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A GLBTQ EDUCATION INTERNET RESOURCES The Middle East to Asia: Central Asia / Middle East

Index: Asia & Middle East -  - Race/Ethnic Minority Issues: U.S., Canada, Europe,  New Zealand & Australia -  -  Latin America / Africa -  - Homosexuality:  Biological  or  Learned ? -  -  Public School Issues -  - Transgender / Tranvestite / Transsexual -  - Lesbian  &  Bisexual Women -  - Homo-Negativity / Phobia -  - Identity Formation  &  Coming Out -  - Counseling  &  Therapy -  - Professional Education  -  - Bisexuality -  - Religion   &  Spirituality -  - Male  Youth Prostitution -  - HIV-AIDS -  - Gay & Bisexual Male Suicide Problems -  - Drug / Alcohol Use / Abuse / Addiction  -  - GLBT  History -  - Community Attributes  &  Problems - -  Couples / Families / Children / Adoption / Spousal Violence -  - The Elderly

The Middle East to Asia: Middle East / Central Asia

Full Text Papers!  - - AsiaPacifiQueer 3

Sexualities, Genders, And Rights in Asia: An International Conference of Asian Queer Studies Bangkok, Thailand, July 8-10, 2005 Closing date for submitting paper and panel proposals: October 31, 2004

Part 1 - This Page: Middle East to Central Asia: Middle East / Eastern Mediterranean Region: - Iran -- Israel -- Palestine -- Lebanon -- Jordan -- Saudi Arabia -- Kuwait -- Iraq -- Bahrain -- Oman -- Yemen -- Syria -- Egypt -- Algeria -- Morocco -- Tunisia -- Turkey -- Cyprus --- Central Asia: - Afghanistan -- Kazakhstan -- Kyrgyzstan -- Uzbekistan --  Turkmenistan -- Tajikistan.

Part 2 - South Asia: South Asia - Web Resources - Bibliographies - Books: - India - Films -- Bangladesh -- Nepal -- Sri Lanka -- Pakistan -- Bhutan -- Maldives -- Full Text Papers.

Part 3 - Northeast Asia: - China - History - Films - Web Resources. -- Hong Kong - Films - Web Resources. -- Taiwan  - Films - Web Resources. -- Tibet -- Mongolia -- South Korea - Web Resources. -- Japan - History  - Films - Web Resources - Books -- Full Text Papers.

Part 4 - Southeast Asia: Mekong Region: Vietnam - Web Resources - Books. -- Thailand - Web Resources - Books. -- Cambodia -- Laos -- Full Text Papers.

Part 5 - Southeast Asia (Not Including Mekong Region): Singapore - Web Resources - Books. -- Malaysia - Web Resources - Books. -- Philippines - Web Resources - Books. -- Indonesia -- East Timor -- Burma -- Brunei -- Guam -- Nauru - Full Text Papers.

Part 6 - General Asian Resources --- International Issues & Resources.

MIDDLE EAST

Struggle for gay rights in the Middle East. - Homosexuality in the Middle East: The hidden homosexuals of the Arab world. Condemned by religious leaders, oppressive regimes and their own relatives, gay men in the Middle East stay out of sight. - Homosexualité dans le monde Arabe: L’homosexualité est illégale dans 26 pays islamiques.- Gay Old Time in Sharia Land. - Coming out in Arabic: Brian Whitaker reports on a lesbian group's struggle for acceptance in the Middle East. - Al-Arabiya Reports: Middle East's First Gay Wedding. - Correction: First Middle East Gay Wedding in Algeria. - Escaping abuse overseas: gay men from conservative countries are winning the right to asylum in the United States. - L'homosexualité dans le monde arabe: est très mal acceptée, elle est même interdite par une loi sévère et injuste ! Regardez un peu ces chiffres...  - Gay Life: From Jordan to Qatar. - Those who say identity politics are over don’t have to deal with shit like this: SALAAM Toronto: for queer Muslims, oppression is worse than death. - Gay Islamic Clerics! pedophile Islamic clerics?!! - Summer lovin': Arab Gays, Lesbians coming out of the closet... - Monde arabe: la culture de l'éphèbe. - Homophobia on the rise in the Muslim world: As recent incidents in Iraq show, in many Islamic countries, gays are ostracized, persecuted, even murdered (2009) - Der Spiegel: Wave of Homophobia Sweeps the Muslim World (2009).

N.Y. Editor’s Gay Travels in Muslim World: You’ve spoken about the wide spectrum of homosexual behavior and attitudes to homosexuality that you found in your travels to the Middle East. Can you elaborate? I’ve always stressed that “to do” is not necessarily “to be” in the Muslim world. The Muslim world is also so broad—it’s the suburbs of Detroit, it’s Malaysia. I facetiously used Condoleezza Rice’s definition of the Greater Middle East: everything from Morocco to Indonesia. What surprised me most was that, because male intimacy is normal, you can find that sex between men is not necessarily frowned on in most Muslim countries. The gay identity is the problem. - Le thème du mois: Vivre son homosexualité en Méditerranée. Des jeunes de Marseille, du Maroc, de Tunisie et du Liban parlent d’un sujet qui reste tabou en Méditerranée: l’homosexualité. Voir la vidéo. - Homosexuality and Same-Sex Acts in Islam.

Gay and Lesbian Arabic Society (GLAS). - Articles & Essays. - The politics of Naming; A Queer Arab Identity? - Arab Lesbian Home Page. - A 1998 series of articles on Gay life in the Arab [in Jordan]... written in a positive and informative fashion, but.. N/A (Related Information) - Arabe et Homo! - Homosexualité dans le monde Arabe. - L'homosexualité dans les sociétés arabo-musulmanes. - Allah Loves Gay Too. - Queer Sexuality and Identity in the Qur'an and Hadith. - Islam: Waging a Queer Jihad .- Queer Jihad. - Queer Jihad: A view from South Africa. - Islamic treatment of homosexuals. - Summer Lovin’ - Arab Gays, Lesbians Coming Out of the Closet...?- Battle of the sexualities. - Homosexualité dans le monde Arabe: L’homosexualité est illégale dans 26 pays islamiques. - Bisexuality in Arab Lands. - Pederasty in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Sex and Taboos in the Islamic World. " "Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an imam who lives in Qatar and has a television show on Arab network Al Jazeera, considers homosexuality as an especially decadent monster created by the West. It is against the "divine order," says the religious scholar, citing verses in the Koran that describe homosexuality as a common practice in pre-Islamic Arabia. Homosexuals are referred to in Arabic as "Luti," or people from the city of the Lut, which is mentioned in the Koran and the Bible and is described as having been destroyed by God's wrath. The sources seem to clearly support this notion. As a result, very few gay Muslims even attempt to reconcile their faith with their sexual orientation. Most, says George Assi, a spokesman of Helem, the only gay and lesbian organization in the Arab world, are in despair over the fact that they cannot be as virtuous as their religion prescribes..." - Beyond bounds: A brief history of male homosexuality in Islamic culture.

La vie cachée des beurs gays, partagés entre leur sexualité et leur culture d'origine. - Sehakia, lesbiennes arabes: Les homosexuelles arabes et musulmanes vivent dans la quasi clandestinité dans leurs pays. La loi répressive, souvent inspirée de la religion, ne les incite guère à étaler leur sexualité au grand jour. La Toile devient une nouvelle patrie. - L'érotisme au coeur de l'Islam. - Vivre sa vie... différemment (Alternate Link). - L'Islam est-il Homophobe? - "Arab Men Always Active, Never Passive". - Être homo au Maroc. - A support group for queer arab women (lesbian , bisexual and transgender)  who have first hand experience of living in the arab world. - The Ultimate "Planet Out" Guide to Queer Movies (Subject: Arab / Middle Eastern Images).

Power and Sexuality in the Middle East: Sexual relations in Middle Eastern societies have historically articulated social hierarchies, that is, dominant and subordinate social positions: adult men on top; women, boys and slaves below." - Yousry Nasrallah: Son point de vue sur le cinéma et l’homosexualité dans les sociétés arabes. - Welcome to the home page for our GayArabs Chat Channel and Mail List (gayarab.org) N/A.(Archive Link) - Les délices des coeurs, poésie arabe homosexuelle, Ahmad al Tifachi. - Le cheikh, les homosexuels et l’intolérance. - Just because I'm homosexual, doesn't mean I cannot practise Islam. - Homosexual Erotica in Muslim Countries. - Islam's Love-Hate Relationship with Homosexuality.

People think it's a mental illness: In the Middle East, coming out as a homosexual is often unthinkable. Brian Whitaker talks to young gay and lesbian Arabs about their secret private lives... "It was the first time I [a Syrian male] had actually said that I was gay. After that, I couldn't see anybody or speak for almost a week. I just went to my room and stayed there; I stopped going to school; I stopped eating. I was so upset at myself and I was going, 'No, I'm not gay, I'm not gay.'" ... "Before I reached home, he had called my mum, and my mum freaked out. When I arrived home there were all these people in the house. My mum was crying, my sister was crying - I thought somebody had died or something. They put me in the middle and everybody was judging me. I said to them, 'You have to respect who I am; this was not something I chose,' but it was a hopeless case... Ghaith was one of the luckier ones. Ali, still in his late teens, comes from a traditional Shia family in Lebanon and, as he says himself, it is obvious that he is gay. Before fleeing his family home, he suffered abuse from relatives that included being hit with a chair so hard that it broke, being imprisoned in the house for five days, being locked in the boot of a car, and being threatened with a gun when he was caught wearing his sister's clothes. According to Ali, an older brother told him, "I'm not sure you're gay, but if I find out one day that you are gay, you're dead. It's not good for our family and our name." ... here are just a few signs, though, that attitudes could be changing - especially among the educated urban young, largely as a result of increased contact with the rest of the world.... - Commentary on Article: Homosexuality in the Arab Woeld: It’s sad that nothing in the article seems to be exaggerated. I hear stories like that all the time.

Gays persecuted, arrested, tortured, and murdered regularly in Muslim countries: "But experts say it's hard to generalize the situation in Muslim-dominated nations. In secular, Muslim-majority Turkey, for instance, parliament is currently reviewing a penal code amendment that would criminalize discrimination based on "sexual orientation." And while Saudi Arabia has been infamous for its harsh punishments for anyone convicted of "sodomy," a recent report by The Independent, a British newspaper, said in that in practice, homosexuality is tolerated — especially among affluent sections in the relatively liberal Saudi port city of Jeddah. "The situation differs according to the class and identity of the people concerned," says Scott Long of Human Rights Watch. The large numbers of migrant workers in the oil-rich kingdom are particularly vulnerable, he says. "Saudi citizens are a lot safer than guest workers arrested for so-called suspicious activities."" Al Bawaba yields to homophobic censorship: Articles about GLBT people in the Middle East are removed from web sites if enough homo-hating people complain. - Religious fundamentalists refuse to allow gays on AIDS panel: Western nations partially accede to Islamic demands to exclude gays in international anti-HIV effort.

A Gay Palestinian Criticizes Gay Hawks! Toppling Saddam won't free gays: "GAY MEN AND lesbians who endorse the war in and occupation of Iraq — and possible future military action against other countries like Syria — need to stop using the guise of caring about the plight of gay Arabs to rationalize their support. It's an argument fraught with emotional manipulation, hypocrisy, intellectual dishonesty and factual error...  THE TRUTH IS that the plight of gay and lesbian Iraqis — just like that of gay and lesbian Afghanis — will change little under whatever new government is installed. There is no denying that gays in Iraq and other Arab countries are persecuted. But the forces of oppression that keep them down in the Arab world are complex, and cannot be altered by simple "regime change." Religion, tradition, culture, family pressures, ignorance of the contemporary understandings of modern psychology and other factors make life extremely difficult for gay Iraqis and those in other Arab nations. To believe that life for gay Iraqis will be better — or different in any real way — than it was under Saddam Hussein is willfully naïve. The social, religious and cultural forces that oppress gay Iraqis will not have changed one iota under a new government. Furthermore, the line that invading Iraq, and now possibly Syria, will "free" gay people there is heaped in hypocrisy. The forces that are supposedly emancipating our downtrodden gay Iraqi brethren are themselves hyper-homophobic. How can anyone seriously argue that the United States military is an instrument for gay liberation? - Gays Seeking Asylum Find Familiar Prejudices in U. S.

Stratégies d'actions et de luttes entre lesbiennes en terres natales et lesbiennes en terres d'exil, de migrations...: "A la lumière de ce nouveau millénaire, alors que les pays occidentaux débattent sur l'homoparentalité et sur le mariage des homosexuelLEs, des gays égyptiens sont emprisonnés et des Saoudiens sont tués à coup de sabre, des femmes, des hommes préfèrent le suicide à une vie de mensonges, une vie de peurs et de hontes …. C'est sur cette situation des lesbiennes et gays arabes et nord africains que portera mon intervention aujourd'hui, à la fois en termes de contextes mais aussi de stratégies d'actions et de luttes à mettre en place ici et là-bas. Mon intervention se distribuera en 3 temps qui correspondent aux trois entrées suivantes : 1) Un rappel contextuel sur la situation des lesbiennes et gays en pays arabes et nord-africains avec un accent bien sûr sur les lesbiennes; 2) La présentation du collectif, les N'DéeSses, dont je suis la co-fondatrice et du website, sehakia, que nous avons lancé en mars 2002 et qui est dédié particulièrement aux lesbiennes nord-africaines et arabes; 3) Enfin je terminerai par le point qui nous intéresse toutes et tous ds ce séminaire, à savoir les stratégies d'actions et de luttes à penser et mettre en place pour soutenir les lesbiennes (et plus largement les gays) là-bas et ici..."

Leading the queer jihad: "For a full day, bitter debate ensued over whether to allow the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission to participate in a panel discussion. Islamic nations, led by Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Malaysia, demanded the group be barred. The Islamic nations failed to block the gay group from discussion, though, when it came to a vote (they did garner 30 abstentions, including China and Russia). More than that, the full day of discussion forced the leaders of fiercely anti-gay governments to grapple with homosexuality, an issue that is taboo even to speak about within their cultures."

Films & Videos on Gay & Lesbian Studies: The Perfumed Garden - An exploration of the myths and realities of sensuality and sexuality in Arab society. (new September, 2001) - Talking Back. Arabs in the Celluloid Closet: Separate and unequal visions of gay male identities in lands of exile: "These directors may love filming Brown or Black men, but they still have no clue of how to narrate the lives of these characters, making them hollow figments of their imagination. In fact, they know nothing about the culture of others, yet talk about "shared values..." How long until we see a film with a gay Arab man who is not necessarily beautiful, who is menacing instead of being sexy, sympathetic and reassuring? Such a character might find a way to impose his perspective instead of playing the passive victim awaiting the white hero."

A Jihad for Love: Filmed in twelve different countries and in nine languages, A Jihad for Love is the first-ever feature-length documentary to explore the complex global intersections of Islam and homosexuality. With unprecedented access and depth, the film brings to light the hidden lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Muslims and goes where the silence has been loudest, to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh, as well as to Turkey, France, India, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom.... (World Premiere of our film, A Jihad for Love, at The Toronto International Film Festival, September 6-16, 2007: Press release).

Virtual Refuge for Gay Muslims: "Living in countries where homosexuality is a crime often punishable by death, gay Muslims are finding refuge on the Internet. From Malaysia to Iran, gay men and women are joining each other in a virtual way. Sites created by gay Muslimsliving in the United States offer a safe and anonymous space for a community that lives in constant fear of being discovered. - De toutes les couleurs: Les autres gais - Selon l'appartenance ethnique, l'homosexualité ne se vit pas de la même façon pour tous. - Amour au Masculin et Culture Arabe: Bibliographie - Histoire. (Kademos: L'amour au masculin).

"I Exist": Voices from the Lesbian & Gay Middle Eastern Community in the United States: Documentary. - Stephen O. Murray and Will Roscoe, eds., Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, 1997 (Review).

Further Reading on Sexuality in Middle East Societies. - Voices of the Middle East: The Middle East as you have not heard it before. - Salaam: Queer Muslim Community (Canada). - Queer Jihad. - AHBAB: Site of the Gay and Lesbian arab Society.

Resources: - Huriyah Magazine:. - Queer Jihad: Links, Bibliography, Essays & Articles. - Queer Arabs Links. - filou Mektoub Links. - GayMiddleEast.com N/A (Archive Link)- Middle East (Global Gayz). Homan: The Iranian Gay, lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Organizaton: Links. - Gays and lesbians in the Arab world: Links. - Gay Arab N/A.(Archive Link) - Les articles de presse sur Kelma, depuis 1997 dans toute la presse. - Assyrian Gay / Lesbian Forum N/A. (Archive Link) - Liens:  moyen-orient, maghreb. - A starting-point for research into Arabic traditions of male-male erotic/sensual/sexual relationships. - From kelma.org (French): Articles. - From AHBAB: Articles and Essays.  - Arab Gay Community Blog. - www.al-bab.com (An Open Door to the Arab World): GLBT Links. - Middle East GLBT News Items.

Safra Project: - The Safra Project is a resource project working on issues relating to lesbian, bisexual and/or transgender women who identify as Muslim religiously and/or culturally (Muslim LBT women). The Safra Project was set up in October 2001 by and for Muslim LBT women. The issues faced by Muslim LBT women, and the (combination of) prejudices based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, religion, race, culture and immigration status that they experience, are unique and currently insufficiently addressed.The word Safra is related to the words for 'journey' and discovery' in many languages such as Arabic, Farsi and Urdu. The compass in our logo and on our home page symbolises the aim of the Safra Project to be a resource and tool for Muslim LBT women on our journeys and discoveries in life. The Safra Project does not seek to provide ultimate answers or solutions, and is not a faith group. Our ethos is one of inclusiveness and diversity. - Sexuality, gender & Islam, with Bibkliography & Links. - Publicatons: 2001 to Present. - Resources: Personal stories of Muslim lesbian, bisexual and trans women. - Poetry. - Audio Files.

Books: - Homoeroticism in Classical Arabic Literature - 1997 - edited by J.W.Wright Jr. and Everett K. Rowson (Review) (Review) (Amazon).  - "Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies." -  Islamic Homosexualities - 1997 - edited by Stephen O. Murray and Will Roscoe (Abstract/Contents) (Review) (Review). Critique of Book.- Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800 - 2005 - by Khaled El-Rouayheb (Abstract/Contents) (Minor Mistakes) (Review) (Review). - Sex, Longing & Not Belonging: A Gay Muslim's Quest for Love & Meaning - 1997 - by Badruddin Khan (Amazon).(Gay Muslim author talks about a life of contradiction -- and coming to peace with himself.). - Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East - 2006 - by Brian Whitaker (Review) (Review) (Review) (Review) (Review) (Review) (Author Interview).  - Female Homosexuality in the Middle East: Histories and Representations - 2007 - by Samar Habib. - Desiring Arabs - 2007 - by Joseph Massad (Review) (Review) (Alternate Link) (About the Author) See: Re-Orienting Desire: The Gay International and the Arab World.(Alternate Link) (Related to Article).

Books: - Gay Travels in the Muslim World - 2007 - edited by Michael T. Luongo (Review) (Review) (Review) (Review) (Author Interview) (Related Information).  - Sappho in the Holy Land: Lesbian Existence and Dilemmas in Contemporary Israel - 2005 - edited by Chava Frankfort-Nachmias, Erella Shadmi. - Independence Park: The Lives of Gay Men in Israel - 2000 - by Amir Fink, Jacob Press. - Beyond Flesh: Queer Masculinities and Nationalism in Israeli Cinema - 2004 - by Raz Yose. - Brothers and Others in Arms: The Making of Love and War in Israeli Combat Units - 2002 - by Danny Kaplan. - Between Sodom and Eden - 2000 - by Lee Walzer. - Lesbiot: Israeli Lesbians Talk About Sexuality, Feminism, Judaism and Their Lives - 1999 - by Tracy Moore. - A Fish Out of Water - 2002 - by Cecilia Tzukim. - Cleopatra's Wedding Presen: Travels Through Syria - 2001 - by Robert Tewdwr Moss (Review, Must Scroll). - Syrian Episodes: Sons, Fathers, and an Anthropologist in Aleppo - 2007 - by John Borneman (The author) (Contents) (Review). - Queer Nations: Marginal Sexualities in the Maghreb - 2000 - by Jarod Hayes (Review) .

IRAN - Iranian paper shut down for interviewing lesbian: A leading Iranian newspaper has been shut down for publishing an interview with a woman accused of being a "counter-revolutionary" homosexual... - 87 gay men arrested in Iran. - Fleeing Anti- Gay Iran. - A gay Iranian man was hanged in public on Tuesday in the western city of Kermanshah on the charge of sodomy. - Germany gives Iran lesbian asylum. - Another Gay Iranian Torture Victim Tells His Horrifying Story. - Iran's hidden homosexuality history.

