Gay rights in Lebanon

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Homosexuality remains a crime in Lebanon, but the country is unusual and unique among Arab-majority nations in that it has a small internal gay rights movement.

Contents 1 Criminal Law 2 Community 3 Politics 4 AIDS-HIV 5 External links

[edit] Criminal Law

Article 534, prohibits having sexual relations that are "contradicting the laws of nature," which is punishable by up to a year in prison. This prohibits male homosexuality, along with adultery, sodomy and fornication. While for females (Lesbians) sexual activities are not illegal, due to the fact that it does not involve penetration.

As a practical matter, enforcement of the law is varied and often occurs through occasional police harassment and arrests. In 2002, the police broke into a women's house after her mother claimed that her daughter had stolen some money and jewelery. Upon entering the house, the police found the woman having sexual relations with another woman and charged them both with the crime of sodomy[1]. Other arrests of gay couples, or police raids of nightclubs where gay men patronize, frequently appear in local newspapers.

In November of 2005, the Lebanese police raided "Acid Nightclub" in Sin el Fil, and arrested a group of gay men, but released them all after three days. Similar police raids of public or private places where gay men gather are common. Yet the law is not fully applied as it hasn't been any real practice of that law on any gay person.

Aside from the criminal law, gay Lebanese civilians have been charged with violating censorship laws regulating free speech and free press. In 2000 the webmaster of gaylebanon.com faced military charges for maintaining a website for gay and lesbian Lebanese [2].

[edit] Community

In 2002, a gay rights organization was started up in Lebanon. The "Hurriyyat Khassa" or Private Liberties seeks to reform Article 534 of the criminal code so that sexual relations between consenting adults in private are no longer a crime. Another gay rights organization in Lebanon is called "Helem" ("Dream" in Arabic and an acronym for the Lebanese Protection for Homosexuals). These organizations have staged a few public demonstrations, lectures, fundraisers for AIDS education, charitable events and exhibitions of films and have been interviewed by the Lebanese media.

In 2004 gay rights supporters hosted a showing of the 1961 British film Victim at the American University in Beirut. After the video, a heated discussion followed between advocates for gay rights, and those who felt that homosexuality should remain illegal, based on traditional religious moral values.[3].

In 2004 the fashion magazine Aishti sponsored a series of advertisements on Beirut billboards with three men and three women embracing. The six were fashionably dressed in different color tops representing the gay rainbow flag. The billboards read: "Vote For Tolerance" [4].

While these organizations have been permitted to exist, and gain some degree of publicity, they have little public support. According to one of the founders of "Private Liberties," the organization has some support from lawyers, doctors and journalists that have worked on human rights issues, along with some left-wing members of the "Khatt Mubashir."

In April 2005, Raynbow.org was launched. Raynbow[5] is a Lebanese non-profit fundraising online store with a mission statement calling for support to the current Lebanese human rights movement in general and gay rights movement in specific. Raynbow actively monitors the Lebanese and international media and has the biggest collection of news articles related to "Lebanon" and " Homosexuality".[6]

Lebanon is the only Middle-east country besides Israel and Turkey which showed the film Brokeback Mountain. Circuit Planete started showing the movie on March 23rd, 2006 and ran it for a month. In Lebanon, the movie’s duration is 2 hours and 10 minutes which is only 4 minutes less than the original uncensored movie. This leads to speculation about whether the movie will be censored or kept as it is. Nevertheless, it was step forward for Lebanese theaters.

