Egyptian Film Offends Extremist Religious Scholars

A lesbian sex scene in an Egyptian film has outraged religious scholars, who are telling people not to watch the 'sinful' movie. An Islamic Studies professor at Cairo University wants the Egyptian authorities to prosecute the director and both actresses involved in the scene, Ghada Abdel-Razeq and Sumaya Al-Khashab. Dr Abdel-Sabour Shahin believes the film, Hina Maysara (Until Further Notice), promotes homosexuality and debauchery and destroys morality in society.

Muslim teachers at Al-Azhar University have also slammed the film and support Shahin's indignation. One professor at the University, Elwi Amin, claimed there was no lesbianism in Egypt.He also said that watching scenes of a sexual nature, whether homosexual or heterosexual, was a sin. "Many people in Egypt do not even know what the word 'lesbianism' means. This is the influence of immoral Western culture which controls the media," he told the Al Arabiya News Channel.

One of the actresses, Sumaya Al-Khashab, does not regret making the scene and highlighted it was important to the narrative of the movie:"Whoever watches the movie will realize that this scene was important to the storyline and is not included just to be sensational," she said.

This was not the first homosexual scene in Egyptian cinema, although the previous scene involved men instead of women. Director Khaled Youssef asked people to watch the film before they made up their minds:"I will not respond to those who criticise without even watching the movie. "Lots of people accuse me of apostasy and immorality based on seeing the film poster.

Gay Muslim Outs Himself to Muslim Scholars at Conference

JOHANNESBURG, December 3, 2007 (PlusNews) – Suhail AbualSameed looked calm,
yet he was shaking inside. He was seated before a row of ulama,
distinguished Islamic scholars, from Afghanistan to Yemen at the
International Consultation on Islam and HIV/AIDS, organised by the charity,
Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), in Johannesburg, South Africa, last week.

The previous day, several of them had denounced homosexuality as un-Islamic
and evil.

Today, AbualSameed had something to tell them.

“As a gay Muslim, I feel unsafe, unloved and unrespected in this space,” he
said.

“Were I to become HIV-positive, the first thing I would lose is my Muslim
community. I couldn’t come to you guys for support.”

You could cut the tension the room with a knife.

AbualSameed continued: “I wish you did not refer to gays with the (Arabic)
words ‘shaz’ and ‘luti’ – perverts and rapists – because we are not.”

Two men in keffiyas, the gingham headcloth worn by men in many Muslim
countries, waved their arms to silence him but the chairman nodded for him
to continue.

Spellbound, the audience listened as AbualSameed, a Jordanian living in
Canada, did the unthinkable: outing himself.

The groundbreaking consultation brought together Muslim community leaders,
academics, doctors, relief workers and HIV-positive activists to rethink the
Islamic response to HIV and AIDS. One key issue was HIV prevention among
hard-to-reach vulnerable groups like sex workers, street children, injecting
drug users, and men who have sex with men.

Jaffer Inamdar, the HIV-positive founder and programme manager of the
Positive Lives Foundation in Goa, India, told IRIN/PlusNews: “Lots of sex,
drugs and gay activity take place during the high season from September to
April in this popular tourist destination. Harsh, condemning language make
them [gays] run away, hide and continue to spread HIV.”

Anti-gay laws

Homosexuality is forbidden and considered a crime in most Islamic countries.
Six officially Islamic countries (Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, United
Arab Emirates, Yemen, and the 12 northern states of Nigeria) invoke sharia –
Islamic religious law – and maintain the death penalty for consensual
same-sex sex, according to human rights watchdog Amnesty International.

Other countries punish homosexuality with fines, jail or lashes, coupled
with social stigma and blaming Western culture for introducing gay
lifestyles.

Not surprisingly, AbualSameed was fearful.

“I saw their gaze, their body attitude, and my memory told me there could be
a physical reaction,” he said.

But he had nothing to fear.