Sex change funding undermines no gays claim: While Mr Ahmadinejad may want to believe that his Islamic society is exclusively non-gay, it is a belief undermined by the paradox that transsexuality and sex changes are tolerated and encouraged under Iran's theocratic system. Iran has between 15,000 and 20,000 transsexuals, according to official statistics, although unofficial estimates put the figure at up to 150,000. Iran carries out more gender change operations than any country in the world besides Thailand. Sex changes have been legal since the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, passed a fatwa authorising them nearly 25 years ago. Whereas homosexuality is considered a sin, transsexuality is categorised as an illness subject to cure.

Italy asks Britain not to deport Iranian lesbian. - Italy: Govt. ready to give asylum to Iranian lesbian. - Gays Worldwide Rally to Aid Iranian Lesbian Facing Deportation from UK: More letters to British Home Secretary needed. - Iran lesbian wins stay over deportation from UK. - Gay Amir, Aged 22, Given 100 Lashes: Apathy of gay, left and human rights groups condemned. - 'Next Time, They'll Kill Me': A Gay Iranian Torture Victim Speaks. - There’s no anti-gay pogrom in Iran. - Iran's Anti-Gay Pogrom: American gay rights groups are ignoring systematic persecution in the Islamic Republic. - Iran Exports Anti-Gay Pogrom to Iraq. - Interview with an Iranian transgender.

Too much outrage about Iran execution: We get more upset at other countries than we do at ourselves. - Iranian teens were hanged for rape, not gay sex. But Questions Remain. - Full Story Behind 'Iran Gay Hangings' Mired In Controversy. - Let the Spin Begin: Iranian teens were hanged for rape, not gay sex, reports Human Rights Watch. - Islamic Republic of Iran and execution for adultery and homosexuality. (Alternate Link) (See: Special page on execution of homosexuals in Iran). - Is There An Anti-Homosexual Campaign? - Transsexuality in Iran. - Iran permits sex change. - Queen album brings rock to Iran. - The Dangers of Being Young, Gay and Iranian: "Amir is a 22-year-old gay Iranian who was arrested by Iran's morality police as part of a massive Internet entrapment campaign targeting gays, beaten and tortured while in custody, threatened with death, and lashed 100 times. He escaped from Iran in August, and is now in Turkey, where he awaits a grant of asylum by a gay-friendly country... One of my dear friends, Nima, commited suicide a month ago in Shiraz. He just couldn't take it anymore." - Gay and Underground in Iran.

Persian Gay And Lesbian Activist Urges Tolerance: Parsi now lives in Canada, and is secretary-general of the Toronto-based Iranian Queer Organization (formerly called The Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization). He says homosexuals in Iran live in fear... Parsi claims a lack of knowledge and homophobic culture that rules Iranian society puts enormous pressure on homosexuals... He left Iran in 2005 in large part out of fear of arrest and sought asylum abroad. He has lived in Canada since 2006, increasing his activities in defense of Iran's homosexual community...

The Iranian society can be seen as relatively tolerant towards homosexuals. - DeClassified Report Claims Gays in Iran Are "Tolerated" and Live Without Risk of Persecution. (Alternate Link) - The Only Lesbian In Iran. -  Iran Decriminalizes Sex-Change Operations. - Country information report: Iran (PDF Download): Resource Project for LBTQ Muslim women (Safra Project). - Iran's Chief Prosecutor: Throw Homosexuals into the Fire. - Dispatch from the Dark Ages: Iran deals with gays by killing them. - Death To Gays In Iran. - Death is how Iran deals with gay men. - Iran: Homosexuals executed in Iran N/A. 

Saviz Shafaie: An Iranian Gay Activist Leader - Interview by Jack Nichols. - Saviz Shafaie: Homosexuality and its critics. L'Iran è in prima fila per reprimere il diritto ad esistere degli omosessuali e delle lesbiche. - Iranian Gays Bravely Unite Worldwide (Alternate Link). - An Iranian Man Struggles to Liberate His Gay Soul. (Alternate Link: Must Scroll) - Being real Gay Iranians struggle to be themselves. - The Iranian Closet: When your family would rather see you dead than gay. - Life After the Closet. - La única lesbiana en Irán. - An Iranian Doctor Celebrates Life After the Closet.

Emil Keliane: "All my life I have tried to fathom my own gender fate. In relation to other men, am I man or am I woman? As a developing homosexual child in Iran, I learned to adopt women’s sentiments concerning men and relationships—not a liberated, enlightened, independent woman’s sentiments, but a subjugated woman’s. I learned to feel and be inferior to man.Like the subjugated woman, the universal homosexual must fight for his own liberation, because man will not hand it to him freely. Still, I cannot repudiate the man in myself simply because he may possess tyrannical tendencies. Equally functioning within me are the two genders. I make decisions not as strictly woman, or solely man, but as an androgynous spirit..." - Gay In Iran: " Ancora negati i diritti civili nel paese islamico: vietate le manifestazioni. I gay continuano a essere messi a morte. Ma grazie a internet e tv satellitare, qualcosa sta cambiando."

Ayatollah Musavi Ardebili's Guideline on the Way of Killing a Homosexual! (French English: About a Iranian Government Official) - Gays, lesbians must be stoned. - A Mother Takes On Ayatollahs: "In the Islamic Republic of Iran, lesbians and gay men risk the death penalty. Sex-change surgery for transsexuals is legal, but the recommended year of transition is skipped, because until the surgery is complete, you are considered criminally homosexual." - Iranian opposition groups back gay rights. - Saviz Shafaie: An Iranian Gay Activist Leader (Alternate Link).- Iran's Green Party has announced its support for homosexual rights. - Diary of a Queer, Persian, Otaku Wanderer in CyberCloset.

Sexual exiles: Arman fled his home country in fear for his life. He explains why terror rules the lives of homosexual men and women in Iran (1992): "In Iran today homosexuality is punished by arrest and even death, which makes coming out’ practically impossible. Every lesbian and gay lives in almost complete isolation and panic lest school-mates, an employer or a family member become suspicious. Those who dare confide their secret know that if it gets out, shame will fall on the entire family... Gay bars have been closed since the time of the Shah so homosexuals are forced to meet in parks, which are raided regularly by civilian-clothed police or ‘guardists’. They demand identification and anyone who hesitates is immediately suspect. Gays revealing the slightest ‘soft’ or feminine characteristics are beaten and kicked or given electric shocks to different parts of the body. If the police feel they have captured a particularly ‘dangerous’ homosexual, he is humiliated and raped before being executed." - Gay Iranian Faces Sure Execution if Expelled from Sweden - Young Man's Boyfriend Executed - Mother Suffers Reprisals. - Acceptance: Iranian homosexuals are excluded, even abroad.

Islamic Republic of Iran and Execution for Adultery and Homosexuality: "In his 14-page research paper, Goudarz Eghtedari takes a legal approach to demonstrate existing injustice penal codes of Islamic Republic toward both adultery and homosexuality. He begins by exploring ill treatments of gays and lesbians by government agents all over the world, even in the developing Western countries and then in Iran. Out of such comparison, he notices some substantial differences between situation of homosexuals in Iran and elsewhere. He argues that the death capital punishments toward gays and lesbians in Iran are being officially in practice in an extremely fierce manner. Being aware of a widespread denial of same-sex relationships in Iran, the author tries to legitimise the significance of his report concerning homosexuality by mentioning several evidences. Eghtedari, therefore, takes a deeper glance into the history of homosexuality in Iran and points out several evidences, showing the existence of same-sex relationships throughout the past centuries, as well as the contemporary period. - Rights Activist Testifies on Iranian Gay Asylum-Seeker. - Gay Iranian Desperate to Stay in Japan. - Japan Refuses Sanctuary To Fleeing Gay.

New Dark Ages: "Of the Islamic states that ban lesbian and gay sex, Iran is the most zealously homophobic. Since 1980, when the fundamentalists came to power under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, over 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed, according to estimates by the exiled Iranian homosexual rights group, Homan..." - Iran Announces Launch of HIV Prevention Campaign. - Quanto segue è un articolo di Sergio Lo Giudice, presidente di Arcigay Nazionale, in relazione alla situazione dei gay in Iran (e negli altri paesi musulmani), alla luce delle recenti proteste degli studenti a Teheran ma anche in tutto il mondo e delle dure rappresaglie del regime.

Homan Conference: First Conference of Homosexuality in Iranian Society: Los Angeles, 2003:"The documentary I Exist: Voices from the Lesbian and Gay Middle Eastern Community in the U.S. will be screened that evening in conjunction with the conference. This will be the Los Angeles premiere of the film."

Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology: Index Page: Iran: - Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Ambisexual Behaviors. - Gender Conflicted Persons. - HIV/AIDS.

Iranian Queer Organization. - Gay Persia N/A: (Archive Link)  Articles / Discussions N/A. (Archive Link)  -  State of Homosexuality in Iran Since the Revolution of 1979. - Queering Democracy in Iran. - Iran transvestite film draws militant fire.

Kanaye Doost N/A (A Site For Iranian Women Who Love Women: Archive Link, to 2002) (Archive Link, to 2004) - Gay Iran N/A. (Archive Link, to 2002): - Society of Hypocrisy N/A. - Memories of an Iranian homosexual out of honesty - Article Listing. - Iranian Homosexuals in Society - To talk seriously about ourselves. - Persian Gay & Lesbian Organization V/A (Norway) (Archive Link). Iran Gay Home N/A (Archive Link, 2004).

Iranian Gay and Lesbian Health Care Providers Association: Article Listing. - Being real: Gay Iranians struggle to be themselves. - ThePersianBoy.com.

Resource Links: - Net Gai Links. - filou Mektoub Links. - Dutch Website dedicated to Iranian Lesbian, Bisexual and Transexual Women. - Situation of Lesbians & Gays: Bibliography: Reports, Books & Articles (To 1996). - Diary of a Queer, Persian, Otaku Wanderer in CyberCloset: Links.

Gay Iran (Global Gayz) - News Report 1998 to Present. - ILGA Report - The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws: Iran. - GME: Iran. - LGBT rights in Iran.

Videos: - Gay In Iran (Part 1 of 2). Gay In Iran (Part 2 of 2).

Pridelinks. - QRD. - Open Directory Links. - Google Directory. 

ISRAEL - Gay agenda takes spotlight in Israel: Israel's gay community is pressing ahead with transforming the Jewish state into a bastion of homosexual rights and depraved pleasures. - Supreme Court Approves Same-Sex Marriages. - Israel recognizes first 'gay marriage': Israel registered its first "gay marriage" Jan. 29, two months after the nation's highest court issued a landmark ruling for homosexual couples. - Gay 'Marriage' in Israel: Worse than Holocaust - Will Cause Terrorism Warns Rabbi Levin. - Violence in Israel caused by 'gay' event? Rabbis link troubles to approval of World Pride parade in Jerusalem. - Gay Pride demo under serious threat: Reactionary Jewish and Arab groups unite in homophobic campaign. - A transgender agenda: As the representative of the most rejected minority group of all - transgenders - Nora Greenberg is busy lobbying the Interior Ministry to permit `sex changes' on identity cards. - Foreign Ministry promoting Gay Israel. - Education Minister Yuli Tamir is taking important steps to help foster acceptance and integration for gay Israeli teenagers.

In Israel, gay Arab activists forge ahead with plans for a rare public conference. : "A rare gathering of openly gay Arab activists is slated to be held in Israel this month, drawing the ire of religious conservatives. Headlined "Home and Exile," the March 28 meeting is meant to spark discussion of homosexuality among Israel's 1 million Arab citizens, said Roula Deeb, a prominent Arab feminist and one of the scheduled speakers..." - Gay Pride Parade in Israel (Video). - 'Gay attack' on Israel synagogue: A Tel Aviv synagogue has been attacked and daubed with graffiti, apparently in response to religious Jewish attempts to ban a gay pride march in Jerusalem... -  Israel oks gay march. - Israel Refuses to Ban Gay Pride Parade. - Gay Pride Israel 2006: Against a tide of hatred, some of which resulted in violent protests by religious conservatives, tens of thousands of gay men and lesbians joined together November 11 to celebrate in Jerusalem. - The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, yesterday voted overwhelmingly to pass two bills designed to ban the Gay Pride March in Jerusalem scheduled for June 21. - Jerusalem Gay March Sparks Controversy: Under heavy police guard, gay activists marched in a Gay Pride parade in downtown Jerusalem on Thursday, sparking a noisy counter-demonstration by ultra-Orthodox Jews and denunciations by Muslim and Christian leaders. There were no incidents of violence during the brief event...  - Dispatch From Jerusalem: The Lebanon war comes to a gay pride rally.

History of Gay Israel: Queer in the Land of Sodom. - Between Sodom and Eden: A Gay Journey Through Today's Changing Israel. - Gays Are Divided On Mideast Strife. (Related Information) - Gay Israel: No Pride In Occupation. - Israel's top court okays homosexual parenthood. - Israeli Gays Struggle with Intransigent Orthodoxy N/A. - Gay and Lesbian Kiss-in is Staged in Jerusalem. - 4,000 People March in Jerusalem's First Pride Parade. - J'lem mayor threatened over scheduled Gay Pride parade. - Gay Pride: an Otherworldly Night in Jerusalem (2004). - WorldPride 2005 to be held in Jerusalem. - Taking 'pride' in Israel's gay rights: One might get an idea from reading recent headlines in Israel about the controversy over World Pride - the international gay and lesbian week which is taking place this week in Jerusalem - that the country has not yet entered the modern world pertaining to gay rights. But nothing could be further from the truth... - "Queer" As A Tool Of Colonial Oppression: The Case Of Israel/Palestine.

Gays Under Occupation: Help Save the Life of Fuad Moussa. - Tel Aviv Tales: In the second of her new series on everyday life in the city, Linda Grant hears what it is like to be gay in Israel. - Small gay kiss puts Israeli hit in local theaters. - Israeli politician discusses social norms at home, in U.S.: Parliament Member Uzi Even Speaks to Bruins about Progress of Gays, Gay Rights. - Queer in the Land of Sodom. - Even in Israel: professor Uzi Even is the first openly gay member in Israel's parliament - but that's only his latest accomplishment. - Out in Israel outside the bubble of Hollywood. - West Bank gays more at home in Israel. West Bank gays find social life in Israel. They fear new wall will trap them where their lifestyle is taboo.

'Gay? Oy Vey!' cleans out Israel's closets: ""There's so much overlap between Jewish and queer identity -- how the closet operates, invisibility, visibility -- and then you add Israel to that, one of the most interesting and volatile regions on the planet," said Kevin Schaub, HMI's dean and executive director... Within an equation that leaves little room for homosexuality or non-traditional gender roles, Even-Zohar believes a hyper-masculinity flourished as the ideal sabra. The fruit itself has a tough, thick outer skin that takes some difficulty to peel away, yielding to a sweeter, soft center -- a metaphor for a stereotypical Israeli man. To demonstrate, Even-Zohar intends to show two films in the class, so students can analyze the evolving cultural context from statehood to the present-day climate for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in Israel... "The gay community is maturing, it's becoming better and better. But in some ways, it doesn't matter. It's not good for gays when there's no place for feminism, gay rights and human rights -- because everyone is obsessed with national  security and the peace process," he said..." - Homosexuality and the Israel Defense Forces; Did Lifting the Gay Ban Undermine Military Performance?

Pride & Prejudice: Being Gay in Israel: (Alternate Link)  Israeli gays: accepted and shunned: "Orael is frightened of going to school in Israel’s Upper Galilee, where he must endure a barrage of anti-gay slurs. Classmates see him as effeminate, and taunt him repeatedly. Accustomed to being called "disgusting freak" and "faggot," he expects even worse from his upcoming compulsory army service. In Israel’s north, few homosexuals have come out of the closet...  "There’s little gay-bashing here [Tel Aviv]," said Nathaniel, who recently opened Jerusalem’s only gay and lesbian pub. "Verbal, yes, but it’s not physical like in the States...It’s more stuff like, ‘Please don’t hang that rainbow flag there.’" And that’s not the only differences between gay life in Israel versus that in the United States. For instance, sodomy laws were repealed years ago, discrimination was banned in the workplace, and immigrant same-sex partners of Israelis are eligible for visas even if they’re not Jewish..." - Being Gay in Israel. - Isn't That Queer? - Endangered Valentine's: In the midst of the brutal Israeli-Palestinian butchery, a Jerusalem gay couple will spend Valentine's Day desperately fighting to remain together. The two men, an Israeli and a Palestinian, have lived together in that city since 1999. - An Update on the Gay Couple in Jerusalem: Fuad and Ezra: Gays Under the Occupation. - For Homosexual Palestinians, Israel Is Their Best Shot at Safety.

Jerusalem Open House: Where Jews and Arabs find ways to mix peacefully in the Holy Land: "In the heart of Jerusalem, the holy city torn by age-old animosities, the rainbow flag is sending a powerful message, according to those who placed it there. Flying over a pedestrian mall that's been the target of terrorist bombs, the international symbol of Gay Pride shows that Jews, Christians and Muslims can live together in harmony. - An Israeli 'open house' for Palestinians in the closet: Unnoticed by the crowds walking along the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall in downtown Jerusalem, a rainbow-colored flag flies from the third-floor window of Open House, the community center for the Holy City's homosexuals... The men range from their late teens to early 30s, are both Moslem and Christian, and, atypically for the Palestinian gay population, none are married. None would be interviewed for this article, either, and none are 'out of the closet' on their home turf, which is perfectly typical of Palestinian gays... - Gays blog for Mideast peace: Two American Jews living in Israel launch gay blog in a mission to unite Jewish and Arab gay men who believe in peace.

Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology: Index Page: Israel: - Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Ambisexual Behaviors. - Gender Conflicted Persons. - HIV/AIDS.

Good Boys (Film): Writer/Director Yair Hochner weaves a tale of young male prostitution in Tel Aviv in Good Boys (2004/Israel) as two rent boys, Tal and Meni, start to become interested in each other.  We have seen this story before of two loners with low self esteem finding each other in the oldest profession in the world, but I give him credit for trying to show a side of Israel and these young men we might not see otherwise... - Israel’s Gay Music Video.

Resources: - The Agudah: The Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender in Israel. - Haifa Gay Community Home Page -  The Gay and Lesbian Student Union of the Hebrew University - Queer Theory Reading Group at Tel-Aviv University. - The World Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jewish Organizations. - Banot: Merkaz haMeyda ve haMagazin haIsraeli leTransexualim N/A. (Archive Link, to 2000) - The Political Council for Gay Rights in Israel.

Resources: - The Jerusalem Open House:  - History. - Article List. - Jerry Levinson / Speech to Knesset. - Tamar / In or Out or: Little Boxes on the Hillside. - The Haifa Gay Community Home Page. - Out In Israel N/A. (Archive Link, to 2002) - The OrthoGays. - The Agudah: The Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender in Israel. - Gay Israel: Tourism in Israel. 

Gay Israel - Gay Israel/Palestine (Global Gayz): - News/Reports, Israel 1997 to Present. - ILGA Report - The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws: Israel. - LGBT rights in Israel. - GME: Israel. - glbtq: Israel. 

GLBT Links: Israel - Jewish / Muslim / Christian. - Jewish GLBT Web Sites. - Google Directory.

PALESTINE - Palestine and gay rights. - Palestinian Gay Women holds historic conference. - Islamic fury at Palestinian lesbian conference in Haifa (& Arab praise for kidnapped BBC man).- Out of the Closet in Palestine: An Interview with Rauda Morcos on Palestinian Gay Women. - Palestine: Not So Glad to be Gay. - Gay and Palestinian: "A must-read piece on Tayseer (not his real name), a gay Palestinian, and the horrible treatment he has received at the hands of his own people for his sexual orientation. This is a different guy then the one I wrote about last month, but the overall pattern in the same: young Palestinian man is gay; family and neighbors find out, brutally abuse him. In the case of Tayseer, he also gets punished for being gay by the duly constituted offices of the Palestinian Authority, who force Tayseer to be submerged in a pit of raw sewage and then throw him into solitary confinement."

Being gay in Palestine. (Alternate Link) - 'Death threat' to Palestinian gays. - Gays Attacked at Palestinian Protest. - Palestinian gays flee to Israel: The Palestinian gays feel safer on the other side of the border. A number of gay Palestinian men are risking their lives to cross the border into Israel, claiming they feel safer among Israelis than their own people. - Palestinian Gays Seek Safety in Israel. - Palestinian Gay Runaways Survive on Israeli Streets. - Being Gay and Palestinian: As this Economist article makes clear (but perhaps not clear enough), despite its propaganda, Israel is not interested in Palestinian gay men except as vulnerable subjects to blackmail and make into collaborators. - Gay Man Criticizes Palestinian Society. 

Gay Palestinians: What the World Ignores: "...But none of this excuses the fact that queer Palestinians are being persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and killed by their own people, their own government. Many of them flee to Israel, knowing that they will get better treatment from "the enemy"... "With bombs once again exploding all over Israel, and the Palestinian territories under seemingly permanent curfew, the woes of Palestinian homosexuals haven't exactly grabbed international attention. But after spending two days with gay Palestinian refugees in Israel, I began to wonder why the ... world has never taken interest in their plight." - OutRage! Position Statement: Palestinian Gays. - Palestine Gays Are Tortured. - Queers for Palestine.

