Gay arabs
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Bahrain | Photo: Charles Adrien Fournier
15 LGBT Arabs who are getting media attention
These individuals have come out publicly in a courageous effort to change the narrative.
If one thing can be said about LGBT individuals in the Arab world is that they certainly do not have it easy.
I’m not sure that I’m going to see it in our generation, but maybe in the future.
You’ve talked about the idea of “privileged gays,” people that have the luxury of looking for surrogates, getting married and doing all of those things. For a more relaxed vibe, Silver Sands Beach is a private spot popular among locals and expats, offering a discreet and welcoming atmosphere.
Explore the nation’s extreme landscapes, from desert plateaus to offshore archipelagos, stopping at top spots such as Tabarka’s red coral shores, the UNESCO-recognised beaches and valleys of Bizerte and Dougga and the cultural centre of Tunis.
Tunisian society is viewed positively among the Arab gay community for its LGBT progress, as the base for organisations such as ‘Mawjoudin’ which campaigns for LGBTQ minority rights.
But like many things in life (kale smoothies, Pilates, my first time watching Game of Thrones), it turned out to be far more nuanced than I expected.
This was a trip of unexpected warmth: from locals who were genuinely curious, kind, and (often surprisingly) open-minded in private settings. They live, love, and build community in quiet ways, and many are eager to engage with the outside world, even if only discreetly.
But “Oriented,” released on iTunes to coincide with this summer’s Pride celebrations, is not your typical take on the Arab world.The brainchild of Jewish director Jake Witzenfeld, Oriented offers a candid view of LGBT life in the Middle East.
As the Israeli-Gaza conflict escalates in 2014, viewers follow Khader and his friends Fadi Daeem and Naeem Jiryes, all Palestinian, through the daily complexities in their world; waiting out incessant air raids, navigating family dynamics, and the moral implications of dating Jewish men.
And while Khader and his friends are free in many ways, they are also bound: bound by living as a Palestinian in Israel; being gay within sometimes conservative Arab communities; and bound by being labeled something they are not simply because of their religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
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[Oriented] is the first time you can watch a movie that three gay Arabs are the heroes and not the victims. This is the first time you can see open-minded, really educated people that speak at least three languages, Arab gay guys who are actually not so far from the Western [way of] life and can talk at the same eye level as Western people.
As an Arab living in Israel, how much do you identify with the larger Arab world, especially the gay community?
I identify with almost 80 percent of the Arab world because there is at least 20 percent that I cannot even relate to.
I wish that I could live in a utopic world where I could say, “I’m just gay” or “I’m just human.” But today when the West is turning its back on Arabs and on Islam and on humanity, you start to be afraid.
Why is very little, if any, mention of religion in the film?
While I am Muslim and Fadi and Naeem are Christians, we don’t talk about it inside of our relationship because we are not those kind of boys.
Can you elaborate?
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I will not hate English people because they are not from the European Union anymore and going right. I will never stop missing you xx."
While Fawaz has maintained his love for Michael, family members have criticized the couple's relationship and rumors have circulated since the singer's death.
Subhi Nahas is a gay Syrian refugee who fled his home country after government soldiers took him in for questioning for acting in an "effeminate way."
In 2012, Nahas was pulled out of a bus and locked in a room where the soldiers "harassed him and called him homophobic names" for nearly 30 minutes.
"And that moment I was like, feeling that - yeah that's the end of it," Subhi says when describing the incident.
Soon after, the soldiers released him without harm.
Nahas then left Syria for Lebanon, before moving to Turkey.
Morocco's most famous belly dancer, Nour Talbi, is a legend in her native country.
The 1.85 meters seductress describes herself as a fully integrated woman.
She left for Europe at 18 as Nourredine and returned years later as Noor.
She began her career in dance and hasn’t looked back since.
That was so sad because we are Muslims and we are part of the LGBT community and you are calling for killing all of us. Today, the country is both as modern and wealthy as you may have come to expect from the region, running its own Formula 1 Grand Prix alongside a fun arts and culture scene, particularly in Manama where an ex-pat foodie takeover has emerged, bringing evermore diversity of choice to the city’s shores.
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