“Afterwards, veiled women, bearded men, the most religious types, came to me
and apologised if they had said something offensive, if they had made me
feel unloved or unsafe.”

Each friendly gesture signalled belonging.

“This is us: our culture is intimate, warm, based on relationships. When I
outed to my family, they did not turn on me,” a relieved AbualSameed told
IRIN/PlusNews.

The following morning, the ulama had a surprise.

Conference spokesperson and IRW head of policy Willem van Eekelen read their
collective statement, saying that although Islam does not accept
homosexuality, Islamic leaders would try to help create an environment in
which gay people could approach social workers and find help against AIDS
without feeling unsafe.

“This first time ever that a high-level religious forum has talked,
acknowledged and accepted gays,” said AbualSameed.

“This will open the door to talks with the Muslim gay community and help
other gay Muslims to come out in a safer space.”

To see theologians from Egyptian and Syrian universities, and imams – Muslim
community leaders – from India, Sudan and Pakistan defy official Islamic
homophobia is “definitively a first,” said sheikh Abul Kalam Azad, chairman
of the Masjid (mosque) Council for Community Advancement, in Bangladesh.

“Homosexuality is a sin but we should not be cruel. They [gays] suffer a
lot in the Muslim world.”

Inamdar welcomed the statement.

“There are many gays in my group [in Goa]. Islam says it is a sin and we
have to follow Islamic rulings, but we are all human and deserve respect.”

An unlikely ally for gay rights turned out to be Sudanese sheikh Mohamed
Hashim Alhakim, dressed in a white robe with gold trimmings and a white
turban, and his wife, clad in a black hijab, with their baby just behind
him.

Alkahim runs the S-Smart Training and Consultancy Centre in Khartoum, which
also runs AIDS awareness programmes.

“I used to be very hard against homosexuals and sex workers,” he said. “But
I learned to respect their humanity. I advise them to change, but if they
are going to continue they must practice safe sex so they don't harm
themselves and their partners.”

During the weeklong consultation, AbualSameed, who is coordinator of the
Newcomer/Immigrant Youth Programme at the Sherbourne Health Centre in
Toronto, had endured homophobic statements.

Just the day before, one scholar had ranked homosexuality with bestiality
and adultery as evils to avoid.

“The harshness of the comments made me passionate; I had to do something for
my own identity and dignity, and of other gay Muslims,” said AbualSameed.

His decision to speak out was nurtured in his conference working group, made
up of Muslims from Iran, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.

South African psychologist Sabra Desai spoke about care and solidarity, and
recalled the Prophet’s words: “‘If one part of my body hurts, my whole body
hurts’,” she said. “I take this to mean that if one member of my community
hurts, we all hurt.”

Then she squeezed AbualSameed’s hand under the table and passed him the
microphone.

Slowly, he started: “As a Gay Muslim …”.

And with every word, the doors of tolerance opened wider.

In Israel, gay Arab activists forge ahead with plans for a rare public conference

JERUSALEM: A rare gathering of openly gay Arab activists is slated to be held in Israel this month, drawing the ire of religious conservatives. Headlined "Home and Exile," the March 28 meeting is meant to spark discussion of homosexuality among Israel's 1 million Arab citizens, said Roula Deeb, a prominent Arab feminist and one of the scheduled speakers. The conference is being organized by Aswat, an Arab lesbian group based in Haifa, a coastal city home to both Jews and Arabs. Around 100 to 150 people are expected to show up, Deeb said.

With homosexuality a taboo topic in much of the Arab world, the meeting is important simply because it is taking place. Israel is generally tolerant of homosexuality, and the country's secular metropolis, Tel Aviv, is home to a thriving gay community. But Israel's Arabs, who make up 20 percent of the population, live mostly in separate communities and homosexuality is still considered out of bounds. When news of the conference, which was advertised on Aswat's Web site, reached the Islamic Movement in Israel, it sparked a war of words between Arab liberals and Muslim conservatives."Lesbians ... need treatment, they don't need to spread their strange ideas in the Arab community," said Mohammed Zbidat, a spokesman for the Islamic Movement, a conservative force that has grown increasingly influential in the Arab Israeli community in recent years. Homosexuality is strictly forbidden by Islam, and an earlier statement issued by the Movement described it as a "cancer" in the Arab community.

