Lebanese LGBT Media Monitor

09/01/2023

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️Does anyone have more information? Please everyone stay safe and make sure to inform your friends

28/11/2022

بعد أن كسر وزير الداخلية بسّام مولوي قرار مجلس شورى الدولة، حيث كان الأخير أوقف العمل بقرار صادر عنه، يطلب فيه من قوى الأمن منع أي لقاء أو تجمع لأفراد مجتمع "الميم عين" في لبنان وكل ما يتصل بالمثلية الجنسية.

ليبانون ديبايت بعد أن كسر وزير الداخلية بسّام مولوي قرار مجلس شورى الدولة، حيث كان الأخير أوقف العمل بقرار صادر عنه، يطلب فيه من قوى الأمن منع أي لقاء أو تجمع لأفراد ...

01/11/2022

Treat Me like Your Mother is now a photographic exhibition of Trans women from Beirut’s forgotten past.

It displays photographs of te Trans* women taken during the interviews and recordings from these interviews. It also has old photographs of them from childhood and in later years on display as well as part of a slideshow.

This was part of a project to tell the history of Lebanon through the lens of Trans women who recount growing up during the war, transitioning in more conservative times, asserting themselves at later ages and struggling while younger in a society that did not accept them as they were.

The journal can be bought at the exhibition and can also be found online through cold cuts magazine.

Helem Mina Image Centre

24/10/2022

Two women were filmed on the highway near jal el dib as they kissed on top of a convertible car. The video created controversy after it was posted on social media. Opinions differed as to whether this was acceptable behaviour. One user tweeted that “they think if they uncover their asses means they are cool and it’s freedom while another user tweeted that “personal freedoms remain a priority as long as there is no interference with the freedom of others”. Others were more concerned about road safety than the sexual morality of the situation.

18/10/2022

The Sundance selected documentary “Sirens,” directed by Rita Baghdadi, tells the story of Lebanon’s first all-female metal band, Slave to Sirens. The film is executive-produced by Natasha Lyonne and Maya Rudolph

Per the official synopsis, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lilas and her thrash metal bandmates, Shery, Maya, Alma, and Tatyana (Slave to Sirens),

Sirens, a documentary about the first all-female metal band from Lebanon, premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. It was also considered one of their LGBTQ+ themed films at the festival.

This documentary was directed by Rita Baghdadi with the aim of capturing Lebanon through the lens of these young, norm-defying women. It focuses on these four women, Shery, Maya, Alma,Tatyana, and especially Lilas.

It also explores the past romantic relationship between rhythm guitarist Lilas and lead guitarist Shery Bechara. It also explores their q***r dating lives, particularly that of Lilas, in le***an bars where she opens up about her relations to women in and outside of Lebanon.

05/10/2022

27/09/2022

“For me, it’s a shout out – we are Arab and q***r. I want people to see the sexual side of Arab men.”

In an interview on Means Happy, Samer Bo talks about his erotic fiction and the homophobia he has faced in Egypt. Bo hopes to show the sexual side of gay Arab men in a society that oppresses them. He seeks to increase their visibility through his erotic fiction. This has led his online books to be banned in several Middle Eastern countries.

Link below for full article:

https://meanshappy.com/giving-a-voice-to-gay-arab-men/

Giving a voice to gay Arab men through erotic fiction. Samer Bo: "I want people to feel aroused but also represented."

14/09/2022

يحق للفرقة التي واجهت كل أشكال التهديد والتحريض والقمع والإقصاء والتنكيل الواقعي والافتراضي لسنوات أن تتوقف عن العمل، وأن يبحث أعضاؤها عن السلام بعيدًا عن الجنون ا...

14/09/2022

The Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila has disbanded. This happens after their fourteen-year long career, which Hamed Sinno, their lead singer, described as a “constant battle for breath.”

Sinno announced this on Sunday in an interview with “Sarde after dinner”, a Lebanese podcast. He stated that “none of the band members are thinking of working together, for now".

The band has a large fan base around the world, especially among diaspora Arabs. Their music boldly took on themes of q***rness, feminism, love, and revolution. But not without homophobic backlash.

Now, their fans are expressing their distress over Mashrou’ Leila’s disbandment all over social media.

"The fact that there will be no new Mashrou Leila songs ever makes my heart ache every time I'm reminded…”

“End of an era: Mashrou’ Leila disbanded due nationalism/ homophobia followed by the difficulty of surviving in exile. Their work loves forever. 🔥”

13/09/2022

pays tribute to trans women and femme men who have been excluded from Beirut’s history. For its fourth edition, it worked with Helem to put together “Treat Me Like Your Mother”.

They interviewed and photographed ten ladies. These ladies recount their stories as dancers, entertainers, celebrity figures, or survivors of abuse, discrimination, and the civil war.

This took place over the course of two weeks in 2019.

Members of the LGBTQI+ community in Lebanon are still discriminated against and their stories still suppressed.

01/09/2022

The anti-gay campaign views rainbow-coloured toys as brainwashing tools. It claims that this is part of a larger plot to “promote homosexuality” and encourage children to engage in “sexual deviance”.

01/09/2022

Fetrah is an anti-gay campaign that began on social media as a reaction to pride month in the Arab world. It claims that q***rness is an “erosion of the border between humans and animals” and is a form of sexual deviance imported from the West.

Meta blocked the account on Facebook after it reached over half a million likes. But the hashtag continues with much popularity. The Twitter account still exists with over 75000 followers. It also has a link in its bio that allows one to overlay any picture with a frame of the Fetrah flag and the phrase “There are only two genders” through an image generation service. This service was used more than 26000 times.

Its aim is to return to what it sees as human nature: two genders that reproduce. This explains its use of the two colours pink and blue.