Time for the Palestinian ‘liberals’ to come out:  At the talk on Wednesday, Eli (using a pseudonym), a gay Palestinian now living in Israel, told a story about his friend Adam, who at the age of 17, fled from his home after he was caught with another man. "After Adam managed to flee from the wrath of his father, his father held a funeral for him, pronouncing, 'As far as we are concerned, our son is dead.'" The Palestinian Authority subsequently arrested Adam three times for his sexual orientation, torturing and humiliating him. It is illegal to be gay in the Palestinian Authority, Eli said, and the police actually employ special undercover agents that seek out gay men, whom the police then torture, kill, or force to work as prostitutes. It is not surprising, Eli said, that he and Adam decided to flee to Israel, the only place where they would not be persecuted for their sexuality. Eli's story is typical of the lives of the many gay Palestinians who find themselves at risk because of their sexuality . One can imagine the hard choices gay Palestinians must make between living in danger in the Palestinian Authority and risking their lives by escaping to Israel; despite the risks, many choose to flee and live among the "enemy."

ASWAT (English: Voices) is a courageous and dynamic group of women who have decided to organize to challenge the status quo and to improve their lives and hopefully secure these rights for the coming generations. - Aswat Gay Palestinian Women fight for the rights of lesbian women. - We are Palestinian, we are women, we are gay. - A language no one else is speaking: Rauda Morcos is a true radical. She’s a Palestinian lesbian activist who next year plans to protest the Pride parade in Jerusalem. “I’m against the idea of having a celebration at the same time that there’s occupation,” says Morcos, the 30-year-old coordinator of the first Palestinian lesbian group, Aswat. “We have people being killed 20 minutes down the road at the same time as this racist separation wall is being built,” she says, referring to the West Bank towns near Jerusalem that are frequently the site of clashes with the Israeli army and where Israel is building a controversial wall to cut itself off from the West Bank. Morcos’ discomfort with Israeli Pride festivities is illustrative of the challenges she and other Aswat members face: they’re discriminated against as Palestinians living under Israeli rule, as women in a male-dominated society and as lesbians in an Arab community where there’s no official word for “gay.” “We’re against any type of occupation,” she says. “I don’t want to be occupied as a Palestinian or as a woman or as a lesbian.” ...

Gays attacked at Palestinian rights protest: Lesbians and gay men from OutRage! and the Queer Youth Alliance joined today’s demonstration in London to support the human rights of the people of Palestine. But they also urged the Palestinian Authority to halt the arrest, torture and murder of homosexuals. They marched with placards reading: “Israel: stop persecuting Palestine. Palestine: stop persecuting queers”. As soon as they arrived in Trafalgar Square to join the demonstration, the gay protesters were surrounded by an angry, shouting mob of Islamic fundamentalists, Anglican priests, members of the Socialist Workers Party and the Stop The War Coalition, and officials from the demonstration organisers, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). The mob variously attacked the gay activists as “racists”, “Zionists”, “CIA and MI5 agents”, and “supporters of the Sharon government”... 

Gay Israel/Palestine lobal Gayz) - ILGA Report - The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws: Palestine. - GME: Palestine.

LEBANON / LIBAN - Lebanon displays an increasing tolerance of gays: Nightlife tourism booms in Beirut. (Alternate Link, Must Scroll) - Opening the Arab closet: Lebanon-based queer rights group Helem fights for visibility and acceptance in an unwelcoming community. - Gay Community Thrives in Lebanon (Audio). (Alternate link) (Transcribed, Must Scroll) - Lebanon's homosexual community speaks out: (Alternate Link) (Alternate Link) Reports of police abuse and societal intolerance are among the complaints of the country's gay population. - Homosexuals still facing discrimination. - Lebanon's gays struggle with law: (Alternate Link, with comments) Homosexuality in Lebanon is no longer on the fringes of society or confined to an underworld of nightclubs and exclusive gatherings. It is now the subject of daily discussions in the country... - Lebanon seeks gay travelers.

Helem publishes region's first magazine for gay Arabs:  Not only has Lebanon managed to establish Helem, the first Arab non-governmental organization openly fighting for the rights of homosexuals, but it is also now publishing Barra (Arabic for Out), the region's first magazine for gay Arabs (Excerpt) (Excerpt, Must Scroll). - Helem, pour les droits des gays et lesbiennes au Liban. - Landmark meeting for gay Lebanese: For people routinely harassed and sometimes arrested by the Lebanese authorities, it was refreshing to be able to attend a public event without fear of being detained...

Beyrouth, le rêve éveillé: Bars, boîtes, soirées… longtemps, la communauté gay de Beyrouth a été un vrai papillon de nuit. Mais plus seulement. Même si le tabou de l’homosexualité pèse toujours lourd dans une large majorité de la société libanaise, les gays et lesbiennes de la capitale se réveillent, et craignent de moins en moins de s’affirmer au grand jour...  - "Acid": Le temple gay de Beyrouth. - Les gays sortent du placard au Liban.

Talking Tolerance (2006, Google Cache): Growing up gay in Lebanon, Sherif Kanawati learned to shut out constant homophobic abuse. Now the 24-year-old is speaking up for diversity in Australia... I was born in southern Lebanon in a town called Saida. That part of Lebanon is mainly Muslim and is extremely conservative and homophobic. Actually, “gay” does not even exist for them. There was a culture of men having sex with men, but it was never talked about. People pretty much knew I was gay because I was always out-there in the way I dressed and so on. As a result, I was constantly bullied when I was growing up. At the end of the school day I used to hide until everyone left and I knew it was safe to walk home. I used to call the walk from home to my father’s work the “walk of shame”. There were always people standing on the street who would abuse me as I walked past. The most intense situation was when I had stones thrown at me when I was about 13. At school they spat at me. But I just learned to tune out. Whenever I became friends with someone and they found out about my reputation, they immediately ended the friendship, even girls. Up to the age of 18, I didn’t have a single male friend. The situation at home wasn’t any better: my Mum didn’t deal well with me coming out at 14. My Dad didn’t know and my brother used to call me names. - Gay Arab talks about Lebanon.

Out in Beirut: "Most of his friends, who are Muslims, have a hard time with being Arabs and gays. Though Beirut is a very modern city and most of the residents, who are either Sunni or Shi'ite Muslims, are very progressive otherwise, they are still behind when it comes to dealing with homosexuality. Both sects, who are Islam's main branches, consider homosexuality a wicked practice. Like the Bible, the Koran mentions of the people of Lot. Many Muslims, like many Christians, believe those people were homosexuals, says Noshy..." - The Beirut gay scene. - Gay lebanon (Gay & Lesbian Review, 2002). - Homosexuals in Lebanon caught between laughter and pity. - The Boys of Beirut: this city is closest thing Arab world has to an oasis of sexual freedom. - Gay au liban: Un monde parallèle dont le dossier n'a jamais été ouvert: Les homosexuels au Liban, solitude et vie en marge. - Country information report: Lebanonn (PDF Download): Resource Project for LBTQ Muslim women (Safra Project). - Une ONG libanaise engage le combat pour la dépénalisation de l'homos.

Les homosexuel au Liban, solitude et vie en marge. - GayLebanon.com Case Causes Stir. - Harcèlement, intimidation et menaces d'arrestation en raison de l'existence d'un site Web gai. - Lebanon: Gay Web Site Leads to Harassment, Intimidation, and Threats of Arrest. - Gay Web Site Leads to Harassment in Lebanon. - Lebanon: Internet, Gay Rights Targeted; Free Expression at Risk. - Gay Lebanese Stir Things Up from Sydney N/A. - "Homosexualités et suicide: témoignages cliniques et contribution au débat à partir du Liban" par Jean-Luc Vannier. -  Two Lesbians Arrested for "Unnatural" Sex. - Police raid Lebanese club.

Dunkin Donuts clashes with Lebanese queer community: "Ghassan Makarem, an activist, posted an online petition on beirut.indymedia.org website, in which the gay community said that for the past two years, "Dunkin Donuts' Beirut branches have been denying service to gay and 'gay-looking' customers under the pretext of protecting their Nazi version of 'family values.'" - Lebanon's gays find closet door firmly closed (Alternate Link). - Lebanon: This paradox is no less evident when it comes to homosexuality. Being gay is technically still a crime but is also a lifestyle quietly flourishing in this the most liberal of Middle Eastern societies. - Où en est-on au Liban? - Homosexualité en terre d'Islam.

MIS/TER Mousbah: Lebanon's only Male Dancer. - Lebanon's Only Male Belly Dancer Hopes to Break Some Taboos. - HIV/AIDS in Lebanon. - Rapid Situation Analysis of Men Who Have Sex with Men in the Maghreb and Lebanon (PDF Download).

Disavowed Homosexualities in Beirut: "Based on a tangled politics of disavowal, the complicated and often contradictory process of homosexual identity construction in Beirut is always subjected to multiple factors located within what one might call the "homosexual sphere." In Lebanon, these factors not only transcend the limits of the individual body, but they are often predicated on the coercion exercised by social norms as well as the mechanisms of state suppression. As an urban microcosm, Beirut seems to embrace all the paradoxes and incongruities that characterize any city. Yet assessing the vicissitudes of homosexual identities, along with their disavowal, requires using a microscope and a telescope at the same time... Yet even though its various locations have repeatedly been the theater for banning queer-identified customers, to this day Dunkin' Donuts remains a popular hangout for Lebanese homosexuals. What lies behind these directed and ongoing practices of removing undesired customers according to their gendered behavior? More importantly, why do other homosexuals, seemingly undisturbed, continue to frequent the place and gobble up quantities of noxious nosh? The general lack of solidarity among those queer-identified individuals still sitting at Dunkin' Donuts results in part from the fear of becoming socially ostracized. Moreover, this prevalent disengagement often has to do with the consequences of resisting self-identification. "Ana mesh heek" ("I'm not like that"), numerous gay men in Beirut will say, ambiguously, as they reject an "overtly feminine" customer. Hence, the frequent disavowal of any kind of homosexual identity on their part... Therefore, it is hardly rare in Beirut to overhear complaints within the "homosexual sphere" about the "inappropriate" behavior, mostly characterized as effeminate, of those who do not fit the social norm. These accusations focus on those individuals who are viewed as a source of gendered embarrassment and who manage to endanger the social image of an uncontested masculinity that generally fails to be questioned, let alone refuted, by large parts of the homosexual sphere in Lebanon...."

Resources: - Gay Lebanon Guide. - Helem: Helem advocates for the rights and health of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in Lebanon and works to protect this community from legal, social, and cultural discrimination. - Helem, Beirut. 

Resources: - Gay Lebanon (Global Gayz): - News/Reports 1998 to Present. - ILGA Report - The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws: Lebanon. - GME: Lebanon. - DIVA: Lesbian and Gay Lebanon. - Gay Lebanon Undernet. 

JORDAN - First positive article on LGBT in Jordanian magazine is censored. - An Arab Gay Experience.: "All my Arab encounters were with men who were either married or who married later. I felt that to be gay in a western sense is not yet an Arab idea. This was in the years 1983-1989." - Gay Jordanian Now ‘Gloriously Free’ in Canada: "When the family of Al-Hussein, son of a wealthy Jordanian politician, found out he was gay, they threw him down the stairs. While he was recovering in hospital from a broken leg and smashed jaw, his younger brother shot him in the ankle. A bureaucrat in the Jordanian government, his brother was never prosecuted for this act of public violence because it was considered a “family matter.” Mr. Hussein knew that under Islamic law, he had got off lightly: He could be stoned to death for committing homosexual acts, or murdered by his family in an honour killing."

First Gay Jordanian blog. - Gay Jordanian Blog. - Jordan can be a target for Gay pilgrimage. - A postcard from Jordan (Some gay Information)..  - Gay in Jordan. - En Jordanie, cybercafé rime avec liberté. - Increasing AIDS vulnerability in Jordan.

A Conversation with a Jordanian Taxi Driver: I got out of the car quite quickly, but gave him a nice tip - I always tip gay people well. It was scary, but interesting, and not the only gay come-on I've gotten in Jordan. The conversation would be funnier if I included the parts cut out, but I cannot, in good taste, do that. I try to keep this site clean. Mostly, I'm just amazed at how open he was, even after my pretending to be straight. Is he really that free with his words? Am I obviously gay? Or am I just too hot to resist? (Haha.)

Resources: - Gay Jordan (Global Gayz): - News/Reports 1998 to Present.- ILGA Report - The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws: Jordan. - GME: Jordan. - LGBT rights in Jordan. 

SAUDI ARABIA - The Kingdom in the Closet: (Alternate Link) (Alternate Link) (Alternate Link) Sodomy is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, but gay life flourishes there. Why it is “easier to be gay than straight” in a society where everyone, homosexual and otherwise, lives in the closet... “It’s a lot easier to be gay than straight here,” he had said. “If you go out with a girl, people will start to ask her questions. But if I have a date upstairs and my family is downstairs, they won’t even come up.” ... "They’re quite shameless about it." Talal, a Syrian who moved to Riyadh in 2000, calls the Saudi capital a "gay heaven." This is surprising enough. But what seems more startling, at least from a Western perspective, is that some of the men having sex with other men don’t consider themselves gay. For many Saudis, the fact that a man has sex with another man has little to do with "gayness." The act may fulfill a desire or a need, but it doesn’t constitute an identity. Nor does it strip a man of his masculinity, as long as he is in the "top," or active, role. This attitude gives Saudi men who engage in homosexual behavior a degree of freedom. But as a more Westernized notion of gayness -- a notion that stresses orientation over acts -- takes hold in the country, will this delicate balance survive? ... When Yasser hit puberty, he grew attracted to his male cousins. Like many gay and lesbian teenagers everywhere, he felt isolated. "I used to have the feeling that I was the queerest in the country," he recalled. "But then I went to high school and discovered there are others like me. Then I find out, it’s a whole society." ,,, In Saudi Arabia, "It’s easier to be a lesbian [than a heterosexual]. There’s an overwhelming number of people who turn to lesbianism," Yasmin said, adding that the number of men in the kingdom who turn to gay sex is even greater. "They’re not really homosexual," she said. "They’re like cell mates in prison." ,,, What is ‘gay’? In The History of Sexuality, a multivolume work published in the 1970s and ’80s, Michel Foucault proposed his famous thesis that Western academic, medical, and political discourse of the 18th and 19th centuries had produced the idea of the homosexual as a deviant type: In Western society, homosexuality changed from being a behavior (what you do) to an identity (who you are). In the Middle East, however, homosexual behavior remained just that -- an act, not an orientation. That is not to say that Middle Eastern men who had sex with other men were freely tolerated. But they were not automatically labeled deviant. The taxonomy revolved around the roles of top and bottom, with little stigma attaching to the top. "‘Sexuality’ is distinguished not between ‘homosexual’ and ‘heterosexual’ but between taking pleasure and submitting to someone (being used for pleasure),"...A magazine editor in Jeddah told me that many boys in Mecca, where he grew up, have sexual relations with men, but they don’t see themselves as gay. Abubaker Bagader, a human-rights activist based in Jeddah, explained that homosexuality can be viewed as a phase. "Homosexuality is considered something one might pass by," he said. "It’s to be understood as a stage of life, particularly at youth." This view of sexual behavior, in combination with the strict segregation of the sexes, serves to foster homosexual acts, shifting the stigma onto bottoms and allowing older men to excuse their younger behavior -- their time as bottoms -- as mere youthful transgressions..

Veil of Separation, Veils of Identity: But it prompts the question: why do homosexuals exist in societies where a separation of sexes doesn't necessarily apply? Moreover, does such a separation predicate the effect of genuine homosexual desires? And then, are these so-called "homosexuals" homosexuals in the sense that we in the West have defined it? Or are they individuals forced to fulfill a natural desire in the only way they can? Maybe homosexuals [or men who engage in sex with other men] in countries like Saudi Arabia are not necessarily "in the closet" but actually free from having to identify themselves. And rather, we [both homosexuals and heterosexuals in the West] are trapped in a closet of our own, a closet of monosexuality where we veil ourselves with endless layers attempting to define and label sexualities that we eventually [like with everything] ship and market around the world [the international gay?!?]. - Homosexuality on the Rise in Saudi Arabia: Result of an Oppressive Regime or Are Saudis Coming Out of the Closet?

Être homosexuel en Arabie Saoudite. - Saudis Reportedly Arrest 20 At 'Gay Wedding'. - Saudi Arabia Sentences More Than 100 to Prison and Flogging for ‘Gay Conduct’. - Men "Behaving Like Women" Face Flogging.

Saudi Arabia Begins to Face Hidden AIDS Problem. - Epidemiology of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Saudi Arabia; 18-year surveillance results. - UN launches Aids awareness drive in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Executes Three Yemenis for Homosexuality: "...Interior Ministry statement as saying that a court had found the three men guilty of "committing the extreme obscenity of homosexuality and imitating women," in violation of Islamic rules which ban homosexuality." - Saudis Execute Gay Men.  - Au sujet de la lapidation des homosexuels en Arabe Saoudite. - Is Beheading Really the Punishment for Homosexuality in Saudi Arabia? (Alternate Link) - Human Rights Watch Unveils Saudi Arabia's Justice System. - Gay people in Saudi Arabia. - To be gay in Saudi Arabia.

Tight T-shirts and a gay café in Saudi Arabia: "The ``opening up" of gay life in Saudi society includes a network of private parties, at least one each weekend, attended by anywhere from 20 to 50 men, says Haitham. There are several ``cruisy streets" that men drive back and forth on after midnight. (No one walks anywhere in Riyadh.) And Riyadh even boasts three gay café's--two of which draw mixed crowds, but one of which is ``90 percent gay." Only after promising that I will not reveal it in my article, Haitham tells me the name of the gay café, and draws me a map of how to get there..." - Queer Sheik: But, in some Saudi cities, the authorities have started to look the other way. In part, the government has realized that the thousands of Saudis who have recently returned from the United States because of stricter visa policies, and who are relatively liberal-minded, are unwilling to countenance such harsh anti-gay policies. "I don't feel oppressed at all," said one gay man, a 23-year-old returnee from the United States meeting in one of the coffee shops with a group of gay Saudi friends dressed in Western clothes and speaking fluent English... - Homosexuality in Saudi Arabia: Saudi Gays Flaunt New Freedoms: ‘Straights Can’t Kiss in Public or Hold Hands Like Us’.

Queer Sheik: Being openly gay in Saudi Arabia used to be a death sentence - but times are changing. - Saudi Gays Flaunt New Freedoms: ‘Straights Can’t Kiss in Public or Hold Hands Like Us'. (Alternate Link) (Alternate Link). - Mubarak Dahir reports for OutUK from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has created one of the world's biggest Internet filtering systems. The authorities have officially announced that they block access to nearly 400,000 webpages, with the aim of "protecting citizens from offensive content and content the violates the principles of Islam and the social norms." - Saudi Government Lifts Gay Web Ban. - Gay websites censored. - Documentation of Internet Filtering in Saudi Arabia. - Ban lifted on two gay websites.

The silence surrounding Saudi Arabia N/A (Related Information): "If we as gay people had a special obligation to oppose the Taliban because of their record on gays and women--as some gay talking heads previously asserted--don't we have the same obligation with respect to Saudi Arabia? I can't help but wonder why the chorus of voices, both straight and gay, who recently cried out about women and gays in Afghanistan, are now so silent."

Gay Saudi Arabia (Global Gayz): - News/Reports 1998 to Present. - ILGA Report. - Sodomy Laws: Saudi Arabia. - GME: Saudi Arabia. - LGBT rights in Saudi Arabia.
 

A cry from Kuwait: Lesbian Seeking Cover-Up Marriage with Gay Guy. - Interview with a Kuwaiti transsexual. - Two men arrested for indecent exposure (Must Scroll): Two men, one of them a famous singer, have been apprehended for indecent exposure. Security personnel spotted the suspects Wednesday night committing homosexual intercourse inside a vehicle parked at the Farwaniya Hospital parking lot. They were both referred to the competent authorities.

Survey of HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes of Kuwaiti family physicians: The majority of physicians expressed negative attitudes toward homosexuality and about AIDS patients in general. - Kuwaiti Setback? Now let us return to the "liberals" at the dinner party. All had made sure to leave their spouses at home, gender apartheid being the rule even for them. Subjected to a number of questions none revealed any liberal sentiments. Would they campaign to abolish polygamy and temporary marriages? Would they support equal rights for women in divorce and children's custody? No. Would they accept gay and lesbian couples as legitimate? Again: No. What about abolishing state subsidies that eat up a third of the oil revenue? No. Many other questions attracted the same negative answer...

Homosexual tendencies: (Must Scroll) A field research team recently announced that they had completed a survey on the prevalence of homosexuality in Kuwait and determining whether the phenomenon caused certain problems especially in schools... Special comments stated in the statistics, explained that youths should be encouraged to occupy their leisure hours with healthy activities that could prove to be advantageous to them and society in order to avoid such negative tendencies in addition to cooperation with the scientific research teams to help in addressing and finding suitable solutions to combat the problem. [NOTE: The prevalence of homosexuality in youth or in Kuwait is not reported.]