The conference draws its supporters mostly from the ranks of secular and educated Arabs. It is sponsored by two Haifa cafes popular among Arab intellectuals and artists, and an Arab women's rap group is scheduled to perform. "This is a political issue," said Raja Zaatry, a journalist at the left-leaning Ittihad (Unity) newspaper, who condemned the Islamic Movement's stance in an editorial last week. "Today, they are attacking gays and women — tomorrow, who else?" he said in an interview. "We shouldn't compromise. We have to challenge this fundamentalist stream in our society."

In Lebanon, perhaps the Arab world's most liberal state, homosexuals have held news conferences and run a magazine called "Barra" — meaning "out" — the only publication of its kind. But nearly everywhere in the Arab world, individuals face persecution if they come out openly. Still, violence against participants in the Haifa conference is not expected."We've called on people to fight this in all legal means. We don't condone violence," said the Islamic Movement's Zbidat. The conference's organizers did not want to respond to the controversy. "We are focusing all our energies on the conference right now," a spokeswoman said.

On the Web: http://www.aswatgroup.org/english

Coming out in Arabic

When Rauda Morcos heard there was an emailing list for lesbian Palestinians, she couldn't believe it at first.

"I thought it was a joke," she said. "Until then, I thought I was the only lesbian who speaks Arabic."

The list was certainly not a joke but, in a society where same-sex relations are still taboo, its members guarded their privacy. The only way a newcomer could join was by personal recommendation.

"Eventually I got in," Ms Morcos recalled, "and I found a lot of other [lesbian] women who couldn't be out."

After corresponding by email for a few months, she thought it would be good to talk with some of the invisible women face to face, so, in January 2003, Ms Morcos and her flatmate called a meeting.

"We had no expectations," she said, "but eight women turned up. The meeting lasted eight hours and I don't think anybody wanted to go home."

That, it later turned out, marked the birth of Aswat ("Voices") - the first openly-functioning organisation for Arab lesbians in the Middle East.

"We realised we had a great responsibility towards other women in our community," Ms Morcos continued. "We tried to contact many organisations and sent out letters but the only reply came from Kayan ["Being"], a group of feminists in Haifa ... Many NGOs don't count it as a human rights issue or want to be associated."

Three years on, though, Aswat is firmly established with more than 70 members spread across the West Bank, Gaza and Israel (where the organisation is based). Only about 20 attend its meetings; the need to keep their sexuality secret, plus Israeli restrictions on movement, prevent others from attending but they keep in touch through email and an online discussion forum.

Beyond the group itself, there are also signs of acceptance in a few places. "We do a lot of work within the community, for example with youth groups, counsellors, and so on," Ms Morcos said. "That proves to me at least that the gay/lesbian movement has started for us as Palestinians."

One of Aswat's main goals is to provide information about sexuality that is widely available elsewhere but has never been published in Arabic. This is not simply a matter of translation; it's also about developing "a 'mother tongue' with positive, un-derogatory and affirmative expressions of women and lesbian sexuality and gender ... We are creating a language that no one spoke before".

If women are to find their voice, the language needs to be re-appropriated, Ms Morcos explains in an article on Aswat's website. "I have forgotten my language. I don't know how to say 'to make love' in Arabic without it sounding chauvinistic, aggressive and alien to the experience."

Recognition for Aswat's work came earlier this year when Ms Morcos won the 2006 Felipa de Souza award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. The citation described her as "a true example of courageous and effective human rights leadership", but Ms Morcos is quick to point out that other women are also doing a lot of work behind the scenes.

