| LGBT rights in Tunisia | |
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Tunisia |
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| Same-sex sexual activity legal? | Illegal |
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Penalty:
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Up to 3 years imprisonment |
| Gender identity/expression | – |
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Tunisia face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Tunisia and there is no organized LGBT-rights movement. Culturally, traditional religious values tend to view homosexuality and cross-dressing as signs of foreign decadence and immorality.
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Article 230 of the Penal Code of 1913 (largely modified in 1964) decrees imprisonment of up to three years for private acts of sodomy between consenting adults.[1]
Cross-dressing is not expressly illegal, but is taboo. Transgender people have been reportedly harassed by the authorities under various public morality laws.
In 1993, the Appeal Court of Tunis dismissed a request by a transsexual woman to change her legal status from male to female. The judgement ruled that her sex change was a "voluntary" and "artificial" operation and could not justify a civil status change.[2]
Many LGBT people living in Tunisia often feel pressure to remain in the closet, even marry a suitable partner of the opposite sex. There is no legal recognition or social support for same-sex couples. Most citizens are Muslim, which is also the State religion, and thus have often been raised to condemn homosexuality and cross-dressing. No individual politician or political party has publicly supported LGBT rights and there is no organized LGBT-rights organization in Tunisia.
The most public image of homosexuality in Tunisia is in form of prostitution. Poverty has pressured some men and women to become prostitutes, often for wealthier foreigners. In the capital Tunis, Avenue Bourguiba is a known gay cruising spot.[3] The apparent willingness of Tunisian men, often out of financial necessity, to engage in prostitution with male Europeans was explored in the film Nouri Bouzid’s Bezness (1992).
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