Holy Hate
By Anissa Helie
I was born and raised in Algiers, of a French father and an Algerian mother. Having access to both cultures made me realize early on thatracism as well as sexism were all pervasive onboth sides of the Mediterranean. It took me a few more years to come to the conclusion that homophobia was just as widespread. Amnesty International counts at least 83 countries where homosexuality is explicitly condemned in the criminal code. twenty-six of these are Muslim. This means that the majority of Muslim countries, including supposedly "liberal" ones like Tunisia as well as dictatorships like Sudan, outlaw same-sex relationships.
The seven countries in the world that carry the death penalty for persons presumed guilty of homosexual acts, justify this punishment with the shari'a or standard interpretation of Muslim jurisprudence. Though not always applied, the existence of the death penalty makes sexual minorities extremely vulnerable.
The state is not alone in practicing repression. Communities and families have a part to play. In the Philippines, for example, in 1998 "Muslim militia" launched an anti-Gay campaign on the island of Mindanao during which Gay Muslims were terrorized, beaten up, and ordered to leave or be castrated.
Jordan does not specifically outlaw homosexuality either. But that did not stop four Jordanians last year trying to kidnap their 23-year-old Lesbian relative studying in the US, beating her and attempting to force her onto a plane bound for Jordan. The police acted promptly and came to her rescue, but such an outcome tends to be the exception rather than the rule. Violence, harassment, persecution and extrajudicial or "shame" killings are not uncommon.
Sex and Tradition
In spite of such obstacles and hostility, same-sex relationships do take place, even in the most repressive countries. As one researcher on the Gulf told a Pan Arab Conference on Sexuality held in Oxford in June 2000: "In prison same-sex sex is the norm. Saudi Arabia is just a large prison."
Sometimes, the very segregation of the sexes allows for intimacy between people of the same gender without it being considered abnormal. As long as one keeps a low profile, such behavior may generally go unchallenged. This is true for both sexes. For women, cultural patterns may allow particular opportunities for intimacy: it's fairly acceptable to share a bed with your female cousin, your best friend and so on. And traditional women-only ceremonies may actually enable rural Lesbians to make regular contact with other women.
Culture is not, therefore, always against us and there are positive examples of same-sex relationships to be found in different Muslim cultures. Nor is invisibility always required. For example, in some traditional traveling theaters and musical groups in Pakistan, the younger men who play female roles sometimes live as a couple with the group leader. Among such communities, male couples may live love relationships quite openly. There is also an entire body of poetry in local and Urdu literature that is clearly based on male love, yaari.
Positive as they are, such examples should not make us forget that homophobia is prevalent, as well as systematically promoted by conservative forces, everywhere.
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