Check out the full article source below!

https://restofworld.org/2022/an-arabic-anti-lgbtq-campaign-is-going-viral-on-twitter/

30/08/2022

The Legal Agenda المفكرة القانونية and Helem have filed an appeal against Interior minister Bassam Mawlawi’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ gatherings in Lebanon.

This ban was made on the 24th of June to stop any gathering that in their belief promoted homosexuality. This ban was legally baseless and made to also satisfy the wishes of religious figures. These gatherings were considered to oppose the norms and traditions of Lebanese society, and therefore were also considered a threat.

Now this decision is being contested for its violation of international human rights, the constitution, and the rule of civil law. Tarek Zeidan from Helem stated that this ban was based on a personal decision and could set a worrying precedent for the future rule of law.

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تقدمت الخميس الماضي "المفكرة القانونية" و"حلم" بطعن أمام مجلس شورى الدولة ضد قرار وزير الداخلية بسام المولوي الصادر في 24/6/2022 بمنع أي لقاء أو تجمّع يتعلق بما أسماه "ظاهرة الشذوذ الجنسي" الذي أدّى إلى إلغاء لقاءات تتعلق بالمثلية الجنسية.
وكان الوزير قد استجاب لطلبات المراجع الدينية فمنع هذه اللقاءات لاعتباره أنها تتعارض مع التقاليد الاجتماعية ومبادئ الأديان السماوية. وأدّى قراره إلى إلغاء لقاءات تندد بسياسات التمييز ضد مجتمع "الميم-عين"، كما تبعه موجة من خطاب الكراهية والتحريض على المثليين والمثليات.
تكمن أهمية الطعن في التصدّي لسياسات التضييق على حريات المعتقد والتعبير والتجمّع والتحريض على الفئات المهمشة فيما شكّل محاولة من القوى الحاكمة لتحوير الانتباه إلى قضايا أخرى ذات طابع هويّاتي بهدف حجب الصراعات الاجتماعية والسياسية بينها وبين “المجتمع”.
وقد استند الطعن إلى عدم صلاحية الوزير لإصدار هكذا منع عام وإلى مخالفة القرار للدستور من خلال تقييده للحريات خلافاً لمبدأي الضرورة والتناسب وإلى تهديده السلم الأهلي وتحريضه ضد فئات مهمشة. كما استند إلى ضرورة التزام الدولة بموقف محايد تجاه الأديان إحتراماً لحرية المعتقد.

للمزيد من التفاصيل:
- ملاحظات "المفكرة" حول قرار وزير الداخلية:
https://bit.ly/3QWeijq
- بيان تحالف حرية الرأي والتعبير:
https://bit.ly/3CF2eyW
- الدين والسياسية و"المثلية": أبرز المواقف في جولة ٢٠٢٢
https://bit.ly/3KHNtgR

Helem

24/08/2022

The conference “Shzooz Normal or Perversion” was held last Thursday in the halls of the municipality of Saida. It is there that they launched their “Not Normal” campaign against the LGBTQ+ community.

The halls were filled with more than 200 people and a high number of volunteers. The event was organised and publicised, with the whole conference filmed live. People of all ages and families were there to attend.

The speakers at the anti-gay conference were M***i Dr. Madrar Habal, M***i Sheikh Ahmed Talib, Bishop Dr. Eli Haddad, represented by Father Sulaiman Wahbe, Judge Hamza Sharafuddin, Dr. Saeed Shaban, and psychiatrist Huda Qadoura.

They claimed that the LGBTQ+ community compromises the freedom of expression of the country and that their existence violates this environment rather than the other way around. They framed this homophobic campaign as part of a patriotic social awareness campaign.

They read out their statistics of high rates of monkey pox, sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer among the community. They then linked this to the members’ inherent abnormality.

They said that the LGBTQ+ members should be empathised with and pitied so long as they accept conversion and treatment for their abnormality. The alternative solution is intolerance and punishment.They interpreted article 534 as a law that clearly opposes homosexuality and that should be used to preserve the country’s values.

It was decided in this conference that there is no place for the LGBTQ+ community. They should either be fixed or gotten rid of.

The conference ended with a vague video testimony of someone who has supposedly recovered from their homosexuality. Their face did not appear. Instead this video used snippets of different films and takes with only this voice as it’s supposed testimony.

17/08/2022

The anti-homosexuality movement’s Instagram page was just reported. The movement’s campaign is "Not Normal” to allude to the LGBTQ+ community. Although it is off Instagram, it is still on many of the billboards in Saida.

16/08/2022

“"Homosexuality: Normal or Perversion?" » This is the title of a conference that will be held next week in Saida in the place of a concert. It is part of the “Not Normal” campaign — a campaign against anything they see as LGBTQ+ related.

This started with a choir concert that was meant to take place in Saida’s Municipal Stadium. Its plan was to hold a parade with Maya Nemah and other Tiktokers.
But religious clerics started the campaign with “Before the City Drowns” as its slogan to oppose this “parade of naked bodies.”

As mosque imams and social media groups and individuals criticised the “diva”clothes of the concert, the municipality changed the venue and withdrew its sponsorship. The municipality is also set to hold this homophobic conference in its halls next week.

This is happening two months after the Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi banned gatherings that “promote homosexuality”.


Source: Megaphone - ميغافون

13/08/2022

Zuhal, also one of the speakers at the Arc Conversations, explains what it means to be a drag queen in general, in Lebanon, and in her life specifically.

Zuhal talks about the history of drag during Shakespearean times and it’s current influence on make up culture as well as popular culture overall.

Zuhal also shares her own experience as a drag queen in the country and the resilience it requires.