Gay Kuwait (Global Gayz):  News/Reports. - ILGA Report - The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws. - GME: Kuwait. - LGBT rights in Kuwait.
 

IRAQ - Gay and Iraqi: With a world on the brink of war, OutUK's Adrian Gillan talks to gay Arabs and Iraqis about being gay in an Arab state and what it's like for our lads in Baghdad. Is Saddam serious about killing queers and is his regime any worse than other Arab governments? - Iraq’s underground culture: *With a world on the brink of war, OutUK’s Adrian Gillan talks to gay Arabs and Iraqis about being gay in an Arab state and what it’s like for our lads in Baghdad. Is Saddam serious about killing queers and is his regime any worse than other Arab governments? ... “However,” he continues, “there is little official reaction to homosexuality in Iraq so far as I know and I was unaware of any law pertaining to anything gay. If Saddam has indeed threatened death for homosexual behaviour, then I do not think it will be enforced.” “To be honest, I haven’t witnessed or even heard about much overt gay abuse in Iraq,” explains Zoo of a complex, repressive social landscape where people turn blind eyes or are more likely to use such homophobic edicts as a weapon against political opponents, rather than to target queers.

For gays in Iraq, a life of constant fear: Samir Shaba sits in a restaurant, nervously describing gay life in Iraq. He speaks in a low voice, occasionally glancing over his shoulder. The heavyset, clean-shaven Christian says that before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, he frequented the city's gay blogs, online chat rooms and dance clubs, where he wore flashy tight clothes, his hair long and loose to his shoulders. After the invasion, he and other gays and lesbians were driven underground by sectarian violence and religious extremists. Shaba, 25, packed his flashy clothes away, started wearing baseball caps and baggy T-shirts and stopped visiting clubs and chat rooms. But he couldn't bear to cut his hair. "I cannot change everything immediately," he said, fingering his black ponytail. "I suffered because I didn't cut it."... - Sexual Cleansing: Iraqi Government Denies Gays Are Targets of Killings.

Gay Iraqi laments life after invasion: “The previous regime [of Saddam Hussein] didn’t actively persecute gay men, and we never got to the point where men were hanged like in Iran, but if you got accused if engaging in homosexual acts then [you could] get something like five months in prison which, as we know, is never going to be a pleasant thing in Iraq.” - Promising Democracy, Imposing Theocracy: Gender-Based Violence and the US War on Iraq: ... Part VI. Gender-based Violence against Men: A corollary to the systematic violence against women in Iraq is the campaign of torture and killing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, and intersex (LGBTTI) Iraqis under US occupation. Homophobic attacks intensified in early 2006, after Grand Ayatollah Sistani issued his fatwa (religious decree) saying that anyone accused of "sodomy or lesbianism" should be killed "in the worst, most severe way possible." The fatwa triggered a systematic witch–hunt by SCIRI's Badr Brigade, which was carried out while the group was receiving military training from the US... The US–backed Iraqi police stand accused of rape and extortion by gay men. According to one Baghdad resident, "Policemen raped me several times at gunpoint and threatened to hand me over to extremist groups if I refused."

Male homosexuality still a taboo: Since 2001, an amendment to the 1990 Penal Code has made homosexual behaviour between consenting adults a crime. In that year, the Revolutionary Command Council issued a decree making the offences of prostitution, homosexuality, incest and rape punishable by death, according to Amnesty International. - Life has only gotten worse for gay Iraqis: The end of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship did not mean more freedom for gay Iraqis. I fled to England to escape persecution. Many more gay Iraqis have not been so lucky, as I know from my work with Abu Nawas, a support group for gay Iraqis living in Great Britain. We keep in daily contact with gays still struggling for survival in today's Iraq. There's a gay man named Tahseen, who provides shelter and food to four gay men back home with a little help from our group here in London. The men are virtually hiding out in one small room. They can't work and are afraid to be seen in public. As I sat down to write this, news came that Tahseen was assaulted by three young bearded men who attacked him in their car while he was on his way to buy bread. Wisam is another example of a well-educated, middle-class gay man who welcomed the overthrow of Saddam and thought life would get better for him. Now conditions are so bad that he has lost hope. "I miss the old days, I miss the days of Saddam," he tells me. "I never thought I could think of saying that ever in my life." Hassan, another gay Iraqi, has been forced to leave the family house. His family finally can attack, kill or maim him without facing prosecution and can kill him to cleanse the family's name of the "filth" of having a gay son...- Gay Iraqis fear for their lives. - Iran Exports Anti-Gay Pogrom to Iraq. - Iraqi gays still hunted down.

Persecution of Iraq's gay community (Channel 4, UK): More4 News investigates the alarming increase in executions of homosexuals and child prostitutes in Iraq. - Gay Genocide: Murdered and set ablaze April 2006, Karar Oda is just one of the many Iraqis dragged from their homes by hooded militia and shot, set on fire or beheaded because they were believed to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. - Iraqi Police 'Killed 14-Year-Old Boy for Being Homosexual': Neighbours in al-Dura district say Ahmed's father was arrested and interrogated two days before his son's murder by police who demanded to know about Ahmed's sexual activities. It is believed Ahmed slept with men for money to support his poverty-stricken family, who have fled the area fearing further reprisals.

More gay executions: Baghdad refuses to protect gays and denounces UN report: "Iraqi lesbians and gays continue to be subjected a systematic reign of terror by Shia death squads. The government of Iraq refuses to crack down on the killers or to take any action to protect its gay citizens. It is a regime that is dominated by Shia fanatics and homophobes," according to Ali Hili, the coordinator of the human rights group Iraqi LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender). Mr Hili lists below a few examples of the many death squad killings of gay Iraqis... The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) has corroborated Iraqi LGBT’s claims of "sexual cleansing" by the death squads and Islamist courts: "Armed Islamic groups and militias have been known to be particularly hostile towards homosexuals, frequently and openly engaging in violent campaigns against them," January’s UNAMI report said... - Iraq Gov't Sanctioning Anti-Gay Death Squads Conference Told: The leader of an exiled Iraqi LGBT rights group has told a London conference on Homophobia that that militias blamed for the murders of hundreds of gay men and women are sanctioned by the government and the US-led coalition is doing little to stop the killings...

The New Immigrants - Dalia Yalda: "Unlike in America, where even the intolerant recognize the existence of diverse sexuality, sexual diversity does not officially exist throughout much of the Middle East: "Sexual diversity in Iraq? No one recognizes it. 'Gay' is certainly not a word mentioned at the dinner table." In Iraq, treating homosexuals with fairness and respect never becomes an issue since homosexuals are not considered to be people: "Iraqis see gays and lesbians as dirty animals. One doesn't talk with them or associate with them - like the untouchables in India, they simply do not exist." The refusal to acknowledge difference in Iraqi culture is augmented by the fact that, unlike in America, Iraq's political, religious and societal mores are established and maintained by the same, single dictator. In Iraq, where the one philosophy that governs all of life declares homosexuality to be a crime against God and state, homosexuals are shunned in every way and suffer from an overwhelming lack of allies: "Iraq still practices an-eye-for-an-eye justice. If you steal, they chop off your hand. I shudder to think what they do to gays and lesbians."

Iraq War Won't Help the Homos: Back in the old days of colonialism, Western domination was often secured with, as the phrase goes, a gun in one hand and a Bible in the other. Today there are folks who seem to think that a gun in one hand and a gay rights manual in the other might somehow produce more satisfying results. The argument that bombing Iraq will benefit the homosexuals and women living there has recently raised its predictable head in the gay press, and I admit that I have a hard time taking it seriously. - A Gay Palestinian Criticizes Gay Hawks! Toppling Saddam won't free gays: To talk about "liberating" gay Iraqis in Baghdad while we mistreat gay Arabs and Muslims in our own midst is just too much to stomach. Gay hawks like to claim that regime change in Iraq will mean greater freedom for gays there, but that's not the case in Iraq or even within our own military.GAY MEN AND lesbians who endorse the war in and occupation of Iraq — and possible future military action against other countries like Syria — need to stop using the guise of caring about the plight of gay Arabs to rationalize their support. It's an argument fraught with emotional manipulation, hypocrisy, intellectual dishonesty and factual error.

Homosexuality and Sadomasicism at Core of Iraq Prison Scandal. - Photos that will haunt us more than words ever could: No matter what happens over the coming weeks and months, as the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal plays out in courts-martial, congressional hearing rooms and the press, those photographs aren't going away... The nudity and sexual content of the photographs clearly complicate and confound the public's reactions. In a recent commentary, Tikkun magazine's Michael Lerner argued that the sexual nature of the humiliations at Abu Ghraib transformed the Iraqi prisoners into powerless innocents in many eyes. Lerner lamented that Americans seem disinclined "to identify with the victims of torture when it does not have this sexual dimension." He went on to speculate on the sadomasochism and staged homosexuality photographed and their connection to the repressed "fantasy life of many many Americans." - The Abu Ghraib Prison Photos. - Articles and Photos Posted Here are In Chronological Order From Oldest To Most Recent.

LGBT rights in Iraq. - ILGA Report - The Eastgarden. - GME: Iraq. - Sodomy Laws. 

BAHRAIN - Bahrain Cracks Down on Gay Migrant Workers. - Bahrain Deporting 2,000 Gays from RP. - Same Sex School are Hot Bed of Lesbian Activity!: Gay surge is hitting same-sex schools.

Man raised as girl tells of life as a wife: Rabei returned recently from an operation in Thailand to correct his gender -- a procedure for which he obtained consent from both Sunni and Shi'ite clerics. He is the first Bahraini to go public with news of such an operation, his lawyer said. It triggered a flood of media coverage and condemnation from many of his fellow Bahrainis for what they see as a procedure forbidden by Islam. Most Muslim scholars say changing one's sex is forbidden unless it is related to an intersex condition such as Rabei's. His is one of a range of relatively rare conditions in which there is a mismatch between the body's sexual genetic code and its physical make up. Instead of having two X chromosomes -- the female pattern -- he has an XY or male configuration. This is a complex issue that Rabei said much of Arab and Islamic society was not yet ready for.

Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology: Index Page: Bahrain: - Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Ambisexual Behaviors. - Gender Conflicted Persons. - HIV/AIDS.

International Encyclopedia of Sexuality: Bahrain. See: Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Bisexual Behaviors & Gender Diversity and Transgender Issues.

Gay Bahrain (Global Gayz): - News/Reports. - ILGA Report - The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws: Bahrain. - GME: Bahrain. - LGBT rights in Bahrain.
 

OMAN - Asian Homosexuality - 1992 - edited by Wayne R. Dynes and Stephen Donaldson (Table of Contents). Contains: "Man Becomes Woman: Transsexualism in Oman as a Key to Gender Roles," 338-354. Excerpt (Word 97 Download): "It is the sexual act, not the sexual organs, which is fundamentally constitutive of gender.  A man who acts as a woman sexually, is  a woman socially.  And there is no confusion in this culture between the male and female role in intercourse.  The man ‘enters’ (yidaxil), the woman receives, the man is active, the woman is passive.  Behaviour, and not anatomy, is the basis for the Omani conceptualisation of gender identity. Consequently when a man enters into a homosexual relationship in an active way he in no way endangers his male identity whereas the passive receiving homosexual partner cannot possibly be conceptualised as a man.  Therefore, in Oman, all homosexual prostitutes are ascribed the status of xanith." - Xanith.

Gays and lesbians in the Muslim community are quietly shattering one of the final taboos of Islam: "But the Islamic Society of North America's views on homosexuality as a "moral disease, a sin and corruption" remain unchanged today. And in many Muslim countries, such as Egypt, a new wave of arrests and mock trials of gay men is a cause for concern among human-rights organizations. There are a few notable exceptions, particularly Lebanon, Morocco and the Sultanate of Oman, where laissez-faire policies seem to apply to gays who are out relatively publicly. In Beirut, a gay group took part in a recent demonstration held to protest against the Iraq war."

Sex scandal in Oman?  The future designate King of England, Prince Charles, was spending some of Ramadan month in Oman with Sultan Qaboos widely believed to be an open homosexual. It is an "open secret" in that Arab country that he is a homosexual, often seen cavorting with his body guards and having been divorced by his wife for "failure to perform his manly duties"..."

Katz MN (2004). Assessing the Political Stability of Oman. Middle East Review of International Affairs, 8(3). PDF Downkoiad.  "... many Omanis (Ibadhis, Sunnis, and Shi'as) believe that Qaboos has indeed acted against the precepts of Islam in one important respect. Sultan Qaboos has been reported by several sources to be a homosexual, which would not be judged favorably by his subjects if they were to believe this claim, whether or not it was true. What Omanis think about this issue is hard to determine. Although I have been following Omani affairs for over two decades, only three Omanis have discussed this subject with me openly.(34) Although such a tiny number may not be representative of an entire society's opinion, their statements on this matter indicate that it has wider political implications: · All three agreed that the Sultan is generally believed to be homosexual by Omanis; · All three agreed that Omanis only discuss this subject with trusted relatives and friends since more open discussion of it could result in negative consequences (including imprisonment); · All three agreed that all Omanis whom they have discussed this subject with believe that the Sultan's alleged homosexuality raises serious doubts as to his legitimacy as a ruler. One of the three--a young Westerneducated male related to one of those arrested in 1994--stated vehemently that Qaboos's alleged homosexuality is utterly shameful, that it reflects badly on Oman as a whole, and that it completely undermines Qaboos's legitimacy as sultan. The second -- a young Western-educated female -- saw the Sultan's alleged homosexuality as causing Omanis both to see him as ridiculous and to discount or disregard much of what he has done that has benefited the country. The third--an older Middle Eastern-educated male--indicated that the sultan is widely believed to spend an inordinate amount of Oman's scarce resources on his reputedly numerous paramours and on projects favored by them. If these views are at all representative, then the sultan's alleged homosexuality could become an important political factor in the event of a regime crisis, or in aggravating events that might lead to a regime crisis. How likely, though, is this?

Xanith: Omani third gender. - Xanith.- Man becomes woman: Transsexualism in Oman as a key to gender roles: Unni Wikan (Word Download).

Social Anthropology (Word Download): Read  from Uni Wikan’s ‘Man becomes woman: transsexualism in Oman as a key to gender roles.’ ... It is the sexual act, not the sexual organs, which is fundamentally constitutive of gender.  A man who acts as a woman sexually, is a woman socially.  And there is no confusion in this culture between the male and female role in intercourse.  The man ‘enters’ (yidaxil), the woman receives, the man is active, the woman is passive.  Behaviour, and not anatomy, is the basis for the Omani conceptualisation of gender identity. Consequently when a man enters into a homosexual relationship in an active way he in no way endangers his male identity whereas the passive receiving homosexual partner cannot possibly be conceptualised as a man.  Therefore, in Oman, all homosexual prostitutes are ascribed the status of xanith.  ... Yet Omanis recognise, as do all other peoples in the world, the fundamental, undeniable character of anatomical sex.  Girls and boys, female and male, are identities ascribed at birth.  This is one reason why the Omani homosexual prostitute becomes a transsexual, treated as if he were a woman.  Yet he is referred to in the masculine grammatical gender, nor is he allowed to dress in woman’s clothes...But since the transsexual must be fitted in somewhere in a society based on a fundamental dichotomisation of the sexes, he is placed with those whom he resembles most: in this society, with women.  Questions: 1. What makes a man a man and a woman a woman in Omani society? 2. Is the xanith a man, a woman, or something else? 3. A xanith is defined as a sexually receptive man but how do we know who is doing what to whom?  What does this say about how sex is understood in Oman?  Could two xanith be lovers?  Could a xanith have a sexual relationship with a woman? 4. Are the xanith homosexuals or are they heterosexuals of a third gender?

ILGA Report - The Eastgarden. - GME: Oman. - LGBT rights in Oman.
 

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - UAE Sentences Gays To 5 Years In Prison: Eleven of twenty-six men arrested at what police in the United Arab Emirates called a "gay wedding" have been sentenced each to five years in prison. The 15 others were acquitted but are still being held until the government decides whether to have them retried. - The USA has condemned the United Arab Emirates after twelve men were jailed for participating in a gay wedding. 

Why did I leave Islam: (Alternate Link) "Some years before the revolution, when I was traveling the world as a journalist and correspondent for the Iranian radio and television, I had a job for few days in United Arab Emirates.  We met and a great man of knowledge and dignity, whom later Khomeini ordered his execution, were invited by one of the Sheikhs to a wedding.  It is unusual in Arabic countries to be invited to a wedding, it is generally done in secret, no one should know.  But this one was an exceptional one.  The sheikh was marrying a boy; a young boy aged eleven.  Some one felt we need an explanation.  He told us it is of importance that a man, an important sheikh have few boys in the Harem.  Of course they were castrated before.  And to make the problem better understood, he recited two verses from Koran. “ …. and there shall wait on them young boys of their own, as fair as virgin pearl. “52:24   And  “ …..  They shall be attended by boys graced with eternal youth who to the beholders eyes will seem like sprinkle pearls. “76:19   Recently some event happened in Egypt.  The Islamic court is prosecuting thirty young homosexuals as homosexuality is prohibited in Islam.  One wonders, if it is prohibited, then why god promises the believers boys?  Reason is simple.  In the wedding in Emirates, you do not deal with homosexuality, but pedophilia. In another word, as having sex with a boy is not homosexuality, it is permitted, but if two men fall in love with each other, it is a sin and crime..."

LGBT rights in United Arab Emirates. - GME: United Arab Emirates. - ILGA Report. - Sodomy Laws. - The Eastgarden.

QATAR - Interview with a Gay Who Was Arrested in Qatar. - Gay Workers Banned in Qatar. - The Crown Prince of Qatar should be stoned to death for being gay, according to Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim fundamentalist scholar who is based in Qatar.

The Qatar Diary Blog: Do I look Gay? "Why do people think I'm gay? Why do different men go hitting on me every time? Why do MEN hit on me? Why do ONLY men hit on me?..."

GME: Qatar. - (Global Gayz): - Qatar News Report 2002-03. - ILGA Report. 
 

YEMEN - Yemen Times: Same-Sex Marriage Issue. (Related articles at Global Gayz). - Journalists convicted for Gay report: A Yemeni court has convicted three journalists, their lawyer has said, for publicly discussing homosexuality. The court ruled that a report in Arabic-language newspaper The Week in March 2003, which included interviews with men jailed for homosexuality, had violated Yemeni morals and customs. Homosexuality in the conservative Arab state is considered a taboo and Yemen's main religion, Islam, denounces homosexuality. "The ruling came as a huge shock to me," former editor-in-chief Jalal al-Sharaabi said on Tuesday. - Attacks on the Press: Ye,men, 2004. 

The Death of Ahmed el Osamy (1966): Homosexuality is something of a tradition in backward Yemen, where Bedouin herdsmen roam the rocky hills for months on end with only each other and their animals for company. Male brothels flourish in San'a, the capital, and the late Imam Ahmad, who ruled the country for 14 years before his death in 1962, established an international reputation for overzealous camaraderie. But times are changing. Last week a Moslem religious court convicted Ahmed el Osamy, a 60-year-old government worker who ran one of San'a's top boydellos, of being a practicing pederast, and sentenced him to death.

- Arab Male Sex problems: While the Western boys start having sexual intercourse with their girl friends, from the age of 15 or 16, an Arab boy cannot dream of this till he gets married, which is usually after the age of twenty or twenty-five. And till then, he has to hide facts of even nocturnal emissions and masturbation from all persons including his family members! Naturally homosexuality in Arabs is practised off and on at this age—due to non-availability of the opposite sex and not as a new desire, as in Western countries where certain males would prefer homosex to heterosex... The sexual problems of Yemenis are complex. Many of them are away from their wives for months together serving in the surrounding countries....

Gay Yemen (Global Gayz): - News/Reports.  - ILGA Report. - GME: Yemen. -  LGBT rights in Yemen.
 

SYRIA / SYRIE - Interview with a Syrian homosexual: I contacted her earlier this week and she agreed to have this published if I could only use her first name, Lina... Do your parents know you’re gay and if so, how did they react when you told them, or when they found out? A. I told them because I trusted them to love me no matter what. I was wrong. They kicked me out and burned some of my belongings. I was homeless for a week until my friends helped me out. I didn’t ask for help because I was too scared and embarrassed, I was only maybe 17 at that time. Since then I explained my situation thoroughly to my friend’s parents and they basically adopted me. Without them I wouldn’t be here and I certainly wouldn’t be safe. I know that other homosexuals in this position are still homeless or are trying to run away from home because of familial abuse... - Syria: Soft on porn, hard on political censorship: Web sites that focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered issues were generally available.

Some Enchanted Evening... in Aleppo?  An American anthropologist in a Syrian steambath: At one point, Borneman casually says, “Some of my Syrian acquaintances who have a lot of sex with men (they are also invariably married, and most have sex with their wives also) have told me that if anyone asks them about homosexuality, they have learned to just deny everything—and then have sex. In other words, they do what I might consider ‘having sex’ but do not call it that. The worst thing to do, what ends all communication, is to say one is interested in sex.” Wait a minute, I wanted to say. Who are these heretofore unmentioned "acquaintances who have a lot of sex with men" and how did you meet them? What's the rest of the story?. So, in another sense, it’s all there, but the reader is often left to tease out the implications and put together the scattered hints and occasional explicitness.

Treatment of Sexual Minorities a Global Shame - Experts: "Amnesty also highlights "physical and psychological violence - often amounting to torture - in the community and even in the family." In Syria, it reports, a gay student was held back after school and raped by a teacher who told him he was a "sin to this world." - A Personal View of 'Gay Damascus'--Hot Hammams (bathhouses) by a gay American Visitor (Must Scroll).

Are gays in Syria that correspond with GayMiddleEast.com being threatened? " We also read with interest the article  that appeared on August 7, 2003 on the internet site of Al Bawada. In this article, the writer speaks of suppression by the police, arrests of gays in Syria that were simply to "keep the gays in their place."  As he wrote, "Sometimes the police come and if the guys are doing anything "out of the ordinary" like dancing to music, kissing or looking "too gay" - the police take them for a while."  Accordingly, this courageous gay person in Syria ended his letter to GayMiddleEast.com stating:  "I think the gays in the middle east sure need protection.""

Souk' in the culture!: "However, perhaps because of its proximity to Turkey and the influx of "businessmen" from the former Soviet Union, Aleppo comes across as more outward looking than other Syrian cities... What made Ahmed's stall different from any other in Aleppo, and possibly all of Syria, and maybe even a good portion of the Arab world, were his two brothers who "worked" with him in his stall. Hasan and Mustafa were openly, flamingly and gleefully gay... With homosexuality punishable in Syria by imprisonment at the very least, it is impossible to understate the incongruity of Hasan and Mustafa. By our observation, the two suffered no negative consequences for their unconventional behavior and were respected members of the souk community... Maybe Hasan and Mustafa, knowing that soon they would be safely ensconced in Sydney's gay community, felt that they could thumb their noses at Assad's Syria, and make a few dollars at the same time."

This is a travelogue of my five and a half-week trip around Syria, Jordan and Egypt during October and November 1998.: 20th October 1998: "The merchants in the souq are all quite friendly. Obviously their main aim is to make some money out of you, but even when you don’t buy anything they weren’t too bothered. We got offers to change-money all the time and to drink tea or coffee, and we even saw some gay men who proclaimed to be "members of the Oscar Wilde appreciation society"!! They were very camp, quite funny and even offered us a superb exchange rate! The evening before, Matthaus had told us about these guys and one of them offered to meet him later and buy him dinner and have a good time… "Only kissing" (apparently)! It seems like homosexuality is quite open (and popular) in Aleppo –more so than anywhere else. It’s quite common to see men holding hands and greeting each other with kissed, but this just seems to be the Arabic way – not to be mistaken as any kind of gay thing..."

Five Days in Syria N/A: "Actually got brave and had a real haircut. Got some old barber who had really septic breath and cut near my ear with one of those old razors, otherwise did quite a reasonable job. Apparently further north in Aleppo, which I have to go through to get to Turkey, there are loads of gays and with that long hair don't wish to encourage them. One guy who was hit on was told that women are for duty, men are for pleasure. Scary, scary....After this went out for pizza and went back to the old city for another casual wander..."

Syria: " I travelled in Syria in Nov.-Dec. '98. In spite of the fact that it was winter and the weather was mostly miserable, I enjoyed my visit immensely. Although Syria is frequently in the news as one of the so-called "terrorist states", it is one of the safest countries I have ever visited, and I was never subject to any harassment for being an American of Jewish descent; this even as the U.S. bombed Baghdad during my visit and rioters in Damascus vandalized the American embassy. Street crime is negligible, and it is safe to walk around Damascus and Aleppo (two largest cities) in the middle of the night... There is no state religion in Syria, many women work and do not cover themselves, and homosexuality is (by Arab standards) fairly open in urban areas (Aleppo especially)."

Oscar Closes Man In Moon: "He will especially focus on a 23-year-old homosexual in Syria, who immediately inspired Giles when he met him while working as a freelance travel journalist. For the young Syrian, Oscar is an icon, a source of great inspiration, a soul mate who shares similar experiences of public humiliation and terrifying periods in prison. He can quote any piece of Wilde's work and surrounds himself with portraits of the great man. Oscar is, for him, utterly contemporary and when he sees how things have changed in Britain, he lives in hope that a similar cultural shift in his native land."

Don Pato's Gay Syria: Syria is a religiously mixed society of Christians, Jews and Muslims which my lend itself of society of tolerance. Foreign visitors are welcome and it maintains a don’t ask don’t tell culture. In Damascus you can find wildly gay baths and cruising grounds for gay men...

Gay Syria (Global Gayz): - News/Reports 1998 to Present. - ILGA Report. - GME: Syria. - LGBT rights in Syria. 

UN panel rebukes Egypt's anti-gay trials. - Jailed homosexuals have little sympathy in Egypt. - Egyptian "gays" found not guilty. - 4 Egyptians Suspected as Gay are Acquitted - Arrests Continue. - Egyptian rights group 'cannot protect gays'. - Egypt Uses Web to Bust Gays. - Explaining Egypt's Targeting of Gays. - Torture of Egyptian gays turns systematic. - Egyptian Gays Go Deeper Underground. - Homosexual Prosecutions Overturned: Internet Arrests, Harassments Continue. - Acquittal of eleven men is not enough. 

Egypt cracks down on homosexuals: "Homosexuality itself is not technically illegal in Egypt but it is a serious taboo - culturally, socially and now politically. Gay men are vilified by the press and the public... Until last year, the government denied that homosexuality even existed. No one knows why it changed policy and decided to begin its crackdown... The chief government spokesman, Nabil Osman, is not willing to explain or apologise. "What we did was not a breach of human rights," he says. "But actually an interpretation of the norms of our society, the family values of our society. And no one should judge us by their own values. And some of these values in the West are actually in decay." - The Hunt Against Homosexuals Continues. - Egypt Uses Web to Bust Gays. - A Gay activist in Egypt describes the nightmare of the government's crackdown on homosexuality. - The Perils of Postmodernism. - Egyptian Intellectuals: Vicious Killers of Same-Sex Love.

Report: Egypt entraps, tortures gay men: Rights group says hundreds have been affected (2004): "Egyptian authorities have entrapped, arrested and tortured hundreds of men thought to be gay, a New York-based human rights group said in a report Monday. - A new report accuses the Egyptian authorities of systematically entrapping, arresting and torturing homosexual men. - Not just the Queen Boat: HRW is asking the Egyptian government to stop persecuting homosexuals and commit to reform. - 2004 Report (Full Text): In a Time of Torture: The Assault on Justice In Egypt’s Crackdown on Homosexual Conduct.

Hiding themselves in the crowd (1999): "Many girls at Alexandria University have fallen for the charms of 22-year-old Michael, an Egyptian art student with delicate features and green almond-shaped eyes. But he has lost count of the number of times he has refused to go out on dates - and not because he likes playing hard to get. He is just more interested in spending time with his French boyfriend. "I tell the girls straight away that it's not personal and that I am gay," he explains with a shy smile. "They are shocked in the beginning, but then we become friends." Michael started having homosexual intercourse when he was 12 but his first steady relationship happened when he was 16. After it was over, he got depressed and had to be medicated for a year - which was when he told his family about his sexual orientation. "Homosexuality is becoming more apparent in the Egyptian society," says Dr.Josette Abdalla, assistant professor of Psychology at the AmericanUniversity in Cairo (AUC). "This is in part the result of more exposure tomass media, western influences and more access to papers, satellite dishesand TV."..."

Women Who Love Women Who Love Men (1998): Some Egyptian "lesbians" say they're just practising for the real thing... In North America we like our sex the way we like our clothes ­ with labels. Perhaps reducing sexuality to categories makes us feel safe. Maybe we hope that by naming something we can understand it. But can we? What if the picture blurs? Those are the kind of questions which interest education professor Didi Khayatt. She is conducting a six-year study of how "lesbian" desire is expressed in Egypt. "In the West, we've come to believe in the existence of discrete sexual categories, and use them to describe our identities as if they were immutable, and understood and accepted by everyone," says Khayatt. Curiously, Arabic has no words for homosexuality or heterosexuality, although there are words in the language for acts considered to be perversions (such as sodomy or bestiality). "Arabic recognizes same-gender sex for men, but there is no equivalent recognition for women...

Gay cultures in Cairo, Egypt. - Gay Egypt - A guide to Egypt's gay scene. - Egypt Gay Lifestyle and Gay Way. - In search of gay Egypt. - Newspaper Report on "Gay Undeground" in Egypt in 1990s. - Activist Fights for Gay Rights in Egypt. - Gay Oppresion in Egypt. - Fear and loathing keep Egypt's gays in the closet. - Officially, homosexuality does not exist in Egypt. - Egypte et homosexualité. - European Parliament Calls on Egypt to Stop Persecutions.

Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology: Index Page: Egypt: - Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Ambisexual Behaviors. - Gender Conflicted Persons. - HIV/AIDS.

International Encyclopedia of Sexuality: Egypt. See: Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Bisexual Behaviors & Gender Diversity and Transgender Issues.

History: - The Tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khanumhotep. - Same Sex Desire, Conjugal Constructs and the Tomb of Ni-ankh-khnum and Khnum-hotep. - History of Sex: Ancient Egypt. - Third Genders in Egypt. - Gay History Articles. - Queer Chronology. - "Born Eunuchs": Homosexual Identity in the Ancient World. - Homosexuality in Ancient Egypt. - A Mystery, Locked in Timeless Embrace. 

The Ultimate "Planet Out" Guide to Queer Movies (Country: Egypt). - Unlocking the Arab Celluloid Closet Homosexuality in Egyptian Film. - Egypt Eases Restrictions on on-Screen Sex.

Pratt N (2007). The Queen Boat case in Egypt: sexuality, national security and state sovereignty. Review of International Studies, 33: 129–144.  PDF Download. "The government’s targeting of homosexuality in May 2001, following years of ‘turning a blind eye’ to Cairo’s gay scene, is studied here in terms of the links between the sphere of interpersonal relations and notions of national security within international relations. The persecution of men for alleged same-sex relations not only filled newspaper columns and created a spectacle to divert people’s attention away from the government’s failings. More importantly, the event represented an opportunity for government officials, the media and other civil society activists – both within Egypt and abroad – to ‘perform’ a discourse of national security through which national sovereignty was (re)produced and political order was maintained. However, this national security threat was not only posed by the external threat of Western governments, international NGOs and other transnational actors concerned with respect for human rights within Egypt. More importantly, this threat was constructed as originating with those people failing to conform to the ‘norm’ of heterosexual relationships..."

El Menyawi H (2006). Activism from the closet: gay rights strategising in Egypt. Melbourne Journal of International Law, 7.  PDF Download. Abstract: "Recently the Egyptian Government has been systematically attacking gays by putting them on trial, detaining and torturing them. The author suspects that there are two reasons behind the Government’s attacks of gay men: firstly, as a strategy to divert attention from its failure to address the declining economic situation in Egypt, and secondly, to increase the perception that it takes the Islamic faith seriously. The latter is particularly important to the Egyptian Government as it owes its increasing popularity largely to the Muslim Brotherhood. By attacking gays, the Egyptian State successfully distracted the public’s attention from its woes, while also shoring up the State’s Islamic credentials. The author also considers mistakes made when engaging in gay rights activism before his ultimate exile from Egypt. The author, who used the language of gay identity and of ‘coming out of the closet’ as part of his activism, examines the problems associated with such language. In particular, the author points out that by deploying the language of gay identity, he played into the hands of the Egyptian State, which then successfully appropriated the same language to distract the Egyptian public from its own problems. The author considers the problems with his activism to be his engaging in a ‘Stonewall’ model of gay rights in which one openly comes out of the closet and declares one is gay. The author concludes by considering a new form of activism that is not open, but hidden, which he calls ‘activism from the closet’. The hope behind the article is to allow LBGTQ groups to express their sexuality, as well as engage in activism, while reducing potential threats directed at them..."

Resources: - GayEgypt.com - Behind the Mask: Egypt. - Queer History Links. - Google.

Gay Egypt-1 - Gay Egypt-2 (Global Gayz): - News/Reports 2001 to Present - ILGA Report. - The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws: Egypt. - GME: Egypt. - Africa by Country News: Egypt News. - African Veil: Countries Covered: Egypt. - DIVA: Egypt. - LGBT rights in Egypt. - Don Pato's Gay Egypt. - Egyptian Gay Life. 

MAGREB (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia): -

Un Maghreb très gay (Translation) (Alternate Link) (Translation): Le site Filou Mektoub est dédié aux homosexuels arabes et principalement maghrébins. Mais pas seulement. Le créateur du site, une sorte de gentil petit malin, a en effet le sens de la communion. - Militantisme homosexuel au Maghreb: Quelles formes et avec quels moyens? (Translation) - Destins de l'homosexualité masculine maghrébine: entre unions 'imposées', prostitution et mort sociale? (Translation) - Compte rendu des Université d'été homo à Marseille sur l'état des gays au Maghreb (Translation). - Homosexualité dans le monde Arabe (Translation): L’homosexualité est illégale dans 26 pays islamiques.

Cités: le malheur d'être homo (Translation): (Alternate Link)  Humiliations, insultes, passages à tabac, viols... Dans certains quartiers, les homosexuels vivent un calvaire. Surtout les jeunes d'origine maghrébine. - Blacks, blanc, beurs (Translation). - L'association Kelma (la parole, en arabe) est née en1996. Son objectif (et la tache est loin d'être facile) est de " fèdèrer autour d'activités culturelles et conviviales des homosexuels franco-maghrebins et du Maghreb"(Translation). - Maux d'homos .

Amour au Masculin et Culture Arabe Francophile: Bibliographie (Translation).  - Gay beur culture et maghreb. . - Harrod Hayes. Queer Nations: Marginal Sexualities in the Maghreb. - Documents gays Maghreb (Translation). - Livres Gays et Gays Arabes en français (Translation). 

Africans on the Internet: Maghreb most sex obsessed: Even homosexuality, which is illegal in most Muslim and African countries, spurs much interest in Muslim Africa. While the search word "gay" is dominated by Latin Americans, it is mainly Filipinos and Saudi Arabians looking for "gay sex". The African "gay sex" list is topped by Kenyans, Tanzanians, Namibians, Zimbabweans and South Africans. In the francophone world, however, Algerians and Moroccans by far top the world's search for "la homosexualité". Algerians also by distance top the search for the "sexe gay", with the French and the Moroccans being somewhat more timid on the issue.

Bloggers in the Maghreb debated homosexuality and its place in society and online, and discussed the state of the upcoming elections in Algeria:  In a post about intolerance, Hou-Hou blog wrote, "what I found paradoxical and sad is that the communities that suffer the most from intolerance, discrimination, racism, marginalisation, incomprehension, xenophobia… are themselves the most intolerant, racist and ignorant when it comes to differences. When an Arab is categorised as a terrorist, when he is discriminated against or stigmatised by others (which happens a lot), he thunders indignantly against injustice, intolerance and racism. However the same people are the first to proudly declare themselves homophobes and scream loud and strong: 'death to gays'." ...

Queer Nations: Marginal Sexualities in the Maghreb - 2000 - by Jarrod Hayes (Review).
 

ALGERIA / ALGERIE - Les gays quittent le pays (Translation). - Être gai en Algérie (Translation): M'hamed, 15-17 ans: L’homosexualité est un tabou majeur en Algérie. Entre amis(e) on en parle très librement mais ça ne suffit toujours pas. Il y a des amis à qui j'ai confié mon secret et ils ont très bien pris la nouvelle. Ils m'ont soutenus et ont été avec moi dans tous les moments, mais... - Filou Mektoub: Algérie (Translation). - L’homosexualité des femmes en Algérie (Translation). (Alternate Link) (Translation). - La tragica situazione dei gay in Algeria. - Gays en algérie (Translation): l'homophobie retournée contre soi! Je suis un jeune algérien qui a presque tout dans sa vie pour être complètement épanoui et totalement heureux, sauf que mon homosexualité tout en vivant en Algérie, ne me le permet pas. Car il y a une partie de ma personnalité qui ne s'exprime pas librement et qui doit être toujours cachée de peur que la société me juge et me répudie à jamais. Comme je vis dans cette société et je communique avec elle, je dois la suivre et jouer devant tout le monde le parfait hétéro. Malheureusement une majorité des gays algériens (et maghrébins) vivent le même calvaire...

Etre gay en algérie (Translation): Bonjour , moi c'est pinou ,je suis algerien ,j'ai 26 ans mon probleme est que je suis gay et j'en souffre beaucoup car je vis dans une societé qui ne tolére pas l'homosexualité,la séxualité est un tabou dans les société musulmane alors imaginer etre homosexuele dans ses société... Aujourd'hui j'ai décidé d'en parler et de me confie mon secret pour la premier foie de ma vie car j'en peut plus et je pense beaucoup au suicide pour en finir et s'est aussi un autre péché dans notre religion l'islam mais j'en ai pas d'autre choix car l'enfer je le connais déja,mais j'aime trop ma famille pour le leurs faire du mal et leurs causer du chagrin ,mais croyez moi top au tard je passerais a l'acte...

Nadir d’Algérie (Translation): toute ma vie: c’était vers l’age de 17 ans alors j’ai réalisé, même si c’était tardif, que j’était gay, franchement j’y croyais pas, j’ai admis sans vraiment l’admettre, moi qui 3ans auparavant avais regardé sur une chaîne française, une émission traitant l’homosexualité et m’étais dit « c’est quoi cette folie là, mais c’est inconcevable », mais je tiens à dire qu’à cette époque, donc avant mes 15ans, c’était ambigu et mélangé dans ma tête pour ce qui est de la sexualité, je veux dire avec les filles, je ne me sentais pas bien à l’aise, enfin j’ai oublié un peu ce qui se passait dans ma tête, c’est pas ça l’important. Je vais à présent m’étaler sur mon après 17ans, l’ère homosexuelle, mais de cette ère homosexuelle y’avait que le nom, puisque en ne m’assumant guère, je me refusais catégoriquement tout coming-out ou passage à l’acte ou presque, puisque, de l’age de 17 à 20ans je n’ai eu qu’une petite relation d’une journée avec un jeune voisin, j’avais vécu l’enfer, la solitude, le trou noir, personne à qui avouer ma vraie identité, mille et un fantasmes se succédaient, la peur de passer à l’acte et l’absence de tout mouvement associatif de soutien...

En Algérie, l'homosexualité a toujours été un mot interdit.(Translation) Comme d'ailleurs, parler de sexualité au grand jour est un sujet tabou. Les homos sont contraints depuis toujours a la clandestinité,au mépris,à se taire, à la honte de soi-même. Les hétéros baisent des homos car ils ne peuvent aller avec les femmes conformément aux règles religieuses et morales, les jeunes fiancés, par exemple. La société et la religion exigent que la jeune fille préserve sa virginité jusqu'au mariage. Alors, en attendant, ils se rabattent sur les homos. Pareil pour les types sans le sou. L'homosexuel joue gratuitement le role de " prostituée " du pauvre. Les homos n'ont que très rarement des relations homosexuelles entre eux. l'amour et le sexe forment deux planètes distinctes. - Ce que vous devez savoir si vous voulez voyager en Algérie. - Gay Algerian granted Asylum in France. - Gay Algerian Faces Death If Deported Group Says.

Le Soleil Assassine: Un Film de Abdelkrim Bahloul (Translation): " Dix ans après l'indépendance de l'Algérie, le poète pied-noir Jean Senac qui a choisi d'y demeurer, est surveillé par la police du régime. Ses prises de position en faveur des minorités, sa défense de la langue française et son homosexualité affichée irritent le nouveau régime.... Son homosexualité gênait aussi… Ce fut moins la cause que le prétexte de sa disgrâce, son talon d'Achille. Ses ennemis s'en sont servi contre lui pour tenter de le discréditer auprès de la masse de la population algérienne. A l'époque je pouvais lire des articles dans les journaux universitaires sur « Sénac, ce chantre de la pédale ». Tout cela devait être orchestré en sous-main par des politiques. Paradoxalement Le Soleil assassiné est un film optimiste..."

Seconde grande population de la prostitution masculine, les “Algériennes” ont fui un pays où elles risquent la mort (Translation).: "Elles sont travesties dans un pays qui condamne l'homosexualité de deux mois à deux ans de prison, transsexuelles dans un pays musulman. “En 1996, les groupes armés ont tué une copine à cause de ses seins. Elle était hormonée, beaucoup trop voyante elle est morte dans son quartier à Bab El Oued.”" - Les gays quittent le pays (Translation): "Pour moi, être homosexuel et musulman équivalait à un suicide psychologique." - Les gays algériens ont maintenant leur site web!  - Algerigay. - A la barbe de tous (Translation): L’homosexualité des femmes en Algérie : un phénomène mis sous le boisseau des tabous les plus sévères. Mais de par la séparation qui règne entre les sexes, la société algérienne le favorise singulièrement. Portrait d’une Maghrébine qui aime les femmes.

