BERUIT

POPULAR: Radio in the Mar Mikhael area of the city draws a mixed crowd

SMALL STEPS TOWARDS RIGHTS ARE BEING TAKEN IN BUT VIOLENCE AGAINST LGBT+ PEOPLE STILL GOES UNPUNISHED, WHILE RELIGIOUS LEADERS WITH POLITICAL POWER CONTINUE TO RAIL AGAINST . CONFLICTING IDEOLOGIES WITHIN THE GAY COMMUNITY ARE NOT HELPING EITHER...

WORDS: AGNISH RAY // PHOTOGRAPHS: ROLAND RAGI A ray of light

hile at Amsterdam Pride would be a success but I never knew it but invariably it is Lebanon’s gay on insubstantial grounds, bullied, than trying to find and convict detained by police who claimed that, last year, Hadi Damien would be this successful.” community that suffers. humiliated and physically hurt in the attacker, the police mocked, as a , she was unlawfully knew it was time his One might wonder why Pride had Prosecutions made under Article 534 police custody. intimidated and sexually harassed concealing her true identity. home celebrated its never been celebrated in Lebanon are becoming less common and several the couple. “They didn’t even bother Sasha, 20, knows being trans is not inaugural Pride. But the city he had in before. After all, Beirut is often hailed courts have ruled recently that the FURNITURE DESIGNER NAJI RAJI tells looking for the car,” says Lea, “they a crime and after several hours at the mind isn’t in Europe, America or any as a liberal oasis in the , article should not apply to consensual me how he was held by the police were only interested in our sexuality.” police station, lawyers sent by Proud other part of the world known for its home to a vibrant gay scene, vocal same-sex activity. in 2008 when a gay pornographic Even more recently, just a month Lebanon and Helem secured her wide-ranging liberal attitudes. activists and LGBT+ organisations that However, the lack of defined legal movie was found on his laptop. It after Beirut Pride, Sasha Elijah was release. However, 10 months later, about function much more openly than in protection means LGBT+ people are took five years of legal battles and a She is encouraged by the fact that 4,000 people attended Beirut Pride’s many neighbouring countries. still vulnerable to discriminatory $4,000 (£3,000) fine for him to avoid the rights group and lawyers were able eight-day programme of poetry But at the centre of Lebanon’s interpretations of the law, while a prison sentence, with the help of a to help her. It’s a sign of progress, she readings, fashion workshops, drag queer struggle is Article 534 of the violence against its members — often gay rights group called Helem. The says. “But we still have a lot of work performances, film screenings and penal code, which prosecutes “sexual perpetrated by or on the behalf of the incident continues to leave a “stain” “I was astonioshed. I knew to do,” she adds. “We have to work on parties. Bars in the hip Mar Mikhael intercourse contrary to the order of authorities — goes unpunished. on 29-year-old Naji, affecting his changing the law because there is still neighbourhood raised the Beirut Pride nature.” A report recently published by the professional life. Beirut Pride would be a zero protection for LGBT+ people.” flag in support and by halfway through This ambiguous wording might civil rights group Proud Lebanon In another case, 25-year-old bar Sasha is now using her modelling the week all the event’s official suggest sexual activity for any purpose documents alarming levels of manager Léa Freiha and her girlfriend success but I never knew it career to help advance the movement. wristbands had gone. other than procreation (oral sex, mistreatment and abuse by police and were victims of an attempted rape By gaining visibility as a trans model “I was astonished to see people so masturbation, sex with contraceptives) other national authorities, with queer in November 2016. The assailant would be this successful” across Lebanon, the Middle East and supportive,” Hadi says. “I knew it could be considered a criminal offence, people repeatedly targeted, arrested escaped, stealing their car. But rather HADI Europe, she is proud to act as a positive ›

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DISCRIMINATION: Police claimed that as a trans woman, Sasha was trying to hide her true identity

BATTLE: Naji fought the law for five years after gay porn was found on his laptop

“We still have a lot of work to do on changing the law because there is still zero protection for the LGBT+ community” SASHA

