The Why, What and
How...
On the online gay communities in the Middle East
.
By Mo.K.
In our present, we are at the Internet age, where everything is connected via a worldwide web, where information is easily accessible and most importantly where every user becomes an author. The Internet and social media became important tools for many communities, especially activist communities. Social media’s ability to connect massive numbers of individuals has proved to be powerful in many instances. For example, look at the Arab revolutions and how they were initiated.
One group within the Middle East that seems to be using social media extensively is the gay community. There are many reasons to why this group heavily relies on social media. First, the region’s discourse on sexuality is heteronormative; posing heterosexuality as privileged. Second, the discourse is present within two fronts: the government and religion. In many Middle Eastern countries, such as Qatar, Lebanon, and Kuwait, homosexuality is illegal. Moreover, many of these countries base these laws on religious texts and discourses that condemn homosexuality. Moreover, the power and influence that governments and religions hold in the Middle East contributes to the rejection of homosexuality on a social level. Such denouncement of homosexuality had multiple effects in the region. First, this rejection marginalizes the LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual) community. Second, The LGBT community became unable to create public visible activist fronts hence keeping them closeted and unable to express themselves. Third, individuals within the LGBT community started to resort to social media and Internet tools such as blogs for self-expression as well as meeting others from within the community.
There are many online tools that are used such as forums, blogs, Facebook pages and groups as well as websites. Middle Eastern gay blogs are quite diverse in the sense that they are ground breaking in their representation of a community whose existence is almost denied. Therefore, these blogs play a huge role in raising awareness among their international readers about the Middle Eastern gay community and its struggles. Moreover, these bloggers who are normal random people, are role models and mostly opinion leaders within the LGBT community in the Middle East. As an example, Beirut Boy’s blog "Boy Breathing Beirut" presents posts – in his own words – that deal with“Sexism. Racism. Social injustice. And of course homophobia.” As for 16 year old Lebanese Karim, the author of the blog “The Rainbow Experience” he writes his blog for a variety of reasons, one of which is that he wants “confused LGBTQ kids to find what they need, whatever that is, to accept themselves and live the life they deserve.”
In our present, we are at the Internet age, where everything is connected via a worldwide web, where information is easily accessible and most importantly where every user becomes an author. The Internet and social media became important tools for many communities, especially activist communities. Social media’s ability to connect massive numbers of individuals has proved to be powerful in many instances. For example, look at the Arab revolutions and how they were initiated.
One group within the Middle East that seems to be using social media extensively is the gay community. There are many reasons to why this group heavily relies on social media. First, the region’s discourse on sexuality is heteronormative; posing heterosexuality as privileged. Second, the discourse is present within two fronts: the government and religion. In many Middle Eastern countries, such as Qatar, Lebanon, and Kuwait, homosexuality is illegal. Moreover, many of these countries base these laws on religious texts and discourses that condemn homosexuality. Moreover, the power and influence that governments and religions hold in the Middle East contributes to the rejection of homosexuality on a social level. Such denouncement of homosexuality had multiple effects in the region. First, this rejection marginalizes the LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual) community. Second, The LGBT community became unable to create public visible activist fronts hence keeping them closeted and unable to express themselves. Third, individuals within the LGBT community started to resort to social media and Internet tools such as blogs for self-expression as well as meeting others from within the community.
There are many online tools that are used such as forums, blogs, Facebook pages and groups as well as websites. Middle Eastern gay blogs are quite diverse in the sense that they are ground breaking in their representation of a community whose existence is almost denied. Therefore, these blogs play a huge role in raising awareness among their international readers about the Middle Eastern gay community and its struggles. Moreover, these bloggers who are normal random people, are role models and mostly opinion leaders within the LGBT community in the Middle East. As an example, Beirut Boy’s blog "Boy Breathing Beirut" presents posts – in his own words – that deal with“Sexism. Racism. Social injustice. And of course homophobia.” As for 16 year old Lebanese Karim, the author of the blog “The Rainbow Experience” he writes his blog for a variety of reasons, one of which is that he wants “confused LGBTQ kids to find what they need, whatever that is, to accept themselves and live the life they deserve.”
"This representation of the self and one’s identity potentially could build mutual grounds, erasing the old one's question, am I the only one?..."
These blogs serve the LGBT community in various positive ways, and one of which is that they humanize the community through their own stories. This representation of the self and one’s identity potentially could build mutual grounds, erasing the old one's question, am I the only one? However, this is not true in all cases but is interesting to look at. How do these bloggers try to build common grounds between themselves and their readers whether gay or straight?
Another advantage that one needs to look at is the creation of a community. Although sharing on a blog might be different than face-to-face interactions, it reaches a larger audience and has more potential of building a larger community. The creation of a community through social networking creates a sense of activism or a call of action. Nevertheless, these bloggers don’t directly call for action except in the case of IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) in Lebanon where both bloggers Beirut Boy and Karim have participated in the event. This physical activism and the blogging of its events indirectly call for an action. In an interview with both bloggers, I asked the question of whether they participated in an activist movement with an NGO and the following were their answers:
Karim: “Some gay LGBT Lebanese bloggers got together for the International Day Against Homophobia. Part of our initiative was to hang posters around Beirut with catchy and implicit sentences about homosexuality."
Beirut Boy: “To promote the IDAHO blog and to encourage people to share their stories, we embarked on a street campaign. Each blogger (along with her/his) friends, as well as volunteers all over Lebanon, took to the streets of Beirut to post some sexy and catchy flyers with a smart tagline.”
Another advantage that one needs to look at is the creation of a community. Although sharing on a blog might be different than face-to-face interactions, it reaches a larger audience and has more potential of building a larger community. The creation of a community through social networking creates a sense of activism or a call of action. Nevertheless, these bloggers don’t directly call for action except in the case of IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) in Lebanon where both bloggers Beirut Boy and Karim have participated in the event. This physical activism and the blogging of its events indirectly call for an action. In an interview with both bloggers, I asked the question of whether they participated in an activist movement with an NGO and the following were their answers:
Karim: “Some gay LGBT Lebanese bloggers got together for the International Day Against Homophobia. Part of our initiative was to hang posters around Beirut with catchy and implicit sentences about homosexuality."
Beirut Boy: “To promote the IDAHO blog and to encourage people to share their stories, we embarked on a street campaign. Each blogger (along with her/his) friends, as well as volunteers all over Lebanon, took to the streets of Beirut to post some sexy and catchy flyers with a smart tagline.”