Another Plus for Gay Rights

It may be baby steps towards true equality, but the fact that this book is available is a positive sign:

“Bareed Mista3jil,” Arabic for “Mail in a Hurry,” is a collection of 41 true stories of women grappling with coming out, religion, family and emigration.
…the 223-page book available in English and Arabic hit bookstores across the capital, selling at 18 dollars for the paperback version. The stories, referred to as “letters written, sealed, and sent out to the world,” are personal, compelling and often painful, tackling religion, citizenship, gender identity and emigration.

You can find out more about the book by visiting this website: http://www.bareedmista3jil.com/

AFP: A Lebanese university student reads "Bareed Mista3jil" (Mail in a Hurry) in Beirut on November 24. The book is a collection of 41 true stories of women grappling with coming out, religion, family and emigration.

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Bekhsoos is Back

Lebanon’s only lesbian magazine has returned to cyberspace:

Lebanon’s online lesbian magazine Bekhsoos is back after a nearly one-year hiatus for almost one year.

The publication, whose Arabic name loosely translates as “Concerning,” was launched as a quarterly magazine in early 2008 by members of the Lebanese lesbian group Meem and was billed as the Arab world’s first publication for lesbian and bisexual women.

Back then, Bekhsoos published a mixture of news about sexual identity in the Arab world.

Now it plans to feature more investigative reports with the objective of filling “the gap of lesbian- and transgender-produced writing in the Arab world.”

Slowly, it seems, gay rights is advancing – could this parliament be the one that finally ends the discrimination and nullifies Article 534? That would be absolutely amazing, though I’m not holding my breath.

Note: I’m unable to visit the e-mag thanks to The Powers That Be in the UAE (hey that rhymes) who “nanny” my Internet access. So I leave you with this  – try not to laugh too hard:

The UAE's Internet Nanny

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You’ll Have a Gay Old Time

The New York Times goes all out with an in-depth look at the Beirut gay scene from pageants to parties, it seems Beirut has it all from bear hunting…

Bertho, a 28-year-old Lebanese tour operator who was the host of the main event that Thursday night in June: the Bear Arabia Mega Party, at the Oceana resort about 30 minutes south of Beirut. Scores of gay men — most of them “bears,” a term used the world over for heavyset, hairy guys usually older than 30 — were coming from across Lebanon and the Arab world, as well as Argentina, Italy, Mexico, the United States and elsewhere. Bertho had been picking them up at the Beirut airport since morning, and he looked exhausted as he handed out fistfuls of condoms to the dozen men in the room.

…to gay travel guides…

In the years since, Lebanon has become one of the most liberal Arab counties when it comes to sexuality and sexual behavior, according to Michael T. Luongo, the editor of the 2007 book “Gay Travels in the Muslim World,” which was translated and printed in Arabic this summer by a Beirut publishing house, Arab Diffusion.

…to same-sex travel spots…

I met Steven Larkin, the co-founder of OUT Adventures, a Canadian-based travel company, who happened to be visiting the bar that night. He said he had come to assess Beirut as a possible destination for his clients. OUT Adventures now books tours in Egypt and Morocco, he said, and has been eyeing Beirut for some time to determine if the city is reasonably safe and sufficiently appealing for gay visitors.

…and finally your “we’re here, we’re queer” bunch:

Acid opened in 1998 and quickly emerged as the final stop of the night, as the dancing rages past dawn. As everyone told me, the club was wall-to-wall men, some of whom made out with one another without any evident inhibition. No one used to kiss inside clubs, Raed told me later, but now he regularly kisses his boyfriend when they are dancing.
…
One Saturday afternoon, the enormous square pool at Saint-Georges was full of a mix of groups of men and parents with children. Many more men lay out on lounge chairs and ordered bar service; one of them multitasked by applying pomade to his hair and suntan oil to his chest while answering his cellphone, which had the “Sex and the City” theme music as its ring tone.

NY Times (Bryan Denton): Dancing goes on until dawn at Acid, one of the city’s best-known gay clubs.

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Iraqi Gays Escape to Beirut

Beirut seems to be the destination of choice for Gay Iraqis escaping the violence back home, and there’s help on the way:

A group of San Francisco philanthropists have raised $7,500 to aid gay Iraqi refugees in Beirut, reports blogger and activist Michael Petrelis.

In related news, with the new parliament selected, the Gay-Straight Alliance is pushing forth with their petition to have Article 534 overturned:

Our new parliament has arrived. And now we will get ready to mail them all – all 128 of them – our petition with the signatures which are now at 2250. That is really cool. I honestly didn’t expect us to cross 2000, I just put 10,000 min rassi [from the top of my head], but we have enough to make an impact! Yes, we do.

So we have one more week to go as we allow the MPs to settle into their new offices. Let’s rally everyone we know who still hasn’t signed to get the sigs up to 2500. I’m guessing every pack will be around 50-70 pages long.

Voila, le link one last time, and thank you all for your amazing work. It shall not stop here. We shall together come up with creative new ways of battling the infamous 534: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/abolish-article-534-of-the-lebanese-penal-code

Best,
Nadz

If you haven’t signed the petition, there isn’t much time left. Make you voice heard and support equal rights for all.

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Abolishing 534

Helem is pushing forward to abolish Article 534 which bans “unnatural sex”, used by the police and judicial department to arrest gays in Lebanon.

Helem is treading carefully. The group, founded in 2004, is talking with legal experts on how to approach lawmakers and lobby to have Article 534 abolished. Helem members would not comment on how they intend to carry out the campaign.

A Gay-Straight Alliance has also emerged with the same goal. You can petition online for the removal of the article and make donations towards the campaign. Also, if you come across a Crepaway in Lebanon, you can pick up their in-store magazine, HangOut, which will contain an awareness advert:

Article 534 Public Awareness Ad

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