In the end of 2005, Raynbow.org launched the first all-men wall calendar in the Arab World. The "Lebanese Hunks 2006 Calendar" [7] was available for online shoppers throughout the world. Two prestigious Lebanese fashion magazines, Aishti and Stylist, showed their support to the gay community by writing positively about the calendar and Raynbow. Historians might look back at this new trend as one of the early signs of Lebanese businesses experimenting with publicly announcing their gay-friendliness. In 2006, Raynbow launched the "Lebanese Studs 2007 Calendar". [8]

2006 also witnessed the opening of more gay-positive venues in Beirut. In addition to the famously gay-friendly clubs Acid and X-OM, the club UV reopened in May after a long absence, possibly caused by the police. As for bars, gay-owned Walimat Wardeh has become increasingly more popular, and has been joined by a new bear bar Wolf. Wolf has received criticism, however, for its discrimination against "feminine" gay men.

In May 2006, Helem and La CD-Theque published the first book in Arabic about Homophobia. On May 19, Helem organized a book-signing event in the presence of the Lebanese media. "Homophobia: Views and Positions" (رهاب المثلية: مواقف وشهادات) is the first book of its kind in Arabic in the region. Bringing together some of Lebanon's most gifted writers as well as a host of local intellectuals and activists, Homophobia is a book that challenges and sparks much needed debate in our societies about the violence that gays, lesbians, and bisexuals face and the silence that protects and condones it. [9]

[edit] Politics

None of the political parties or factions have publicly endorsed any of the goals of these human rights organizations. The Lebanese gay community came in direct contact with many different Lebanese political figures in the Beirut Marathon, the Cedar Revolution and also during the relief efforts done to aid the refugees of the War Israel had with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah unofficially congratulated Helem for their relief efforts in the Sanayii Public-Garden temporary refugee-shelter. The Free Patriotic Movement provided Helem with an honorary award for the same reason. On the other hand, On May 29 2006, Al-Arabiya.net ran a piece in which Beirut municipality council member Saad-Eddine Wazzan publicly called on Lebanese PM Fouad Sanyoura and Minister of Interior Ahmad Fatfat to shut down Helem.[10] The June 16th Friday sermons in the mosques of Beirut condemned homosexuality and pointed to the fact that Beirut has a licensed LGBT organization called Helem. The sermons also called on the government to provide explanations. Lebanon's acting Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat denied on Saturday charges by conservative Muslim clerics that the government had approved a gay rights group.[11]

In 2003 Lebanese media reported that the Lebanon Dunkin Donuts store refused to serve customers that looked gay. The policy was defended by the General Manager, "We have kids of all ages coming to our shop, and I want the parents to be assured that when their kids come here they are being taken care of,” she said. [12].

In 2003 the Lebanese drag queen entertainer named Bassem Feghali had to temporarily give up his cross-dressing career to serve one year in the military according to Lebanese law, which requires all men to serve in the military. After his military service, Feghali returned to his successful career of impersonating female celebrities [13].

In 2005 a group of Lebanese gay men fled to the Netherlands, seeking asylum. They argued that, because homosexuality is a crime in Lebanon, they would be treated as criminals if they returned to Lebanon [14]. Canada has given some Lebanese gays asylum.

In 2006 Helem celebrated the International Day Against Homophobia in Monroe Hotel Downtown.[15] [16] The event was a great success and was protected by the Lebanese Police.

[edit] AIDS-HIV

The AIDS-HIV topic is getting out of the box to open discussions in Lebanon, more than other areas in the Middle East, as Lebanon is the first country in ME in handling HIV/AIDS issues. The first reported cases of infection were in 1984, and misinformation about the virus is still commonplace. The Lebanese AIDS Society, The Lebanese Red Cross Youth, and Helem are all NGOs providing education and treatment options.

The Lebanon government reports that 756 infected persons are living in Lebanon, but most public health advocates believe that the actual number of much larger, possibly in the several thousands. The UN estimated that around 2,800 are infected [17].

[edit] External links

• Raynbow.org - Fundraiser Online Store Supporting the Lebanese gay movement
• Lebtour.com The first LGBT travel guide in the Middle East
• GayLebanon Chat
• Helem Home Page
• Gay Lebanon
• Middle East Gay Journal
• Gay Middle East
• Sex and Taboos in the Islamic World