The Gay-Bashing Middle East -- Except Israel By Andrew L. Jaffee, March 1, 2004	Home   Search   Forum   Terms

American gays are on edge because of President Bush’s support for a constitutional amendment that would strip gays of their rights. As well they should be on edge, as should all people of good conscience. Gays deserve equal rights. Enough said. But all the commotion in the U.S. has got me thinking about how gays have to live in the Middle East – not including Israel, where gays have more rights than in the U.S. (more on that later). I’m referring to how gays live in the Arab/Muslim world. It is not an exaggeration to say that conditions for gays are terrible there.

The group Human Rights Watch (HRW) today released a report showing alleged evidence that Egypt has

entrapped, arrested and tortured hundreds of men thought to be gay.

HRW and several Egyptian human rights groups today also accused Egypt of not practicing what it preaches. Apparently, Egyptian government officials have declared to the U.N. and European Union that homosexuality is not a crime in that country. The evidence speaks to the contrary:

The rights group said at least 179 men accused of debauchery have been brought before prosecutors since the start of 2001. Hundreds of other men have been harassed, arrested and often tortured but not charged.

Early last year, the rights group interviewed 63 men who had been arrested for homosexual conduct. It said they spoke of being whipped, bound and suspended in painful positions, splashed with ice-cold water, burned with cigarettes, shocked with electricity to the limbs, genitals or tongue. They also said guards encouraged other prisoners to rape them, according to the report. …

"Doctors there compel the men to strip and kneel ... subjecting them to intrusive, abusive and degrading examinations to 'prove' the men have committed homosexual conduct," the report said.

Indeed, in 2001, 23 Egyptian men were jailed for prison terms of between 1 and 5 years for having “gay sex.” In January 2002, 8 gay men were arrested for… being gay. The state-controlled Egyptian press, in its usual (anti-Semitic) and tactful way, called the men a “network of perverts.”

An Egyptian official, the deputy-assistant foreign minister for human rights (?!?!), explained his country’s gay bashing in language that the legions of the politically correct unfortunately eat up:

They have their Western culture and we have our Islamic culture. We are a religious society... Homosexuality is rejected by all people.

All people? According to an Egyptian movie director Yussef Shahin,

…the "scandal" was designed to cover up economic troubles.

"Every time there is an economic problem here, they [the Egyptian government] try to hide it by creating another scandal," he said.

Who do you believe, the “minister for human rights” or the film director? Most readers have heard the similar analogous justifications from Arab/Muslim officials regarding the motivations for homicide bombings: “they’re acts of desperation.”

And what about other Arab countries? Dubai officials shut down a nightclub in April 2001 for daring to hold a “gay night” (“Fluff Night”) sporting a British, transvestite disk-jockey. Regarding this incident, the BBC noted,

Like all the Gulf Arab states, Dubai officially frowns on homosexuality.

According to WorldHistory.com:

Despite the differing opinions, some countries have executed thousands of homosexuals under their own interpretations of Sharia. In Saudi Arabia, homosexuals have no special civil rights and may be killed for their practices, although in practise this is not usually done unless the state perceives a threat to its power http://www.sodomylaws.org/world/saudi_arabia/saudinews19.htm. It has been estimated that since the Islamic revolution in Iran, the Iranian government has executed more than 4000 persons charged with homosexual acts. In Afghanistan at least 10 homosexuals are known to have been executed for their sexual conduct by the Islamist Taliban.

Note that the Taliban buried two gay men alive for… being gay on March 22, 1998. Gays are constantly abused in the territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority. One gay Palestinian kid was thrown in prison where

“…interrogators cut him with glass and poured toilet cleaner into his wounds.”

I’ll tangentially mention the Muslim nation of Malaysia where an “anti-gay” movement was started in 1998. Finally, I’ll mention Muslim gays right here in the U.S.A. Regarding San Francisco’s Gay Pride weekend in June 2001:

Despite death threats, a Muslim gay and lesbian group called al-Fatiha has chosen San Francisco's Gay Pride weekend to go public and call on fellow Muslims to demonstrate greater tolerance.

Who do you think issued the death threats, or “fatwah,” if you will? It had to be the Islamists. Here’s what a San Francisco Muslim leader had to say about his own people marching in the parade:

Anybody acting in these kind of activity will go to the hell. And the Muslim culture and religion is totally against this kind of activity. And Muslim religion don't allow these kind of activities.

While gays are generally persecuted throughout the Middle East, there is one glaring exception: Israel. Yes, Israel, object of constant irrational, unsubstantiated criticism. Gays are treated better in Israel than in most countries on Earth, let alone the Middle East.

In little Israel: gays can serve in the military; there are no sodomy laws or other such moral-legal-loopholes for persecuting gays; there are numerous openly gay organizations; there are annual gay pride celebrations; there are openly gay members of the Knesset (parliament); broadcast media sports shows featuring lesbians and gays; and, an Israeli head of state actually met with gay/lesbian advocates. Where do you think gay Palestinians go to escape persecution by their own kind? To Israel, of course. Don't trust me? The source I cite regarding gays in Israel is the Independent Gay Forum.

Show me an Arab/Muslim country that can claim to protect gays to the extent Israel does and I’ll show you the pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow.