10 Years of Gay!
The Middle East, the Arab world, and around the globe
By: Valentine Rossetti
In the last ten years, gay communities around the globe have seen a plethora of giddying highs and tear-filled lows, from Iceland gaining its first openly lesbian Prime Minister to the reign of terror on gays in Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad! From Jordan’s first gay model Khalid to Uganda’s decree of executing gay men who are HIV positive….it sure has been a rollercoaster 10 years!
Stretching right back to 1999 onwards let’s see just what went on, in making this the most extraordinary decade for the gay community, the world over.
1999
- In Northern Ireland, Patrick Buckley, Catholic Bishop of Belfast comes out as gay
- In France, the National Assembly grants unwed opposite and same-sex couples the same rights as married couples
2000
- In the early days of the new Millennium, the ban on lesbian and gay men serving in the British Armed Forces was lifted
- The parliament of Scotland repealed Section 28; the law which banned local authorities from “promoting homosexuality”
- In December, the age of sexual consent in the United Kingdom was equalized to 16, previously being 18 for homosexual acts and 16 for heterosexual acts
- In the Lebanon, the Web Master of GayLebanon.com was arrested and put on military charges
2001
- Egyptian government began a public crackdown, continued on arresting and routinely torturing men suspected of consensual homosexual conduct
- The Netherlands became the first country in the world to pass legislation allowing same-sex marriage; extending full rights to gay couples that heterosexual couples had always taken for granted
- In the Middle East, particularly in Egypt it seemed that the social liberalism of the new Millennium which Europe was embracing with such ebullience was turning in completely the opposite direction. With Morality Legislations being interpreted much more strictly than they had been since, some would say, the middle Ages! The Cairo 52 was an incident which went down in infamy, as the single greatest act of homophobic persecution the world had witnessed in the new century. In May a floating gay night club, which had moored in the Nile in Cairo, was boarded by nearly one hundred police officers, intent on brutality, swiftly arresting all 52 men aboard, charging them with “habitual debauchery” and “obscene behavior” under Article 9c of the Law No. 10 1961 on “the combat of prostitution”
The men were later subjected to sever beatings and humiliating forensic examinations to “prove their homosexuality” all the 52 men were kept for a staggering 22 hours a day in two cramped cells with no beds. The trial, a large affair which gained world wide attention by the media, was condemned by International Human Rights organizations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, members of the U.S Congress and the United Nations. Lawyers for the defense argued that the cases should be dismissed on the grounds of false arrest, improper arrest procedures, falsified evidence and police intimidation. The trials were held twice, due to international condemnation and in the end, just twenty one of the men were handed a three year prison sentence and twenty nine were acquitted
- The Chinese Society of Psychiatry declared homosexuality no longer an illness
- In Algeria, 2 men were stoned to death in the street suspected to be gay. “I witnessed the stoning of two young men suspected of being gay. A neighbour started to beat them, and other neighbours joined in, pelting them with stones. One of the men was bleeding very badly. I dared not intervene. The crowd would have turned on me. This incident was very disturbing. If the mob had any suspicion I was gay, at that moment of hysteria I could easily have been stoned to death.”Witnessed and told by Ramzi Isalam
2002
- June 7th, 2002 Palestine, renowned for religious conservatism, had witnessed its first gay Pride Parade, triumphed over prejudice in west Jerusalem
- Homosexuality in the Peoples Communist Republic of China was decriminalized
- Openly gay, right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was assassinated; his funeral would see thousands of mourners turn up to say their goodbyes
- A Human Rights Watch report showed that in Jordan, probably one of the most progressive countries on the subject of LGBT Welfare in the Arab world, a number of honor killings in rural areas of the country were still taking place by Islamic vigilante groups. The reports also showed that the Ministry of Justice was reluctant to give out more sever punishments for the perpetrators of honor killings on gay and lesbian people. Efforts to reform these laws are still taking place
- In 2002, a gay rights organization was started in Lebanon. The Hurriyyat Khassa or Private Liberties seeks to reform Article 534 of the criminal code so that sexual relations between consenting adults in private are no longer a crime
2003
- The repeal of Section 28 in the remaining parts of the United Kingdom, being England, Wales and Northern Ireland, received Royal Assent and becomes active on the 18th of November
- In Belgium, legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry went into force, making it the second nation in the world to give equal marriage rights to gay and lesbians
- A report by a human rights organization in Israel showed that a number of gay Palestinian men were risking their lives to cross the border to Israel. The report also showed that 300 gay Palestinian men were secretly living and working in Israel, mainly in the big cities such as Tel Aviv. With Palestine having strict laws regarding the punishment of homosexual acts, even in private, both gay and lesbian Palestinians see Israel as a beacon of tolerance, but the consequences of attempting to cross the borders are inevitably life threatening
- In 2003, the Lebanese drag queen entertainer named Bassem Feghali temporarily gave up his cross-dressing career in order to serve one year in the military, a requirement of Lebanese law. After his military service, Feghali returned to his successful career of impersonating female celebrities
In the last ten years, gay communities around the globe have seen a plethora of giddying highs and tear-filled lows, from Iceland gaining its first openly lesbian Prime Minister to the reign of terror on gays in Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad! From Jordan’s first gay model Khalid to Uganda’s decree of executing gay men who are HIV positive….it sure has been a rollercoaster 10 years!
Stretching right back to 1999 onwards let’s see just what went on, in making this the most extraordinary decade for the gay community, the world over.
1999
- In Northern Ireland, Patrick Buckley, Catholic Bishop of Belfast comes out as gay
- In France, the National Assembly grants unwed opposite and same-sex couples the same rights as married couples
2000
- In the early days of the new Millennium, the ban on lesbian and gay men serving in the British Armed Forces was lifted
- The parliament of Scotland repealed Section 28; the law which banned local authorities from “promoting homosexuality”
- In December, the age of sexual consent in the United Kingdom was equalized to 16, previously being 18 for homosexual acts and 16 for heterosexual acts
- In the Lebanon, the Web Master of GayLebanon.com was arrested and put on military charges
2001
- Egyptian government began a public crackdown, continued on arresting and routinely torturing men suspected of consensual homosexual conduct
- The Netherlands became the first country in the world to pass legislation allowing same-sex marriage; extending full rights to gay couples that heterosexual couples had always taken for granted
- In the Middle East, particularly in Egypt it seemed that the social liberalism of the new Millennium which Europe was embracing with such ebullience was turning in completely the opposite direction. With Morality Legislations being interpreted much more strictly than they had been since, some would say, the middle Ages! The Cairo 52 was an incident which went down in infamy, as the single greatest act of homophobic persecution the world had witnessed in the new century. In May a floating gay night club, which had moored in the Nile in Cairo, was boarded by nearly one hundred police officers, intent on brutality, swiftly arresting all 52 men aboard, charging them with “habitual debauchery” and “obscene behavior” under Article 9c of the Law No. 10 1961 on “the combat of prostitution”
The men were later subjected to sever beatings and humiliating forensic examinations to “prove their homosexuality” all the 52 men were kept for a staggering 22 hours a day in two cramped cells with no beds. The trial, a large affair which gained world wide attention by the media, was condemned by International Human Rights organizations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, members of the U.S Congress and the United Nations. Lawyers for the defense argued that the cases should be dismissed on the grounds of false arrest, improper arrest procedures, falsified evidence and police intimidation. The trials were held twice, due to international condemnation and in the end, just twenty one of the men were handed a three year prison sentence and twenty nine were acquitted
- The Chinese Society of Psychiatry declared homosexuality no longer an illness
- In Algeria, 2 men were stoned to death in the street suspected to be gay. “I witnessed the stoning of two young men suspected of being gay. A neighbour started to beat them, and other neighbours joined in, pelting them with stones. One of the men was bleeding very badly. I dared not intervene. The crowd would have turned on me. This incident was very disturbing. If the mob had any suspicion I was gay, at that moment of hysteria I could easily have been stoned to death.”Witnessed and told by Ramzi Isalam
2002
- June 7th, 2002 Palestine, renowned for religious conservatism, had witnessed its first gay Pride Parade, triumphed over prejudice in west Jerusalem
- Homosexuality in the Peoples Communist Republic of China was decriminalized
- Openly gay, right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was assassinated; his funeral would see thousands of mourners turn up to say their goodbyes
- A Human Rights Watch report showed that in Jordan, probably one of the most progressive countries on the subject of LGBT Welfare in the Arab world, a number of honor killings in rural areas of the country were still taking place by Islamic vigilante groups. The reports also showed that the Ministry of Justice was reluctant to give out more sever punishments for the perpetrators of honor killings on gay and lesbian people. Efforts to reform these laws are still taking place
- In 2002, a gay rights organization was started in Lebanon. The Hurriyyat Khassa or Private Liberties seeks to reform Article 534 of the criminal code so that sexual relations between consenting adults in private are no longer a crime
2003
- The repeal of Section 28 in the remaining parts of the United Kingdom, being England, Wales and Northern Ireland, received Royal Assent and becomes active on the 18th of November
- In Belgium, legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry went into force, making it the second nation in the world to give equal marriage rights to gay and lesbians
- A report by a human rights organization in Israel showed that a number of gay Palestinian men were risking their lives to cross the border to Israel. The report also showed that 300 gay Palestinian men were secretly living and working in Israel, mainly in the big cities such as Tel Aviv. With Palestine having strict laws regarding the punishment of homosexual acts, even in private, both gay and lesbian Palestinians see Israel as a beacon of tolerance, but the consequences of attempting to cross the borders are inevitably life threatening
- In 2003, the Lebanese drag queen entertainer named Bassem Feghali temporarily gave up his cross-dressing career in order to serve one year in the military, a requirement of Lebanese law. After his military service, Feghali returned to his successful career of impersonating female celebrities