Témoignages nationaux - Algérie (Translation): "L'homosexualité en Algérie est quelque chose de tabou. C'est quelque chose dont on n'a pas le droit de parler. C'est quelque chose qu'il ne faut pas dire aux parents, à ses amis hétéros. C'est impossible de leur dire. L'homosexualité est un pêché de premier degré. Le dire, c'est risquer d'être exclu. C'est ce qui m'est arrivé avec des amis lorsqu'ils ont su que j'étais homosexuel..." - Un homosexuel algerien a paris.

Viva Laldjérie (Translation), le deuxième film de Nadir Moknèche, brise les nombreux tabous qui rongent encore l’Algérie. Il filme sans concessions le sexe, l’homosexualité et la vie quotidienne pas toujours rose de trois femmes d’Algérie et d’aujourd’hui. Un tournant dans le cinéma du pays.

The Eastgarden. - ILGA Report. - Africa by Country News: Algeria. - Algeria News. - LGBT rights in Algeria.
 

MOROCCO / MAROC - Être homo au Maroc (Translation): "Vivons heureux, vivons cachés". Tel pourrait être l'adage des homosexuels marocains. À la nuance près que se cacher n'est pas un choix mais une obligation et qu'ils sont loin d'être heureux. (Related Information) - L'association Kelma (Translation) (la parole, en arabe) est née en1996 (PDF Download): Son objectif (et la tache est loin d'être facile) est de " fèdèrer autour d'activités culturelles et conviviales des homosexuels franco-maghrebins et du Maghreb ". Cette jeune association veut aussi " porter la parole dans les pays d'origines, Algérie, Maroc, Tunisie, pour que les gays et les lesbiennes de l'autre coté de laMéditerranée puissent trouver un relais, une écoute et un échange fécond"... - Le Maroc dément l'existence de mariages homosexuels N/A. - Rencontre de la Communauté gay et lesbienne du Maroc (Translation). - Premier Marocain à Assumer Publiquement son Homosexualité (Translation).

Être homo au Maroc (Translation): L'homosexualité au Maroc est frappée d’un double H : Hchouma (honte) et Haram (péché)... Ce café, depuis quelques années déjà, est l’un rares endroits que les homosexuels ont investi pour en faire un lieu de rencontres et de drague, une sorte de quartier général où ils peuvent "se retrouver entre eux". Yassir explique : "Cela ne veut pas dire qu’il n’y a que des homosexuels ici. Mais seuls les homosexuels peuvent savoir qui l’est et qui ne l’est pas"... Minuit trente. Nous sommes dans une boîte de nuit de la ville. C’est la seule où, depuis plusieurs années, les homosexuels viennent faire la fête entre copains, draguer ou se prostituer... "Je n’ai absolument aucun problème à vivre ma sexualité normalement au Maroc et je n’ai jamais pensé à quitter le pays".,, "Imaginez un jeune garçon habitant une petite ville ou un village et qui découvre son homosexualité. Il ne peut en parler à personne, se renferme sur lui-même, se croit malade et seul au monde. C’est en cela qu’Internet a été une révolution... - Les homosexuels entre résignation et optimisme (Translation): A écouter: L'homosexualité au Maroc, un reportage de Bruno Daroux (30/06/2003).

Les homos débarquent (Translation): Le tout Tétouan en parle. Durant le mois d’août 2006, la ville devrait accueillir les homosexuels, provenant de Marrakech, Agadir, Casablanca, Rabat et Tanger, pour tenir un congrès national et créer leur première association. Dès que l’information a circulé dans la presse locale, précisément Assura Assahifia, journal arabophone, la rue s’inquiète. Et les discussions vont bon train. Dans un forum de Tétouan, la Colombe blanche, les avis divergent. Ceux qui sont contre sont plus nombreux que ceux qui sont pour... Là encore, le Maroc peut être fier de sa souplesse et de son ouverture par rapport aux autres pays arabes et musulmans, même s’ il est targué d’être un pays homophobe. En Iran ou en Arabie saoudite, les homosexuels sont décapités ou lapidés jusqu’à la mort. Contrairement à la Tunisie, le Maroc ne censure pas les sites gay...  Le congrès national des homosexuels n’aura sûrement pas lieu à Tétouan en août prochain, les autorités concernées ne peuvent l’autoriser. Car, si c’était le cas, elles reconnaîtraient d’une manière formelle l’existence de l’homosexualité au Maroc. Et cela reste impossible et inimaginable.

Between the Parc de la Ligue Arabe and Cybermen.com: Being Gay Offline and Online in Urban Morocco. - Babylone: Maroc Tunisie, Gays en danger (Translation). - Outreach prevention of HIV/AIDS infection among sex workers having sex with men. - Un avant-poste de la prévention au Maghreb (Translation): Premier pays du Maghreb à avoir réagi à l'épidémie du sida, le Maroc est aujourd'hui encore en tête des initiatives en matière de prévention. Menacé, comme les autres pays de la région, par une forte progression du sida, il commence, malgré les tabous persistants, à cibler dans ses campagnes les populations vulnérables, grâce à une mobilisation associative efficace qui pondère les carences du système de santé...

Homosexualité au Maroc: Et si on en parle! (Translation): Au Maroc le phénomène existe, mais reste encore un tabou, les homosexuels sont là, nous les croisons dans la rue, nous les évitons, nous les tolérons, nous les marginalisons, Mais rares sont les moments ou nous les affrontons pour mettre à nu leurs orientations sexuelles. Ici, on parle aussi de tourisme sexuel, que certains marocains et étrangers inscrivent dans le cadre de la fameuse habitude d'expression selon laquelle le mal vient toujours d'ailleurs...Alors si quelqu'un souhaite faire l'exception pour les homo en les acceptant, et donc en allant dans leur sens, il doit faire de même pour un fou, un malade contagieux, bref envers toutes les anomalies de la terre et ce non pas en essayant de guérir le mal mais en le vulgarisant ».  - Homosexualité au Maroc (Translation):  L'homosexualité ne se vit pas de la même manière partout... Il existe malheureusement encore des régions du monde où le coming-out "n'existe pas". Kal28, âgé de 29 ans en 2004, vit dans une petite ville du maghreb. Son coming-out n'est que virtuel, via le net, ne pouvant pas l'annoncer chez lui...Eh bien moi, je ne suis pas européen ! Je suis marocain ! Dans un pays arabomusulman ! Le coming-out pour moi, c'est comme se jeter dans les enfers ! Ni famille, ni amis, ni personne ici ne pourra comprendre ce que c'est d'être homo... ! Alors... ne trouvant aucune lueur d'espoir, en 1997, alors que j'avais 22 ans, et en plus du stress quotidien qui gonfle terriblement quand on est déjà mal dans sa peau, j'ai tenté de me suicider... et j'ai frôlé la mort...

Sexual Values in a Moroccan Town: In Zawiya, various forms of homoerotic play, including nude swimming and group masturbation, were reported as fairly common for boys in the early teen years. Older males sometimes engage in homosexual acts, sometimes including interfemoral and anal intercourse, but these young people do not think of themselves as homosexuals but rather as going through a phase. Homosexuality in adulthood seems to be rare and is still considered shameful by most Moroccans. Separate terms are used for the partner who plays the active and the passive role in intercourse, and the term for the passive participant (zamel) is an insult and a frequently seen graffito on walls near Moroccan schoolyards. In contrast to what we heard from young men, most young women in Zawiya seemed never to have considered the possibility of female homosexuality, and both sexes stated that lesbian relationships were very rare.

Under Morocco's sheltering sky: the timeless magnetism of the desert lures modern travelers into the mysticism of an ancient North African land: The king is rumored to be homosexual--but since it is a crime to speak ill of him in any way, don't expect to hear much above whispers... Marrakech has surpassed the sordid port of Tangier as the contemporary gay capital of Morocco, thanks mainly to the influx of Westerners who open up riads (guesthouses) in the city...

Homosexualité au Maroc: Religion, Famille. Société (Translation). (Ce texte, développé, accompagné d’un sondage sur l’homosexualité au Maroc et d’une nouvelle intitulé : "Joseph" va être publié en 2002.) - Gay Morocco: Myths and Realities. - Iran: Morocco 'gay association' irks hardliners: An Iranian news agency linked to the country's hardline Islamist establishment has assailed Morocco for what it says is the North African state's "promotion of homosexuality and paedophilia". In an editorial, Taghrib criticised what it said was the Moroccan government's failure to prevent a group of homosexuals from forming an association. "In Morocco, an Islami country, homsexuality has become an accepted reality to such an extent that it risks becoming a secular state without faith like Western nations". "Morocco risks becoming a new Sodom”, the Taghrib editorial said...

Rachid O. Jeune écrivain marocain parmi les plus prometteurs: Né en 1970, après des études à Marrakech, il séjourne à Paris. En 2000, il a été accueilli comme pensionnaire de la Villa Médicis gérée par la Fondation de France à Rome. Le Maroc qu’il raconte dans ses romans est celui de l’homosexualité décrite de la façon la plus candide. - New prison sentence for editor in Morocco: Mr Tadili has been convicted for reporting in a 9 April article headlined "Homosexuality and the political class in Morocco" that police surprised a government Minister in a homosexual act in a beach resort in the north of the country. He did not name the Minister, but it was clear he was alluding to the Economy Minister. The article was questioning the morality of the Minister. While homosexuality is widely practiced in Morocco - in particular in holiday resorts, where men-to-men encounters are openly displayed - it remains a social taboo and is generally considered bad moral... - L’éventuelle homosexualité d’un ministre déchaîne les passions au Maroc (Translation): Cet outing qualifié par le ministre concerné de diffamation rappelle deux choses: l’homosexualité fait l’objet d’un sérieux tabou au Maroc..

Témoignages nationaux - Maroc (Translation): "Car au Maroc, il n'existe pas d'association pour les homosexuels. Cependant, l’ALCS a toujours choisi d'intégrer dans ses programmes de prévention de s'adresser aux homosexuels et aux prostitués. Au Maroc, l'homosexualité, ou plus exactement le fait que les hommes aient des rapports sexuels entre eux n'a pas de droit de cité, au moins dans la culture dominante. Ceci constitue non seulement un délit du point de vue social, mais également au niveau pénal. C'est ainsi qu'une personne convaincue d'homosexualité risque une peine d'emprisonnement pouvant aller de 6 mois à 3 ans..."  - Briton Jailed for Gay Sex in Morocco.

Etre Lesbienne Aujourd'hui au Maroc (Translation): "Sur les plans politique et associatif, il n’y a aucune lueur d’espoir car on parle d’un féminisme féminin et non d’un féminisme féministe. Pour nous, pays arabes et musulmans, pas question qu’un lesbianisme soit un choix politique, pire encore, il n’y a aucun soutien de la part des lois aux femmes en dehors de son statut d’épouse et de mère. La condition de la femme en étant "vieille fille "ou divorcée pèse encore dans notre société, voire même mère-célibataire ou lesbienne. Même les féministes fuient cette responsabilité."

Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology: Index Page: Morocco: - Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Ambisexual Behaviors. - Gender Conflicted Persons. - HIV/AIDS.

Être homo au Maroc - Dossiers et récits - Za-gay - Le site des jeunes et ados gays (Translation).

Gay Morocco (Global Gayz): - News/Reports 2004 to Present. - The Eastgarden. - ILGA Report. - Sodomy Laws: Morocco.  - Africa by Country News: Morocco. - African Veil: Countries Covered: Morocco. - Morocco News. - LGBT rights in Morocco. - Droits de l'homme au Maroc.
 

TUNISIA / TUNISIE - Homosexuality in Tunisia: The independent French-language Tunisian weekly magazine Réalités dedicated a series of articles to homosexuality - an uncommon initiative in the Arab press. The articles include the personal stories of homosexuals and lesbians, information on their legal status in Tunisia, and a medical assessment by Dr. Kamel Abdelhak, a psychologist specializing in sexual matters. In addition, renowned anthropologist Malek Chebel [2] is quoted as asserting that homosexuality is tolerated in Arab culture. Poems on bisexual love by 10th-century Persian-born Muslim poet Abu Nawas are cited as an example. The following is a review of the series: ... In an article describing the lives and feelings of gays in Tunisia, Réalités journalist Nadia Ayadi reports, "The education system, the traditions, and the religious and cultural myths present homosexuality as a perverted and abnormal attitude." She says it is "a painful problem," adding that "everybody remembers the collective lawsuits of homosexuals in Egypt, or the stoning of homosexuals in Iran." Regarding the policies of Arab and Muslim countries toward homosexuals, she says that Tunisia is more lenient than many other Arab countries, and tolerates homosexuality as long as it is not openly displayed... - Etre Homo en Tunisie... - Babylone: Maroc Tunisie, Gays en danger.

Gays in Tunisia: In Tunisia the subject is taboo ! I mean publically , i have never heard about a Tunisian gay movement, event or structure ? "Miboun" ( gay in tunisian) is perceived as an offending bad word. Im really curious to know about the gay situation in Tunisia? I tried to do some research on the subject asking the few( self proclaimed) gays that i know or have met. The majority is facing discrimination and rejection mainly from their families. It's also interesting to see that people in Tunisia make big difference between the active and the passive ones--passives are more subject to discrimination or rejection. I also know few places where Tunisian gays meet ( such as some cafés on the Bourguiba avenue or medina hammams or the existence of a Tunisian gay yahoogroup. In the touristic cities you can also see some gay prostitution ( young tunisian with older european men). I also discovered that many gays have wives and children and that they are having a secret life in parallel. In my opinion being homosexual is a sexual orientation and nothing else... in order to satisfy this orientation gays may follow a different lifestyle but they should not be subject to any discrimination or stigma... - Tunisie : un Français raconte son incarcération pour homosexualité (Translation).

Tunisie: mirage d' un pays ouvert...: (Translation) "La communaute gay maghrebine rencontre les mêmes types de difficultés que les défenseurs des droits de l'Homme dans les pays du Maghreb. Peut-être plus encore, ils se heurtent au tabou de la sexualité et de la discussion politique libre, mais ils ont trouvé dans Internet une échappatoire à la censure, mais cela ne leur est d'aucun secours face à la répression, qui est le fait aussi bien des autorités civiles que d'une partie non négligeable de la population...." - Etre homosexuel en Tunisie (Translation). - Être lesbienne en Tunisie (Translation). - Homophobie et SIDA (Translation). - Maux d'homo (Translation).

Papier thématique, Maghreb (Algérie, Egypte, Libye, Maroc, Tunisie): Homosexualité et prostitution. Office fédéral des réfugiés, Suisse. PDF Download. Tunisie: Située à mi-chemin entre une application libérale et répressive des dispositions légales à l’égard des homosexuels, la société tunisienne tolère l’acte homosexuel, pour autant qu’il demeure secret. Dans les milieux ruraux, la révélation d’un tel comportement peut toutefois conduire à la honte, au rejet, voire à des drames humains lorsque la famille se sent déshonorée.

La sexualité des hommes tunisiens (Translation): Il ressort de notre étude que le poids des traditions reste lourd avec 83,7 % des hommes qui pensent qu’une femme doit préserver sa virginité jusqu’au mariage et 77,3 % qui pensent que l’homosexualité est la pratique sexuelle la plus mal acceptée par la société. 85,6 % des hommes se sont masturbés et un homme sur trois reconnaît avoir eu une relation homosexuelle et avoir pratiqué les rapports anaux avec leur partenaire. L’âge du premier rapport était de 28,1 an et la durée moyenne du coït était de 1min et 13 sec. En conclusion nous dirons qu’il existe en Tunisie deux sexualités à deux vitesses : La première, accablée par les tabous et les traditions, se retrouve surtout chez les hommes mariés, âgés, d’origine rurale, alors que la deuxième, un peu plus libérée, se retrouve surtout chez les jeunes, célibataires, résidant dans le milieu urbain.

TURKEY / TURQUIE  -  Anti-gay bigotry and suppressing free speech in Turkey: Turkish authorities went after Güner and his magazine a few months ago when they confiscated the just-published, July issue of Kaos GL. That issue dared to examine pornography in general - both the heterosexual and homosexual kinds - as its main subject. To its credit, although "homophobic prejudices remain strong in Turkey," "homosexual relations" as such "still do not consitute a crime" there, as they do "in other Muslim countries."... - Turkey Balks on Widening Rights for Gays. (Alternate Link) - Gay and Lesbian Magazine Banned in Turkey. - Despite Turkey's reforms, gay community says it lacks legal protections. - Turkish LGBTT Group Faces Closure in Istanbul, Turkey.

Rainbow Association under fire for prostitution: Eighteen members of the "Rainbow Association," an association for transvestites, transsexuals, gays, and lesbians in Bursa were taken into custody on Saturday on charges of "forming a gang to commit crimes, being an associate with a gang, and inciting prostitution." ... He added that there have always been speculations about the kind of work the association's president Öykü Erven did, but that they have never heard of members staying in the homes rented by the association being pressured to prostitute. "But," he said, "As they are not given an opportunity in life, they are forced to do this kind of work."

Istanbul Police Department Must Eliminate Arbitrary Practices: Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals are Subjected to Ill-Treatment and Torture through Police Raids in Gay and Transvestite-Transsexual Places... - Police Maltreatment Directed Towards Gay Venues in Istanbul: On the night of June 17, Saturday, Turkish police has raided a gay bar in Taksim area. Gay men were forced to leave the place with the threat of pepper gas and batons and some of them were harassed physically and maltreated. During the incident that took place on Saturday night around 2:30 am at the gay bar called "Tekyon", the police went into the bar and yelled at the customers in a very rude fashion, used words like "out!", "clear the area!", "leave ulan!" (a Turkish insult word).

Turkey, Ankara, International Anti-Homophobia Meeting. - Turkey Hosts Conference on Anti-Gay Attitudes (Alternate Link): Turkey hosted a two-day meeting on the issue of homophobia this week, with representatives from several nations addressing the problem of anti-gay attitudes in society and in law, both in Turkey and elsewhere around the globe... - Attitudes of University Students toward Lesbians and Gay Men in Turkey. - The emergence of gay identities in contemporary Turkey. - For gays in Turkey, a slow road to equality: Drive to join EU helps them only a bit. - Turkey's Homosexuals Call for Stronger EU Support.

LGBT Movement in Turkey: Report prepared by KAOS GL for ILGA Europe’s Annual Conference, 2006: Beginning in April 2006, there have been physical attacks against transvestites and transsexuals living in Eryaman, a neighborhood outside Ankara where some transvestites and transsexuals also work in the sex trade... Today, no transvestite or transsexual is living in Eryaman... On August 6, 2006, LGBTT People against Discrimination in Bursa marched in order to protest demands to close down LGBT associations and the banning of Kaos GL magazine. The mayor granted permission for the march, but the police officially stopped it after fans of the Bursa Sports Team attacked the LGBT marchers... There were also some good things that happened this year... In September 2006, we organized an LGBT Network meeting in Ankara, which brought together LGBT organizations and non-affiliated LGBT people from cities throughout Turkey. An organization called Civil Society Development Center sponsored the meeting. As a result of this initial forum, continuing meetings will be held to solidify a network among LGBT organizations in Turkey. We hope that this will catalyze the formation of many new LGBT organizations throughout Turkey and that the cooperation among existing LGBT organizations will flourish. - GLBT Organizations and Women's Movement in Turkey. 

Gay identities, communities and places in the 1990s  in Istanbul. - Turkey: A Second Conference in Ankara. - Le lexeme comme facteur identitaire: le cas des homosexuels a Istanbul, par Philippe-Schmerka Blacher, mai 98. - Homosexuality In Turkey. - The Second Gathering Of Turkish Gays And Lesbians - April 1999. - Exemples de persécution motivée par la préférence sexuelle de la personne: Turquie. - Turkish Transsexual Causes Marriage Scandal. - Transsexuals and the Urban Landscape in Istanbul. - Gay Lives in Modern Turkey. - Gay Turks tearing down walls in Berlin. - Turkish Parliament Considering Prison Term for Sexual Orientation Discrimination. 

Homosexual movement started in 1987 in Turkey. The movement was started by transvestites and transsexuals. - Homosexualité en Turquie: De l'héritage musulman au mouvement associatif. - Oil Wrestlers Don't Want Gay Men Watching! - Turkish Police Bar Gay Americans from Aegean Port. - Turks apologise for gay ban: "Correspondents say that although gay artists, singers and belly dancers are popular in Turkey, homosexuality is still taboo, and gays complain of discrimination - especially from the police." - Gay cruise in Turkey gives author 'war story'. - Les Homosexuels: les Nouveaux Jeunes Turcs. - Les gays en turquie.

Turkey: Pop star's sexuality sparks debate. - Turkish star accuses man of stealing nude photographs. - Young Turks, old ways:  Lola and Billy the Kid, the current drama from Turkey's only openly gay director, has ignited a firestorm of homophobia in his homeland. When Lola and Billy the Kid, a visceral film about Turkish gays struggling with their culture's repressive values, premiered in its homeland, it stirred up press, debate, and death threats--threats that partly fueled director Kutlug Ataman's decision to flee his homeland for London..."

