirates
?Same-sex marriage in Joined Arab Emirates is banned.
Censorship of LGBT issues in United Arab Emirates
?Censorship of LGBT issues in Joined Arab Emirates is imprisonment as punishment.
Mina Gerges (MG), originally from Egypt, talks to us about reconciling both his gay and Arab identities
London, UK – 13 Parade 2019
PTF: Being gay and Arab places you in two sometimes conflicting cultures. What was that appreciate, and how did it affect your sexual self journey?
MG: I was born in Egypt and grew up in Abu Dhabi, and I emigrated to Canada when I was 11. Growing up meant understanding that my persona is extremely complex and intersectional, it’s made up of several marginalized, misunderstood communities that aren’t prevalent in Western culture, so growing up and coming out was complicated and alienating.
I grew up in a country where being queer is a taboo subject, where the only word for organism gay when I lived there was a negative word. It made evidence myself feel like a monumental challenge: how execute I accept who I am when my self is in direct conflict to the very foundation of Middle Eastern society and Coptic identity, and how do I deal with the shame it’ll bring my family? Growing up, I felt tremendous shame because being homosexual, Middle Eastern/North African, and Coptic felt like an illegitimate and confusing mix of identities.
It ju
LGBTQ communities face threats in Middle East
Most of the people around him don't know he identifies as queer, the 20-year-old Iraqi pupil told DW. But life in his comparatively conservative southern city of Najaf is dangerous for him anyway.
"Once I wore a pink shirt and I was harassed, just because of the color," said Haiden, whose full call cannot be published for his guard. "Sometimes people are harassed and even killed just because they don't stare like everyone else."
And, he said, things are getting worse for LGBTQ communities in Iraq. "We're already exposed to all kinds of harassment and attacked on a daily basis," he said. "And that's even before this law to criminalize homosexuality has been enacted."
'Severe penalties'
In July, Iraq's government announced that it was planning a commandment prohibiting homosexuality. Iraq is one of three Arab-majority countries in the Middle East that doesn't explicitly criminalize same-sex relationships. The others are Jordan and Bahrain.
If the law is passed, it would carry Iraq into line with the recover of the region. Most other Middle Eastern nations outlaw same-sex intimacy more directly, punishing it with anythi