Speaking to a standing-room-only meeting of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign during a visit to London last week, she explained that necessity has made her the public face of Aswat. Many of the women involved do not want to be identified - often with good reason. "But if we don't want to come out as persons, let's at least come out as a movement," she said.

Ms Morcos's own coming-out was not entirely voluntary and proved particularly unpleasant. In 2003 she gave an interview to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot about the poetry she writes. In passing, she mentioned her sexuality - only to find that the L-word turned up in the newspaper's headline. An article on Aswat's website describes what happened next:

"All of a sudden, the Arab population of her home town [in northern Israel], which she generally assumed to have no interest in the literary supplements of Hebrew newspapers, seemed to have read the article and had something to say about her. Local corner shop owners made photocopies and distributed it, because, after all, everyone knew it was about the daughter of so-and-so from their own town.

"The consequences of that article were far more serious than Ms Morcos had imagined: her car windows were smashed and tyres were punctured several times, she received innumerable threatening letters and phone calls, and, to top it all, 'coincidentally' lost her job as a school teacher, since parents of pupils complained that they did not want her as a teacher."

Arab society today is riddled with the kind of anti-gay prejudices that were found in Britain half a century ago, and persecution is common. Muslim clerics condemn homosexuality in no uncertain terms, though similar statements can be heard from Arab Christian leaders too, such as the Coptic Pope in Egypt who once declared that "so-called human rights" for gay people were "unthinkable".

With a few exceptions here and there, this is the prevailing attitude in all the Arab countries, but in Palestinian society the issue of gay rights is further complicated - and made much more political - by the conflict with Israel.

Israel legalised same-sex relations between men in 1988. Four years later, it went a step further and became the only country in the Middle East that outlaws discrimination based on sexuality. A series of court cases then put the theory into practice - for example, when El Al was forced to provide a free ticket for the partner of a gay flight attendant, as the airline already did for the partners of its straight employees.

These are undisputed achievements but they have also become a propaganda tool, reinforcing Israel's claim to be the only liberal, democratic society in the Middle East. At the same time, highlighting Israel's association with gay rights has made life more difficult for gay Arabs, adding grist to the popular notion that homosexuality is a "disease" spread by foreigners.

Linking the twin enemies of Israel and homosexuality provides a double whammy for Arab propagandists, as can be seen from sections of the Egyptian press. In an article to mark the 30th anniversary of the October war, a headline in the Egyptian paper Sabah al-Kheir announced: "Golda Meir was a lesbian." In 2001, following the mass arrest of more than 50 allegedly gay men, al-Musawwar magazine published a doctored photograph of the supposed ringleader, showing him in an Israeli army helmet and sitting at a desk with an Israeli flag.

Israel, however, is not quite the gay paradise that many imagine. There is still hostility from conservative Jews, and some of their blood-curdling statements are not very different from the more widely publicised remarks of Muslim clerics. In Jerusalem last year, the ultra-Orthodox mayor banned a pride march, though an Israeli court promptly overturned his decision. As the parade took place, a Jewish religious fanatic attacked three marchers with a knife and reportedly told the police he had come "to kill in the name of God".

The gay rights movement in Israel also has a questionable history. Lee Walzer, author of Between Sodom and Eden, explains in an article that the first Israeli activists pursued "a very mainstream strategy" that "reinforced the perception that gay rights was a non-partisan issue, unconnected to the major fissure in Israeli politics, the Arab-Israeli conflict and how to resolve it".

"Embracing gay rights," he continues, "enabled Israelis to pat themselves on the back for being open-minded, even as Israeli society wrestled less successfully with other social inequalities."

As part of their strategy, activists sought "to convince the wider public that gay Israelis were good patriotic citizens who just happened to be attracted to the same sex". As a general principle this may be valid, but in the context of war and occupation it leads into murky territory. Should it really be a matter of pride that openly gay members of the Israeli armed forces are just as capable of wreaking havoc on neighbouring Lebanon as the next person?

