Gay rights in Egypt

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Gay rights in Egypt are limited to nonexistent, due to the fact that homosexuality is strongly taboo in Egypt.

Contents 1 Penal Code 2 Civil Rights 3 Family Law 4 LGBT Community 5 AIDS/HIV 6 External links

[edit] Penal Code

Homosexuality is not de jure illegal in Egypt. The criminal code provides stiff punishment for anyone that engages in sexual relations with anyone under the age of the eighteen. However, in the early part of the twenty-first century, homosexuality started to become a de facto illegal under various laws against Satanism, "offences against public morals and sensitivities" and "violating the teachings of religion and propagating depraved ideas and moral depravity."

In 2000, the police arrested two men after public outrage over news reports that they have formalized a same-sex marital contract [1]. In May of 2001, the police raided a Cairo boat party, detaining sixty men before letting the foreigners go. The remaining fifty-two men -- the "Cairo 52" -- were arrested and tried on vaguely worded laws such as "violating the teachings of religion", "propagating depraved ideas", "contempt of religion" and "moral depravity." Although it is impossible to independently prove if such laws do exist on the books, as no current copy of the Egyptian penal code is readily available in English, the Human Rights Watch has translated and published portions of the penal code online [2].

The Cairo 52 were defended by international human rights organizations such as the Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. However, they had no organized internal support, plead innocent, and were tried under the state security courts created in 1981 to combat militant religious fundamentalists [3]. Members of the German parliament and the French President called upon the Egyptian government to respect the human rights of its LGBT citizens [4] [5]. Twenty-three of the defendants were sentenced to prison with hard labor, while the others were acquitted [6]. More men have been arrested in various raids on homosexuals, although foreigners tend to be released quickly.

The Egyptian government's response to the international criticism was either to deny that they were persecuting LGBT people [7] or to defend their policies by stating that homosexuality is a moral perversion [8].

[edit] Civil Rights

No protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity exist. Egyptian human rights organizations are fearful of defending such an unpopular class of people as sexual minorities [9]. Egyptian politicians either call for the execution of homosexuals or their relocation into prisons and mental institutions until they are reformed. Efforts in the late 1990s to register a gay rights organization designed to stop the spread of AIDS-HIV never received support.

Until 2001, the Egyptian government refused to recognize the existence of homosexuality [10] and now does so only to brush off criticism from human rights organizations and foreign politicians.

[edit] Family Law

Egypt only recognizes a marriage between a man and a woman. It has no recognition of same-sex marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships. Reports suggest that if such a relationship becomes public, the police may use it as evidence in a criminal indictment for the various laws against immorality.

[edit] LGBT Community

Most Egyptians see homosexuality and transgenderism as forbidden and detestable acts, even before the Egyptian government started using the national security courts and various laws against indecency and immorality to arrest groups of LGBT people at nightclubs, private events, and in online chatrooms. Most LGBT native Egyptians and foreigners live in the closet, and any gathering of LGBT people is entirely underground.

[edit] AIDS/HIV

In 1996 the Health Ministry set up a national AIDS hotline. A 1999 "Egypt Today" cover story dealt with the AIDS-HIV pandemic in Egypt and the fact that it commonly seen as something caused by foreigners, homosexuals, or drug users. The article also mentioned that there was talk of a LGBT organization being created to target the Egyptian LGBT community, and while a same-sex safer sex brochure was published, the organization was never created [11] and ignorance about the pandemic is common.

In 2005 the Egyptian government started to allow for confidential HIV testing, although most people fear that being tested positive will result in being labelled as a homosexual and thus a de facto criminal. Some Egyptians have access to home test kits brought back from America, but most Egyptians lack accurate information about the pandemic and quality care if they do become infected [12].

[edit] External links

• Gay Egypt
• Middle East Gay Journal
• Reports, stories and information for gay men in Egypt
• In a Time of Torture: The Assault on Justice In Egypt's Crackdown on Homosexual Conduct March 2004 , Human Rights Watch