Lambda Istanbul: A liberation group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people in Turkey. - IPOTH N/A. (Archive Link) - Kaos GL: Homosexualities In Turkey: (Alternate Link) "Many gays and lesbians in the West, judges the East without knowing and understanding it what exactly is happening there. This Orientalist point of view conceals even the simplest facts: Interpretation of Islam and lifestyles due to Islam differs in each country. In this report, the state of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement in Turkey is discussed. Turkey is a Muslim-majority country. In this sense, one of the major purposes of this report is to investigate the relation of Islam and homosexualities in Turkey..." - Kaos GL is registered LGBT publisher that publishes Turkey’s first and only continual lesbian and gay journal, Kaos GL, since September 1994. (71 issues in total, both unregistered and registered)  Kaos GL maintains Turkey’s first and only lesbian and gay cultural centre since August 2000. - The first homosexual/anti-heterosexist periodical in Turkey 'Kaos GL' was initiated by anarchist gay and lesbians in September 1994 in Ankara and since then it was published monthly.

GLBT Youth Situation in Turkey: (Alternate Link) "Although there are parents who accept their daughter or son as a gay individual easily or hardly, the discriminatory and strict heterosexist families use several methods to "change", "heal", threaten and oppress their lesbian or gay child. Sometimes they prefer the method of "not to hear, not to talk about". The usual oppression methods of families are following:... Transgender MTFs cannot find employment, and the only alternative for them is to perform sex work in order to earn money. This reality strongly defines the transgender subculture..." - Age of Consent: "Homosexual activity is legal, the age of sexual consent is 18 for vaginal and anal sex, and 16 for all other sex.". - Appel de lesbiennes féministes de Turquie.

Rapport national sur la Turquie (RTF Word Download): "Le Code pénal turc a été soumis à une série de révisions, dès le début du XIXème siècle, basées principalement sur la législation française. Bien que l'homosexualité ne soit pas mentionnée dans la législation turque, il existe cependant plusieurs dispositions générales ponctuellement appliquées contre les minorités sexuelles... Les préjugés omniprésents dans la société turque mettent les lesbiennes sous une pression énorme. Il est très difficile pour une lesbienne, particulièrement une jeune lesbienne, de s'assumer personnellement ou devant sa famille ou ses amis. Chaque lesbienne doit trouver sa propre voie, sans l'aide d'une communauté de lesbiennes visible ou n'importe quelle autre organisation d'entraide. Les mariages forcés sont très courants, notamment dans les zones rurales, et les filles grandissent en croyant qu'il n'existe aucune alternative au mariage hétérosexuel. Dans les grandes villes, les cas de mariage forcés ne sont pas aussi élevés, mais les jeunes lesbiennes sont souvent envoyées à des psychologues pour être “soignées”.

Guide of Istanbul gay life N/A: (Archive Link) "In Turkey gay culture is completly different than us and western Europe. Turkey is only the moslem country wich gay action is not illegal and like most of islamic countries almost every man would have sex with other men. in Turkish culture actually in moslem culture if two men are having sex with eachother that does not mean that they are gay it is just part of hidden culture and they just do it and mostly they dont talk about it.  usually gay mean someone  feminine and bottom..." - Gay Life in Istanbul. - Turkey Gay Guide.

The Complete Gay Guide of Turkey: - Understanding gay culture of Turkey with words. - Symposium, Understanding Gender Identities and Sexual Orientations in Turkey. (Alternate Link) - Some Gays Are Better Than Others In Turkey. -  A city comes out: "Demet Demir, who had a sex change operation in 1996, is the leading voice of Turkey’s transvestite and transsexual community."

Homosexual Imam Prays For Tolerance: ""I have been threatened with death by the (Turkish) Imam Union as well as by fundamentalists," he says. "In Turkey, they told me that because I am gay I have to pray not only behind everyone else but even behind the animals, as I am ‘worse than them’." - Gay Identities, Communitiies and Places in the 1990s in Instanbul. - Guiding Light: A one-man internet business that's helping visitors discover Istanbul's alternative side with club tours, gay friendly hotels and that all important personnel touch.

Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology: Index Page: Turkey: - Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Ambisexual Behaviors. - Gender Conflicted Persons. - HIV/AIDS. - The risk factors of HIV infection in Turkey: the experience of Hacettepe University hospital.

International Encyclopedia of Sexuality: Turkey. See: Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Bisexual Behaviors & Gender Diversity and Transgender Issues.

Asian Homosexuality - 1992 - edited by Wayne R. Dynes and Stephen Donaldson (Table of Contents). Contains: ""Le Vice" in Turkey," 27-42. - Modern Homosexualities. Fragments of a Lesbian and Gay Experience - 1992 - edited by Kenneth Plummer (Review) (Routledge Information). Contains: "The Fear of Exposition: Masculinity, Femininity, and Turkish Male Homosexuality," 39-49 & Unmodern Homosexualities?: The Turkish and Meso-American Experience. - Homosexuality and police terror in Turkey (PubMed Abstract).

Kaos GL: - News. - LGBT History. - Home Page: Turkish.

Resources: - Gay Turkey on the Internet. Gay Websites about Istanbul and Turkey.  - Roz Mov. - TRGI - TR Gay International: Resource for Gay Turkey: - Bears of Turkey. - GLBTQ: Turkey. - LGBT rights in Turkey.

Resources: - Gay Turkey (Global Gayz): - News/Reports. - ILGA Report. 

Gayscape Links. - Pridelinks. - QRD.

Search GLBTQ: The Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Culture. - Search BGLAD. - Search the QRD. - Search all GLBT Resource Directories. - Search Google.com. - Search Google Scholar. - Search Google's G:LBT Directory. - MSN Search. - Search findarticles.com: many full text articles and papers.

Academic Searches: Search IngentaConnect: The most comprehensive collection of academic and professional publications. - Search Project Muse: Scholarly Journals Online. - Search JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive. - Search The National Library of Medicine.
 

CYPRUS -  80% of Greek Cypriots think homosexuality is wrong.(Alternate Link) - Gay community invited to north of Cyprus. - Being homosexual in Cyprus. - LGBT in northern part of Cyprus. - N. Cyprus To Abolish Sodomy Law. - Northern Cyprus decriminalises homosexuality.

- Gay Lesbian & Bisexual Nation of Cyprus N/A. (Archive Link) - Gay Lesbian & Bisexual Nation of Cyprus N/A: (Archive Link) "The people's rights are curbed, forcing gays, lesbians and bisexuals to be forced to seek each other out in secret places, having to live a life of lies and hypocrisy. Gays are afraid to walk the streets, are afraid for their lives, are afraid for their jobs, afraid of society... Our youth is faced with such social pressures that over 80% of gay teenagers attempt suicideat least once in their development stage. These youngsters face a very difficult and often harsh puberty."

Cyprus divided over gay rights. - Cyprus Gay Rights Activist Welcomes Amendment to Homosexuality Law. (Alternate Link) - Eurocourt Orders Cyprus to Compensate Gay Man N/A. - Cyprus Repeals Anti-Gay Law and Passes Another N/A. - Gay rights issue divides Cyprus. (Alternate Link) - Gays Ruling ‘Too Little, Too Late.

Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology: Index Page: Cyprus: - Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Ambisexual Behaviors. - Gender Conflicted Persons. - HIV/AIDS.

International Encyclopedia of Sexuality: Cyprus. See: Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Bisexual Behaviors & Gender Diversity and Transgender Issues.

Resources: - Gay Cyprus N/A. (Archive Link) - Gay Cyprus Online. - Queer life in cool places. - Gay Cyprus by Archimedes N/A. (Archive Link) - Deon: the online version of "Deon Print", the biggest gay, lesbian, bisexual & transsexual print lifestyle magazine of Greece and Cyprus. -  Gayscape.

Gay Cyprus (Global Gayz): - News/Reports 2001 to Present. -  The Eastgarden. - ILGA Report. - Sodomy Laws: Cyprus. - LGBT rights in Cyprus.

CENTRAL ASIA
 

AFGHANISTAN: - Oppression of the Homosexual Community in Afghanistan. - Gay Soldiers Brutalized by Afghanistan Militia N/A. - Jonathan Steele reports from Kandahar, Afghanistan, on various attitudes to homosexuality among Taliban militiamen. - Homosexuals stoned in Afghanistan. - Death Penalty Still Imposed for Homosexuality. - Riemerge l'omosessualità in Afghanistan. - Harsh Penalties Remain for Gays in Afghanistan. - American arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of homosexuality, soliciting, officials say. (Alternate Link) - Ignored by society, Afghan dancing boys suffer centuries-old tradition: A young boy dressed in women's clothing, his face caked in make-up, dances the night away for a crowd of men... It is widely known among the population that, most of the time it is commanders, high-ranking officials and their friends who partake in the abuse of the boys... Despite the dangers, they continue to dance, making $30 for the night -- a night that usually ends in assault -- because they say it is the only thing they know and their only way to make money. There are no opportunities in Afghanistan for people like them. And once branded as men who danced as women, there is no turning back.

Open secrets: (Alternate Link) In Pakistan, sex between men is strictly forbidden by law and religion. But even in the most conservative regions, it's also embedded in the society... In some areas, homosexual sex is even tacitly accepted -- though still officially illegal -- as long as it doesn't threaten traditional marriage. In the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), which shares many tribal and cultural links with neighboring Afghanistan, the ethnic Pashtun men who dominate the region are renowned for taking young boys as lovers. - Startled marines find Afghan men all made up to see them: While the marines failed to find any al-Qaeda during the seven-day Operation Condor, they were propositioned by dozens of men in villages the troops were ordered to search."We were pretty shocked," Marine Fletcher said. "We discovered from the Afghan soldiers we had with us that a lot of men in this country have the same philosophy as ancient Greeks: ‘a woman for babies, a man for pleasure’." - Afghan Men Struggle With Sexual Identity, Study Finds (2010): An unclassified study from a military research unit in southern Afghanistan details how homosexual behavior is unusually common among men in the large ethnic group known as Pashtuns -- though they seem to be in complete denial about it...

Reid, Tim (2002). Kandahar comes out of the closet  (Alternate Link): The Times (London). January 12 (Alternate Links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5): “'In the days of the Mujahidin, there were men with their ashna everywhere, at every corner, in shops, on the streets, in hotels: it was completely open, a part of life,' said Torjan, 38, one of the soldiers loyal to Kandahar’s new governor, Gul Agha Sherzai… 'They are just emerging again,' Torjan said. 'The fighters too now have the boys in their barracks. This was brought to the attention of Gul Agha, who ordered the boys to be expelled, but it continues. The boys live with the fighters very openly. In a short time, and certainly within a year, it will be like pre-Taleban: they will be everywhere'. This Pashtun tradition is even reflected in Pashtun poetry, odes written to the beauty and complexion of an ‘ashna’, but it is usually a terrible fate for the boys concerned. It is practised at all levels of Pashtun society, but for the poorer men, having an ‘ashna’ can raise his status..." - Afghanistan, Through My Lens: A gay photojournalist reveals an ancient homosexual culture.

Afghanistan Holds Veil Over Homosexual Ways (The Salt Lake Tribune:  Sunday, April 7, 2002. By Maura Reynolds, Los Angeles Times: "Kandahar's Lightly Veiled Homosexual Habits"): (Alternate Link) (Alternate Link): "Daud is unmarried and has sex only with men and boys. But he does not consider himself homosexual, at least not in the Western sense. "I like boys, but I like girls better," he says. "It's just that we can't see the women to see if they are beautiful. But we can see the boys, and so we can tell which of them is beautiful... "These are hard questions you are asking," he says. "We don't usually talk about such things... The love by men for younger, beautiful males, who are called halekon, is even enshrined in Pashtun literature. A popular poem by Syed Abdul Khaliq Agha, who died last year, notes Kandahar's special reputation... Just ask Mullah Mohammed Ibrahim, a local cleric. "Ninety percent of men have the desire to commit this sin," the mullah says... Following the mullah's math, this suggests that somewhere between 18 percent and 45 percent of men here engage in homosexual sex - significantly higher than the 3 percent to 7 percent of American men who, according to studies, identify themselves as homosexual." - See "Pederasty in the Middle East and Central Asia" for some criticism related to media articles related to homosexuality and the Pashtun.

Western lenses on male same-sex relationality in Pashtun Afghanistan (PDF Download): "Relations between adolescent males and adult men in Pashtun culture is a mode of relationality that falls outside both the Eurocentrism and heteronormativity of the traditional kinship studies model... Thus, it is not surprising that these anthropological studies of Pashtun culture do not include any references to male same-sex sexual relationships, or of any male same-sex relationality outside of the traditional family model. The Pakistani anthropologist Sarah Safdar has written one of the few English-language works on the topic of kinship in Pashtun society, which was published in 1997. Her extensive discussion of kinship and marriage in Pashtun culture contains no references to homosexuality or any male same-sex relationality other than blood kinship... David Halperin’s genealogical approach to the history of male same-sex sexual desire can be applied to cross-cultural analysis of relational modes such as male same-sex sexual relationality in Pashtun Afghanistan to give a more nuanced view than that of either Euro-American news media or anthropological accounts... He shows how this modern concept of homosexuality unconsciously restricts contemporary Euro-American inquiries into same-sex sexuality and denies the many forms of relationality and sexual desire that have existed in other historical moments... This inquiry shows that existing Western lenses on male same-sex relationality in Pashtun Afghanistan to be inadequate and problematic, and that drawing from queer genealogical strategies in conjunction with reconfigurations of kinship studies can provide a framework to analyze these relationships... Likewise, new kinship studies could provide anthropological accounts of male same-sex sexuality in Pashtun culture that could also help to destabilize the hegemony of Euro-American sexual categories, but that would also require new studies of kinship in Afghanistan. Without any new research or field work on the topic of male same-sex sexuality in Pashtun Afghanistan, it seems extremely difficult to understand or think about this mode of relationality and compare it with Euro-American modern homosexuality and Western prehomosexual categories." - Afghanistan: Nightmare Future: "If the United Nations, puppet of the neoliberal governments, succeeds in reshaping Afghanistan, its indigenous form of homosexuality will be wiped out, destroyed with the same brutality which marked the destruction of the great mosques by troops of the British empire 120 years ago."

Afghanistan: AIDS Statistics Unknown Due To Social Repression: (Alternate Link) ""Sexual contact is not an open subject in this society. And there is no statistical data on heterosexual multipartner activities or even homosexuality. So it is difficult to get a grasp of that now at this stage, although certainly health education will be focusing on those issues." In an Islamic country where drug abuse is considered a violation of the Holy Koran, it also is difficult for researchers to determine how many heroin addicts may be spreading the HIV/AIDS virus by sharing infected needles."

Gay Afghanistan: 2002. Gay Afghanistan: 2004. (Global Gayz): - News/Reports 2001 to Present. - Islam and Homosexuality Essays & Reports 1998to Present. - ILGA Report. - The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws: Afghanistan. - LGBT rights in Afghanistan.

KAZAKHSTAN - Central Asia: Gays Say Tolerance Improving, But Still Long Way to Go.(Alternate Link) -  Kazak Gay Group Needs Help. - The Kazakhstan gay and AIDS group Kontrast is seeking help from abroad in the form of newspapers, magazines... - Exemples de persécution motivée par la préférence sexuelle de la personne: Kazakhstan. - The Gay Scene in Russia and Kazakhstan. - Glorious Gay Kazakhstan!

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: Gay Matchmaking and Culture: Almaty and Bishkek Are the Quiet Gay Capitals of Central Asia: there are signs of growing gay life in two Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Compared to their more oppressive neighbors like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and China, these two nations lean ever-so-slightly westward and harbor less hostility toward gays and lesbians. This doesn’t mean Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are oases for gay matchmaking and culture, but there are no longer criminal penalties for homosexuality. And the cities of Almaty and Bishkek even feature gay bars! ... The Kazakh cultural center, Almaty, is one of the more cosmopolitan cities in Central Asia. It features two places for gay nightlife, a European-style gay club called Real and a popular dance spot known as Frick... 

Soviet ghosts haunt Kazakh Aids policy: At the moment there are only two non-governmental groups for gay men. They hand out condoms and leaflets about HIV in clubs like these. One of their volunteers, Anatoli, told me that recent surveys suggested about half of all gay men still did not have basic information about HIV, about how to protect themselves from it or even how to use a condom. "Because it's such a hidden community," he said, "it's hard to get that basic information across to everyone." - Implementation of HIV and STI prevention policies based on behavioral risks of men having sex with men in Almaty (Kazakhstan). - Kazakhstan LGBT assessment: Transgender Law (PDF Download).

Kazakhstan gay face abuse (2000, Must Scroll): " Gay life in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan is a nightmare, gay leader Ivan Shibitov told this column on Feb. 2. Shibitov, head of the gay group Kontrast, provided details on dozens of anti-gay burglaries, beatings and murders, and on police harassment of gays via laws concerning public order, illegal meetings and insulting the President...  Shibitov said he has been abused by the police on several occasions." - Voice of Democracy: "The London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting says many of those targeted -- Tolkienists, buskers, alternative artists, gays and lesbians, anarchists, hippies, punks, members of dissident religious sects -- complain of systematic torture."

Gay Kazakhstan: Gay Life: "In the period after the Republic of Kazakhstan obtained independence there is growing tolerance towards the people with non-traditional sexual orientation. However, it is to be noted that such estimation is applicable mostly to the biggest city of Kazakhstan - Almaty and a few of oblast centers. Negative reaction against gays is remaining in the periphery. The new Criminal Code, adopted on 16 July 1997 with following amendments does not foresee criminal punishment for voluntary homosexual relations. With this, the lawmaker added terms of gay and lesbian sex, which is new in the international legal practice. Hereon, homosexual acts are treated as criminal if done with violence or threat of violence or misuse of victim's inability to avoid such acts (art. 121.1). It also introduced the age of consent at the age of 16... Gay people coming to Kazakhstan are not advised to show their gay feelings openly in public, say in streets, public cafes, etc., due to a possible resistance to such acts from the surrounding people. However, one can get "liberated" only in the gay clubs." - EXPAT.KZ REVIEW: The most trendy gay club in town.

National Gay Site Of Kazakhstan: "In the 10 year period after the Republic of Kazakhstan obtained independence there is growing tolerance towards the people with non-traditional sexual orientation. However, it is to be noted that such estimation is applicable mostly to the biggest city of Kazakhstan - Almaty and a few of oblast centers. Negative reaction against gays is remaining in the periphery... The center of gay life in Kazakhstan is the city of Almaty, the ex-capital since 1997. There are three gay-clubs open in the city, each has its own specific clientele, and there are more to open. There are not gay newspapers or magazines in Kazakhstan. This is because the gay community is relatively closeted, and there is a general lack of openness to publicity. Fear to come out, scared of public censure and isolation from friends, parents and the state is common among the gay people. The National Gay server is located at www.gays.kz.

Homofobia In Kazakhstan: "However situation for gays didn’t get better. There were fixed dozens occurs of murders of gays, beatings and burglaries of their homes... For time of my gay right protection activity I was more than once beaten up. I have broken a rib, a hand, nose, my spine was harmed too... Gays never have got any protection from police side and do not get it... In 1991 "KONTRAST" succeed passed through process of registration due to the bribes and only as NGO doing the AIDS prophylactic. At the present moment there are 8 gay groups in Kazakhstan... In the Penal Code is existing an Article 120 - raping, according to that a criminal could be judged from 3 to 15 years. But in our country nobody punishes those who violently raped man. So, recently Jakov S. and Murat B. have raped a drunken man and murdered his. They were judged only for murdering... All correspondence coming from me either "loses" or perlustrates  in post office. As a chief of "KONTRAST" I was being called to Justice department where they offered me to stop gay rights protection. But I decided to go till the end. I was more than once accompanied to police stations where policemen broke my right hand, nose and harmed my back. After beatings there were put 6 sews on my face in the hospital. In prisons and camps of the RK police relate to gay people like slaves, also raping of gay is normal thing there. They make them to do hardest work... "KONTRAST" will keep its fight for human rights for gay people. We hope that International human right protection organizations will give to us support and help in our hard but justify struggle."

Gay Kazakhstan (Global Gayz): - News/Reports. - ILGA Report. - The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws. - LGBT rights in Kazakhstan. 

KYRGYZSTAN - Focus on Gay and Lesbian Rights (Alternate Link): Kyrgyzstan is known as an island of gay tolerance in an otherwise oppressive region. Some gay people come here from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, where homosexuality is punishable by law, in search of a more favourable and accepting environment. The number of gay and lesbian groups in the country is growing as a consequence. On Saturday a new support group called "Labrys" was launched in the capital, Bishkek, to promote the rights of lesbians...  - Kyrgyzstan Legalizes Gay Sex. - Kyrgyzstan gays battle extortion (Must Scroll). - Bookkeeper's Daughter. 

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: Gay Matchmaking and Culture: Almaty and Bishkek Are the Quiet Gay Capitals of Central Asia: there are signs of growing gay life in two Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Compared to their more oppressive neighbors like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and China, these two nations lean ever-so-slightly westward and harbor less hostility toward gays and lesbians. This doesn’t mean Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are oases for gay matchmaking and culture, but there are no longer criminal penalties for homosexuality. And the cities of Almaty and Bishkek even feature gay bars! ... The Kazakh cultural center, Almaty, is one of the more cosmopolitan cities in Central Asia. It features two places for gay nightlife, a European-style gay club called Real and a popular dance spot known as Frick... 