The question here is whether gay rights - in Israel or elsewhere - can really be divorced from politics or treated in isolation from other human rights. Helem, the Lebanese gay and lesbian organisation, thinks not, arguing that gay rights are an inseparable part of human rights - as does Ms Morcos.

For Ms Morcos, there's a connection between nationality, gender and sexuality. She has a triple identity, as a lesbian, a woman and a Palestinian (despite having an Israeli passport) - "a minority within a minority within a minority", as she puts it. Her first concern, though, is to end the Israeli occupation, and she sees no prospect of achieving gay rights for Palestinians while it continues.

Nowadays, the more radical Israeli activists also acknowledge a linkage. In 2001, Walzer recalls, "Tel Aviv's pride parade, typically a celebratory, hedonistic affair, got a dose of politics when a contingent called 'Gays in Black' marched with a banner proclaiming, 'There's No Pride In Occupation'." Later, a group called Kvisa Sh'chora ("Dirty Laundry") sprang up and began drawing parallels between the oppression of sexual minorities and Israeli oppression of the Palestinians.

The issue was further highlighted in 2002 when Ariel Sharon became the first Israeli prime minister to formally meet a gay delegation. Activist Hagai El-Ad asked: "Is this an achievement for our community, or an example of a lack of feeling, callousness and loss of direction?"

He continued: "It would be unbearable to simply sit with the prime minister and, on behalf of our minority, ignore the human rights of others, including what's been happening here in relation to Palestine for the past year: roadblocks, prevention of access to medical care, assassinations, and implementation of an apartheid policy in the territories and in Israel.

"The struggle for our rights is worthless if it's indifferent to what's happening to people a kilometre from here.

"All we get by holding the meeting with the prime minister," he concluded, "is symbolic legitimacy for the community. What he gets for sitting down with us is the mantle of enlightenment and pluralism."

This mantle of enlightenment and pluralism does not, however, extend to Israel's treatment of gay Palestinians. For those who face persecution in the West Bank and Gaza, the most obvious escape route is to Israel, but this often leaves them trapped in an administrative no-man's-land with little hope of getting a proper job in Israel and constantly at risk of arrest and deportation.

Meanwhile, as far as the average Palestinian is concerned, fleeing into Israel is a betrayal of the cause, and gay men who remain in the Palestinian territories also come under suspicion - not always without good reason. There have been various reports of gay Palestinians being targeted or pressurised by Israeli intelligence to act as informers. Whether or not they actually succumb to the pressure, all inevitably come under suspicion.

"Gays in Palestine are seen as collaborators immediately," said Ms Morcos.

WorldPride supports gay Palestinians

Despite a call from some LGBT Arabs to boycott WorldPride in Israel, WorldPride organisers – Jerusalem Open House - will express solidarity with gay Palestinians today at a demonstration at the city’s separation wall.

As the WorldPride Jerusalem 2006 organisers wrote, "Holding WorldPride in Jerusalem, the city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is a significant opportunity for our diverse community to raise a different voice, a voice for progressive moral values, inclusion and pluralism."

However, Remy of Helem, an LGBT Lebanese group, said:

“WorldPride in Jerusalem -- a parade for love and acceptance in an occupied land, a land which knows no acceptance nor love? Helem supports the international boycott of Jerusalem WorldPride. Lebanese (and many other Arabs) have no right to enter Jerusalem.”

Israel-based Palestinian lesbian activist Rauda Morcos said, “We don't agree to participate in a WorldPride that does not take a political stand against the occupation”.

The demonstration will emphasise problems of the political situation and offer support to LGBT Palestinians who do not have the same resources as Israelis, including those of the JOH.

Participants will gather in Gan Ha-pa'amon from 830 in the morning and will march to a pre selected spot near the separation wall to express their support.

Other WorldPride highlights this week include an LGBT Clergy Multifaith Convocation: "Reclaiming Our Faith and Our Heritage," a protest highlighting anti-gay incitement and hate campaigns targeting lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people, and conferences on gay youth, human rights and health.

