Last night I attended the Muslim Student Association's Fastathon event after fasting all day long. It was a wonderful time with great food and fun speakers, and many friends of mine, mostly from classes in Arabic, were there too. The experience really makes you appreciate the religion of Islam free from the press and popular culture's attitudes toward it today. Of course I was there doing a little covert networking, too; would you expect any less of me?! It is, in fact, NATIONAL COMING OUT WEEK next week so everyone get excited! But it has to be said that there are times when being someone who identifies as queer finds him or herself at odds with any religion, Islam being no exception. Homosexuality, and sexuality in general, in the Middle East has always been one of my biggest fascinations as a topic of research, and a number of great books like Islamic Homosexualities or Forbidden Love: Gay and Lesbian life in the Middle East can provide insight into the subject. But the fact is that even today, there are many areas of the region that are suppressive, ignorant and often-times violent toward the concept of homosexuality. And the ares that can sometimes be considered more open, such as Beirut or Jordan or the UAE, are only so on a basis relative to the areas surrounding them.
A story out of Riyadd, Saudi Arabia published yesterday reported that two men convicted of a "deviant sexual acts" were sentences to a prolonged administering of 7,000 lashes each for their crimes. A clamping down by the Saudi government recently, according to the article, has resulted in the raids of numerous gay weddings throughout the country. Two male lovers were also publically beheaded for the murder of man that attempted to blackmail them for their love affair which, had the man reported them, would have resulted in their conviction anyway. These stories combined with old news from Egypt, for instance, of raids in Cairo such as that of the famous gay hangout, the Queen Boat, among other raids, adds to the concern. Just a couple years ago, two teenage boys were publically hanged in Iran, once again supposedly for a murder, but public opinion in the region supports the idea that they were executed for being gay, but of course President Ahmedinejad would argue that homosexuals do not in fact exist in Iran!
My main argument, perhaps due to my bias not only as a queer person but also as a student of Arabic and a sympathizer for the understanding and appreciation of Islam, is that awareness not only of Queer presence in Middle East but also the establishment of gay rights (as far-fetched and farsighted as that may sound) needs to happen, because the culture of Arabs, Persians, Khurds, Palestinians, Egyptians, Turks, North Africans, and all others I've left out is too precious to be tainted by hate.
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That's my opinion, what's yours? Don't be afraid to comment or email qlisted@gmail.com and tell us what you think!
For more information on a wonderful gay rights group in the Middle East go to the site of Helem
14 comments:
This is an excellent post which gets everything basically right. I've seen the picture you include before, and it continues to haunt me. Who are the souls behind those blindfolds, and what are they thinking? As a gay student at UW I shudder to think how many more pictures like that exist.
One realization always stops me in my tracks whenever I hear news of "gay crackdowns" abroad: No matter the very real absence of perfect LGBT equality and marriage rights in the United States, the U.S. is still one of the best and safest countries on the planet to be gay. We could do much better, certainly -- and indeed we must do better to maintain credibility in the civilized world. But how much would those two Iranian boys have given, facing the hangman's noose, to have escaped to the United States?
Eric
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Please write anything else!
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