I Love You The Way You Are (Must Scroll): " The main goal of the project called was to inform the public about issues related to nontraditional sexual orientation and promote tolerance. First, we thought that we would limit our activities to watching movies related to the problems of homosexuals and hold discussions afterwards. It turned out that the majority of the students didn't know a thing about existing gay and lesbian problems simply because the issues seem as distant from Kyrgyzstan as AIDS (there are only 7 people with HIV here). The first survey indicated that 21 out of 35 people had a bias against homosexuals, although they could not identify the reason. After 3 months of the project, 30 first year students attended the opening of a gay club; before that would never have happened. It was the first time gays from the university could express themselves freely in front of their peers. Talking about problems truly does bring about understanding. We reached over 150 people and also made friends with the homosexual community, producing a number of talk shows and videos about the lifestyle and problems. We also produced 3 articles about our activities for The Collage Human Rights Journal, The Central Asian Analyst and for our student newspaper, The Star. The prohibition of surfing gay sites on the Internet on university computers was also overturned thanks to our efforts."

Are we Tolerant? (The Star Newspaper, American University in Kyrgyzstan): " I interviewed 18 random students in AUK to find out how they relate to the issue of homosexuality.  9 of them were female, 9 were male. To the question “what is your general attitude toward gays?” almost everyone expressed that they were tolerant.  Two said it was more acceptable for females than males!  Only Guzial Kenzina called it perversion.  Halil Razaev said: “It’s against natural rules and nature should be balanced.” ...Several people were concerned that society would not accept or understand gays.  Tamara Grin said: “I feel painful for gays because people don’t understand them and they feel hated by other people.”  But Sasha Shpakova said: “All those are stereotypes that society imposes on us... Most students said that it is not appropriate for gays to show their relations in public.  Tamara G. said that she had seen people of the same sex kissing each other and it was “interesting, unusual, impressive, … but maybe not very pleasant.”  Some said that they would react just in the same way they would react when seeing something for the first time.  4 people said it was improper or disgusting.  A guy who preferred to remain anonymous (guess why!) said that he might puke of it..."

Kyrgyzstan: IRIN focus on the battle against HIV: "One other risk group now taking action to thwart the spread of HIV is Kyrgyzstan's gay community, a task particularly challenging given the sensitivity of homosexuality. Prior to 1998, homosexuality in Kyrgyzstan was illegal and people faced two years imprisonment if caught. However, things are changing. One group trying to break the silence and raise the issue of AIDS awareness and prevention is the Bishkek-based NGO Oasis. Established in 1995 and working out of Kyrgyzstan's only gay club (claiming some 5,000 members in Kyrgyzstan and neighbouring Central Asian countries), the group is actively working to raise awareness by distributing condoms and pamphlets on safe sex to club visitors. The club was never thought of as a business, but rather an opportunity to establish a venue for gays to gather and discuss issues, Oasis founder and club owner, Vladimir Tupin told IRIN. "We wanted to raise the issue of safe sex among high risk group and so far the response has been positive," he added."

Central Asia Has Unique Opportunity To  AIDS Epidemic: "All five countries have also modified legislation concerning HIV/AIDS-related issues, including detection and confidentiality provisions. Some of the changes are aimed at removing taboos associated with at-risk groups, thereby encouraging those in at-risk groups to seek assistance, instead of remaining underground. As a result, homosexuality is no longer a criminal offense in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Meanwhile, prohibitions on drug use have been eased, while trafficking and dealing drugs draw stiff penalties. Despite the introduction of more liberal legislation, the practices of law enforcement and health authorities remain repressive and controlling. "I constantly am very afraid for my life because my community hates homosexuals, and police persecution is very brutal here," said Tolibjon, a homosexual who lives in Margelan, a small town in the Uzbek sector of the Ferghana Valley."

Bishkek's unlikely AIDS battle: "Although homosexuality was a criminal offense here until 1998, Kyrgyzstan's national program was designed to include gay men. "There are no [documented] cases of HIV yet [among homosexuals] - and from one side that is good. But it doesn't mean it doesn't exist," says Vladimir Tyupin, head of the Oasis AIDS service, an organization that works with gay men. "When the first case comes, there will be fear," he adds."

Labrys: LBT Organization in Kyrgyzstan: Uniting lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Kyrgyzstan. - Attention to lesbian, bisexual, gay and transsexual issues in Kyrgyz media this week. - Transmen and Lesbians in Kyrgyzstan. - ILGA-Europe Training on Advocacy in Kyrgyzstan.

Gay Kyrgyzsran (Global Gayz): - News/Reports. - ILGA Report. - The Eastgarden.

UZBEKISTAN -  Rights Group Calls Uzbekistan Crackdown a Massacre (Alternate Link). - Uzbek authorities accuse U.S.-based aid group of supporting gays (Alternate Link): Uzbek authorities accused a U.S.-based health care aid group on Wednesday of legal violations and supporting the "interests of homosexuals" in the tightly controlled ex-Soviet republic, where homosexuality is outlawed...

 Uzbek Journalist Pleads Guilty to Sodomy Charges. - Gay Uzbek Writer Speaks of Torture.  - Jailed Uzbek Journalist Wins Press Award. - Jailed Uzbek Journalist Claims Early Release Won’t Allow Freedom of Movement. - Gay Times: Our man in Tashkent: Richard Smith reports on the case of Ruslan Sharipov, the gay human rights campaigner imprisoned for criticising the Uzbekistan regime — and the British ambassador the US had removed from his post after he spoke out against the dictator who's America's new ally in their "war against terror". You could say that Ruslan Sharipov is lucky. At least he hasn't been boiled to death. That's one of the Uzbekistani security services favourite ways of dealing with people they don't like. And they really don't like Ruslan Sharipov. This journalist and human rights activist has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Uzbeki regime.

Finding asylum: after he was arrested for sodomy and tortured in Uzbekistan, bisexual reporter Ruslan Sharipov escaped to the United States:  Were you out as a bisexual man in Uzbekistan? I wasn't advertising it. But people knew because for several years, besides general human rights work, I was defending sexual minorities. After I saw how the police torture and use [laws against homosexuality in] the criminal code to blackmail people, I decided I had to defend sexual minorities. Nobody was doing that kind of work in Uzbekistan. Everybody is afraid and says, "We can't talk about that." - Homophobia's reach (PDF Download).

International Research Centre on Social Minorities (2005). Sexual Minorities in Uzbekistan, Mission Report (Word Download): IRCSM found professed public opinion in Uzbekistan to be extremely homophobic, mostly as a result of the existence of Article 120 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan which criminalises homosexuality and the stigmatisation of homosexuality in the state controlled media (television, radio, newspapers) and by government officials. While most people are not necessarily homophobic in private, a majority of Uzbekistanis fear the consequences of publicly speaking out in positive terms about sexual minorities. They fear that, by expressing sympathetic views about sexual minorities, they will be suspected of being homosexual and at risk of criminal prosecution, harassment, extortion and even torture. In some instances, this has lead to a situation where persons who are homosexual feel forced to adopt openly homophobic rhetoric in order to protect themselves... IRCSM received information that a considerable and increasing number of men are prosecuted and convicted under Article 120 every year despite the absence of information from governmental sources and the difficulty of gathering comprehensive information on such prosecutions in the climate of fear prevailing in relation to homosexuality in Uzbekistan...  (The factual research for the report was carried out by Marjorie Farquharson, the part on international human rights law was written by Evelyne Paradis and Jan Doerfel)

Uzbekistan faces HIV epidemic: "Representatives of the risk groups seek to hide from the authorities and, in the case of STDs, go to underground private doctors for diagnosis and treatment. Purchasing and storing illegal drugs are considered crimes in the country, as is homosexual behavior, according to Uzbekistan's criminal code. "

Adventures in Uzbekistan: Queer Woman Puts Away Labyris to “Pass.”

The Uzbekistan Closet Carries On: What concerns did you have about being a gay PCV in Uzbekistan, a conservative Muslim country? ...  Once I arrived there I was shocked to discover that there were about 10 other gay guys already in-country from earlier PC groups. Although I was the only out volunteer in my group, having these other folks there to talk with was assuring... I never actually discussed homosexuality with Uzbek friends, but I did learn about their views from passing comments and conversations between my host families and friends. I did not tell them I was gay...  Staying closeted with my close Uzbek friends here in the States has been difficult. There are times when I would like to just yell out to them that I am gay. For the time I was in Uzbekistan, these people became like my family and actually were my support system. Coming out to them would be like coming out to my own family in the States all over again. This will take some courage but over time I feel it will happen. In fact, I am sure that some these friends now living here have their suspicions...

Gay Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan is a multinational state with population of 25 millions of people... But, can anyone guess about sexual orientation of the people by their appearance? Of course one needs to have a keen eye and experience because, it is a strict rule here to hide your uncommon interests. For a stranger, at first, it seems there are no gays at all in Uzbekistan. But later, after closer acquaintance with the country one can see that results exceed all expectations.

Gay Uzbekistan (Global Gayz): - News/Reports. - ILGA Report. - Sodomy Laws: Ubekistan. - LGBT rights in Uzbekistan.
 

TURKMENISTAN - Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic Secures Grant of Asylum for Lesbian from Turkmenistan. - Hearing on Democratization and Human Rights in Turkmenistan: "First they beat me with their hands, then with a big club hitting my head and damaging my hearing. They struck to my back and stomach. During the beating Myatiyev tried to force me to take my trousers off so he could rape me. Later, I learned that homosexual rape is one of his methods of abuse. When    he realized that I would not allow it, he beat me with even more rage.

ILGA Report. - LGBT rights in Turkmenistan. 

TAJIKISTAN - Amnesty International - 1999: The new criminal code also decriminalized consenting homosexual acts between adult males and reduced to 15 the number of articles carrying a possible death sentence. It also stipulated that on commutation death sentences should be replaced with 25 years' imprisonment.

Tajikistan: Gay rights face uphill struggle: "Efforts to advocate the rights of the gay community in Tajikistan, including HIV/AIDS awareness, face an uphill battle given traditional Islamic values and a general intolerance towards homosexuality... Under a project entitled "Legal Support for Sexual Minorities", the Dushanbe-based group is trying to revise current legislation in the country, as well as provide legal support to individuals as and when necessary. HIV/AIDS and its prevention is one component of the project; a daunting task in this mountainous Central Asian state of 7 million where such topics remain largely taboo... "Nobody in Tajikistan wants to admit that this sort of sexual orientation exists," Farkhod Fazylov, assistant for the MSM project, concurred, telling IRIN that police were known to harass some individuals once their sexual preference was revealed. According to the NGO worker, some gay Tajiks were forced into compromising positions by the police, who blackmailed them into disclosing the identity of other members of the MSM community. "Many people are afraid of having their identities revealed to their families," Fazylov said..."

...pe care le-am vizitat - Tajikistan - Gay Tajikistan: "I didn't even try very hard to find links to sites on gay life in Tajikistan. Having lived there recently I know that their existence is unlikely. However as I have been an out gay man in Tajikistan and there might be one or two others interested in visiting or working there, I wrote this. The laws on homosexual acts have changed quite rapidly in most of the former Soviet Union. All the European republics in it, including Russia, have decriminalised consensual same-sex activities for over 18s. Attitudes have not always advanced quite so swiftly. However one should not expect transitional societies to adopt all the values f the West overnight when Westerners have had decades to get used to the concept of gay rights.  Until very recently gay people were more or less invisible in the former USSR and even when they were not the portrayal was usually negative... Tajikistan is the poorest and most war-ravaged of these Central Asian republics. It is not a particularly fun place to visit. Even in the centre of Dushanbe, the capital city, almost nothing is open after 10 pm, even at weekends, and pedestrians are rare... Gay life in Tajikistan is a terribly discreet affair. There is no obvious venue. Some say the pocket-sized park opposite the Gastronom shop is cruisy but I always found it full of about seven very bearded old men nodding off on the benches. If you live in the country and are very openly gay (it is just about OK for a foreigner so long as you never actually admit to the fact to a Tajik) you may never meet a Tajik who admits to being gay. Worse still, you are unlikely to meet a gay Tajik who is prepared to take the risk of being associated with you. ."

ILGA Report. - Sodomy Laws. 

Search GLBTQ: The Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Culture. - Search BGLAD. - Search the QRD. - Search all GLBT Resource Directories. - Search Google.com. - Search Google Scholar. - Search Google's G:LBT Directory. - MSN Search. - Search findarticles.com: many full text articles and papers.

Academic Searches: Search IngentaConnect: The most comprehensive collection of academic and professional publications. - Search Project Muse: Scholarly Journals Online. - Search JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive. - Search The National Library of Medicine.
 

AZERBAIJAN: - Gays in Azerbaijan struggle with tradition, not religion. - Homosexuality in Azerbaijan.

HIV and AIDS in Azerbaijan: A Socio-Cultural Approach (PDF Download): Sexual relationships between people of the same sex are no longer against the law in Azerbaijan, but MSM are one of the most stigmatised population groups, and public admittance of one’s homosexuality is not common. Because of this, there is almost no reliable sociological and epidemiological data available on this group. There exist no surveys regarding MSM and HIV and AIDS that offer information on behavioural patterns of this key population. There is also no information on any particular activities to specifically reach out to this group.

The Eastgarden. - Sodomy Laws. - LGBT rights in Azerbaijan.

Search Engines & Directories: - Google.com. - Google Scholar. - MSN Search.- Proteus Search. - Wikipedia Listing of Search Engines. - All GLBT Resource Directories. - Google's GLBT Directory. - Yahoo's Directory. - DMOZ: Open Directory. - BGLAD. - Wikipedia. - GLBTQ: The Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Culture.

Directories for Open Access Resources: - The Directory of  Open-Access Journals. - Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR). - Yahoo Theses Access Directory. - Google Directory: Free Access Online Archives.

Open Access Collections From Multiple Sources: - Australian Research Online. - hal: articles en ligne (French / English Version). - Archive Ouverte INRIA. - Hispana. Directorio y recolector de recursos digitales. - Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y el Caribe, España y Portugal.  - Pacific Rim Library. - OAIster: a union catalog of available digital resources. - OpenPDF.com. - OpenJ-Gate: Open Access. -  findarticles.com: many free full text articles and papers. - Scribd.com. 

Search for Free Papers / Book Reviews: - All Papers are free at BioMed Cental (Open Access) & PubMed Central. - HighWire Press (Numerous Free Papers).  eScholarship Repository:  University of California, e-books, journals and peer-reviewed documents. - DSpace Eprints: Australian National University. - DSpace@MIT. - Virginia Tech: Digital Library / Archives. - eScholarship: U of California. - University of Southampton CiteBase. - Eprints: University of Nottingham. - T-Space at The University of Toronto Libraries.  - NTUR, National Taiwan University. - Allacademic: Some free papers to either read online or download as PDFs. -  UNESCO: Articles, Report, Dissertations, Films, etc. - Kyoto University Research Information Repository. - Doctoral dissertations and other publications from the University of Helsinki. - E-LIS: eprints in Library & Information Services. - CogPrints: eprints. - RePEc: Research Papers in Economics. - DiVa: Scandinavian University Documents. - The International Gay & Lesbian Review (IGLR): Book Reviews & Abstracts. - InterAlia, a peer-edited scholarly journal for queer theory. 

Search for Free Articles, Papers or Reports:  FindArticles.com - The Free Library. - France Queer Resources Directory. - Séminaire gai. - The QRD. - GLBTQ: The Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Culture. - Human Rights Campaign. - IGLHRC: The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. - ILGA: The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. - ILGA-Europe: International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association of Europe. - Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. - Kinsey Institute Staff Publications. - Sexual Policy Watch Working Papers. -  NAZ Foundation International: Primary aim is to improve the sexual health and human rights of marginalised males who have sex with males, their partners and families in South Asia and elsewhere.  The World Health Orgazization. - The Body: The complete HIV/AIDS Resource. - POZ Magazine: Archive dates back to 1994.

Search for Papers, with Abstract Available (Some May Be Free): The National Library of Medicine (Free papera are highlighted). Abstracts from searches are available at: ERIC: The Education Resources Information Center (Many Free Documents). - Informaworld. - Oxford Journals (Some Open Access Content). - Springer Journals (Some Open Access Content). - ScienceDirect Journals. - University of California Press Journals on Caliber. - IngentaConnect. - Project Muse. - JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive. - Wiley Interscience. - Cambridge Journals Online: Follow Link. - Sage Journals. - Palgrave Macmillan Journals. - Emerald E-journals. - University of Chicago Journals. - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Journals. - HeinOnline (Access Free Content, Law Papers). - SSRN: Social Science Research Network.

Search for Free Theses / Dissertations, May Include Papers: Library & Archives Canada, Electronic Free Theses Download. - Virginia Tech: Electronic Theses and Dissertations. - DSpace@MIT. - Electronic Theses & Dissertations BYU. - OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Center & Worldwide ETD Index. - Australasian Digital Theses Program (Abstracts Given & Free Downloads). - Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Abstracts). - PQDTOpen Dissertations (Abstracts & Free Downloads: ProQuest). DART-Europe: Free Access to European Doctoral Theses. - The British Library's EThOS service (British Doctoral Theses Abstracts). - DORAS: Free Theses,  Ireland. - TEL (thèses-en-ligne). - DiVa: Scandinavian Theses / Other Documents. - BORA: Open Archive, University of Bergen, Norway.  - Doctoral dissertations and other publications from the University of Helsinki. - LUP: Lund University Publications. - National Cheng Kung University Institutional Repository. - HKU Scholars Hub. - Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertacoes (BDTD), Brazil. - OAIster: a union catalog of available digital resources. Free papers also available - OpenThesis.org.

Full Text Articles / Papers / Studies / Reports (and/or Abstracts):

AbuKhalil, As'ad (1997). Gender boundaries and sexual categories in the Arab world. Feminist Issues, 15(1/2): 91-104. PDF Download.

Bahreini R (2008). From Perversion to Pathology: Discourses and Practices of Gender Policing in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Muslim World Journal of Human  Rights, 5(1): 1-49. PDF Download.

Belkin A, Levitt M (2001, 1998). Homosexuality and the Israel Defense Forces; Did Lifting the Gay Ban Undermine Military Performance? Armed Forces and Society, 27(4). Full Text. PDF Download.

Blasher P-S (2001). Le lexème comme facteur d'identification identitaire:: le cas des homosexuels a Istanbul. Table-Ronde Franco-Turque: crise d'identite et construction identitaires. L'apport des recit de vie. Full Text.

Blasher P-S (1999). Honoisexualite en Turquie: de l'heritage musulman au movement associatif. Les mouvements sociaux dans le monde musulman contemporain Regards croisés, Université de Lausanne, 3-4 décembre 1999. Full Text. Download Page.

Davis DA, Davis SS (1993). Sexual values in a Moroccan Town. In W.J. Lonner & R.S. Malpass (Eds.) Psychology and culture. Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon: 225-230. Full Text.

Dunne B (1998). Power and Sexuality in the Middle East. Middle East report, 206.  Full Text.

El Menyawi H (2006). Activism from the closet: gay rights strategising in Egypt. Melbourne Journal of International Law, 7. Full Text.  PDF Download.

International HIV/AIDS Alliance (2006). Rapport de l'atelier Régional de Réflexion sur les Programmes de Prévention des IST/SIDA Ciblant les Hommes qui ont des Relations Sexuelles avec d'autres Hommes au Maghreb et au Liban. International HIV.AIDS Alliance. PDF Download.

International HIV/AIDS Alliance (2006). Rapid Situation Analysis of Men Who Have Sex with Men in the Maghreb and Lebanon. International HIV.AIDS Alliance. PDF Download.

International HIV/AIDS Alliance (2006). Analyse rapide de situation sur les hommes ayant des relations sexuelles avec des hommes dans les pays du Maghreb et au Liban. International HIV.AIDS Alliance. PDF Download.

International Research Centre on Social Minorities (2005). Sexual Minorities in Uzbekistan, Mission Report, Word Download

Katz MN (2004). Assessing the Political Stability of Oman. Middle East Review of International Affairs, 8(3). PDF Downkoiad.

Krause l (2002). The Queer Community in Israel: Findings of Research for the HBF (Tel Aviv Office). PDF Download.

Kugle S (2005).Queer Jihad: A view from South Africa. ISIM Review, 16: 14-15. PDF Download.

Massad J (2001). Re-Orienting Desire: The Gay International and the Arab World. Public Culture, 14(2): 361-385. Full Text. Full Text.

Pratt N (2007). The Queen Boat case in Egypt: sexuality, national security and state sovereignty. Review of International Studies, 33: 129–144.  PDF Download.

Skier S (2004). Western lenses on male same-sex relationality in Pashtun Afghanistan. The Queer Journal, Spring: 11-22. PDF Downkoiad.

Yenicioðlu Y (1997). Gay identities, communities and places in the 1990s  in Istanbul. Ýstanbul University, Department of Theatre Criticism. Full Text. Download Page.

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