Al Fatiha's Open Letter Regarding World Pride

Open Letter to the LGBTIQ Community and WorldPride Participants

As LGBTIQ Muslims and allies, the Al-Fatiha Foundation is torn, but united in our boycott of WorldPride in Jerusalem. As a religious organization, Al-Fatiha embraces the great symbolism that WorldPride in Jerusalem represents: the bringing together of LGBTIQ people in a city regarded as holy by Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Yet, this WorldPride will not be a bringing together of people; Palestinians and the vast majority of Muslims will continue to be denied access to the city of Jerusalem. Al-Fatiha cannot, in good faith, support participation in WorldPride held in a segregated Jerusalem, under an Israeli apartheid system.

There is no pride in a system of apartheid institutionalized by the Israeli government and enforced by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) against Palestinian civilians. Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza are routinely denied freedom of movement and unrestricted access to Jerusalem. Palestinians must carry identity cards to go anywhere, and if granted, special permits to enter or exit Jerusalem. Every day, Palestinians must endure numerous checkpoints which restrict and often prohibit their travel for work, for education, and for healthcare. The escalating violence targeting civilians in Palestine/Israel precludes freedom of movement for everyone, regardless of sexuality, religion or ethnicity.

There is no pride in collective punishment of millions of people, in wholesale denial of food, water, adequate shelter, right to property, freedom of movement, access to health care and hospitals, access to education, right to earn a living, right to integrity and liberty. These are basic human rights. And, these are human rights that are systematically violated by policies and practices of the Israeli government and the IDF on a daily basis throughout Palestine.

The recent Israeli bombing of a water treatment plant and the sole power plant that supplies electricity to sixty-five percent of Gaza Strip's 1.4 million inhabitants is just one example of collective punishment experienced by all Palestinians--regardless of religion, political or ideological persuasion, sexual expression or identity. To date, thousands of Palestinians are still without access to clean water and electricity during the hottest summer months.

In addition, the recent systematic violence by Israel targeting civilian lives in Lebanon and the deliberate annihilation of Lebanese infrastructure of water and electric power plants, airports, seaports, highways, schools and hospitals further widens the scope of collective punishment of millions of innocent civilians.

As an organization, and as a community that spans all continents of the globe, Al-Fatiha stands for justice, peace and self-determination for all people. We believe that all people have the inherent right to liberty, and to freedom of sexual and religious expression. We equally believe that all people have inviolable human rights, regardless of ethnicity, culture, or nationality.

The Al-Fatiha Foundation stands in solidarity with the many individuals and organizations, such as ASWAT and Helem, which are actively working for nonviolent, peaceful solutions to the violations of human rights in Palestine/Israel, and now Lebanon. We envision a time when all people, regardless of faith, sexuality, gender, ethnicity, culture, or nationality, may celebrate a true WorldPride in a united Jerusalem.

In Struggle and Solidarity,

Al-Fatiha Board of Directors
http://www.al-fatiha.org/

Lebanon Minister Denies Approving Gay Group

BEIRUT: Lebanon's acting Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat Saturday denied charges by conservative Muslim clerics that the government had approved a gay rights group as well as nudist beaches at two resorts. "Contrary to what has been alleged in sermons in the mosques, we have authorized neither the Helem (Dream) Association nor the opening of nudist beaches at Jounieh and Jbeil (Byblos)," Fatfat said.

"These reports manufactured by certain preachers and a section of the press are without foundation," he added.

Homosexuality remains outlawed in Lebanon as an offense "against nature" and carries a jail term of six months to a year.

But in the year since it began operation, the Helem Association said it had noticed an easing of the attitude of sections of the police, judiciary and press towards its campaign for decriminalization.

A petition seeking prosecution of the gay rights group filed by a Beirut city attorney earlier this year was rejected by the attorney general's office, which ruled that the group's operation of an office and a Web site did not constitute an offense.