ambassador, reaching out to and Makso, tells me that the location of empowering others. this community centre is essential to But visibility is not without its risks. its mission because it allows easier “I’m very exposed,” she says. “There access for people from other parts of aren’t many trans people in the Middle Lebanon and those who don’t spend East doing what I’m doing. I never time in central Beirut. know when I might come across some This helps ensure that gay freedom transphobic people.” and solidarity aren’t afforded only to certain classes of people: either SASHA FELT THIS ACUTELY on tourists on holiday, or the affluent International Day Against middle class of the capital. and this year, when a Hadi too, as he now prepares for conference at which she was speaking, Beirut Pride 2018, reflects that cutting organised by Proud Lebanon and across social divisions was one of his falling at the start of Beirut Pride proudest achievements at this year’s week, was cancelled by its host venue event. Some of the teenagers from following pressure from religious poorer backgrounds were there even groups and a lack of protection against Indeed, a event is not of Pride — revolving around drinking, if it meant their families kicking them protestors. itself necessarily a signal of progress. dancing, drugs and nudity — not to out of the house,” he explains. This incident turned out to be one Activists in Uganda have managed to mention so-called pink-washing by “These people don’t have money but of the pivotal controversies to emerge hold similar events for many years, some corporations and governments in they have nerves. These people change ATTACKED: The from Beirut Pride — organiser Hadi in spite of a poor human rights cities around the world. police were less the world. They are the fuel of Beirut was criticised for failing to speak out environment for LGBT+ people. India But parties and sex are largely what interested in finding Pride.” the man who tried to against the security forces that refused also sees significant Pride marches, drive the reputation of Beirut as the rape Léa Freiha than These concerns about socio- to protect Proud Lebanon’s conference. despite same-sex relations being illegal. gay paradise of the Middle East. This her sexuality economic inequality indicate that the The criticisms are part of a wider And, on the flip side, even though glamorisation of ‘Gay-rut’ in the eyes freedoms which the LGBT+ movement concern from the LGBT+ community Turkey does not actually criminalise of Western tourists is ultimately driven is fighting for are intertwined with the that Beirut Pride did not send a homosexuality, Istanbul’s Gay Pride in by consumption and associated with Growing up, Hamed didn’t listen to want to make music that would just region’s broader political questions — strong enough political message to June was violently shut down by police. privilege, failing to recognise the much Arabic music. “A lot of it was be listened to by the bourgeoisie of class, security and gender — and their the country’s decision makers about So, it’s normal to want to ensure persisting social and legal vulnerability hard for me to access or relate to. It Beirut,” he explains. associated civil rights. It cannot be how dissatisfied and impatient queer the political effectiveness of Beirut of many queer people, particularly the was at college that I realised this was a ignored, for example, that the gradual people are for change. Pride. Moreover, many in Beirut want less economically fortunate. bit of a class marker.” UNDERSTANDING THESE SOCIAL decline of gay bars in Beirut has The initial wording of Hadi’s mission to avoid mimicking a certain model It’s a view shared by Hamed Sinno, Lebanon’s division between French DELINEATIONS is crucial to the LGBT+ correlated with the escalation of the statements used the word “apolitical” the gay lead singer of Lebanese indie and Arabic speakers is intrinsically rights movement. They are among the war in , or that, as Human Rights in outlining the intentions of the band Mashrou’ Leila, who believes linked to socio-economic class. Hamed key concerns of Proud Lebanon and Watch (HRW) confirms, gay Syrian event, which sat uncomfortably with that “once you start defining queer (the son of a Jordanian mother, raised groups such as Helem and the Arab refugees are most at risk of persecution many. liberation as your ability to consume, in Italy and Germany, and a Lebanese Foundation for Freedoms and Equality. by Lebanese authorities. But Hadi insists you don’t have to “You can’t really organise you’re limiting the thing.” father, who spent a large part of his life Getting ready for Proud Lebanon’s Kicking off the Proud Lebanon describe something as political for it to a protest. A protest has to Hamed has quickly become one of in America) attended a school where weekly community meeting, about meeting, Bertho says: “Remember be political. “You can’t really organise the country’s most prominent LGBT+ “everyone was disgustingly wealthy” 20 of us squeeze into the small front the two rules here: no religion, no a protest,” he says. “A protest has to evolve from the momentum spokesmen. He tells me how bad his and where Arabic was not just poorly room of a building nestled between car politics.” These are a clear rejection evolve from the momentum of the Arabic was when he was younger, taught but actively discouraged. dealerships and big residential blocks of Lebanon’s system of national people. And there is no Pride in the of the people. No Pride in the which is surprising, given that today Hamed reacted against Lebanon’s in , a working-class suburb of governance; a system which is seen world that is not political, or not a the band sings exclusively in that language divisions by choosing Arabic Beirut. to be the root of many of the LGBT+ protest in itself.” world is not political” HADI language. as the language of his songs. “I didn’t Proud Lebanon’s director, Bertho community’s problems. › 70 SEPTEMBER 2017 SEPTEMBER 2017 71 GAY BERUIT

Through the larger part of the 20th International Day Against Homophobia century, Lebanon was at the centre “[The view is] we can’t and Transphobia with events, despite of conflicts involving Israel, Syria, not actually calling them Pride. Palestine, France, the US and various protect the country from So, rather than considering Pride in rebel militias, as well as civil unrest isolation, HRW senior researcher Neela between the country’s own Muslims Islamic State but we can Ghoshal says that real change comes and Christians. about most often through a Today, a system of sectarian keep the homos in jail” combination of grassroots activism, factionalism rules the country, HAMED SINNO legal reform, alliance-building and the comprising Shi’a, Sunni and Christian support of high-profile opinion leaders. institutions. This system’s main Lebanon is no exception, she adds. purpose is to maintain Mainstreaming LGBT+ peace, following rights within broader the devastation of NO RELIGION, human rights movements NO POLITICS: The religious conflicts; director of Proud has already proved any derailing of it Lebanon, Bertho instrumental in Lebanon’s could, therefore, Makso progress on queer rights, as be ideologically have the agency of the catastrophic. And country’s independent given that Christian courts and the support of and Muslim professional classes such as leaders are united lawyers and medics. So, by in condemning continuing to mobilise a homosexuality, the broad civil rights revolution LGBT+ movement to topple the systems that is “terrifying” oppress, marginalise and precisely because it persecute the vulnerable, requires a deviation Lebanon’s LGBT+ movement from the upheld could be on the verge of sectarianism that has something of which to be for so long seemingly truly proud. stabilised a chaotic past. Ultimately, this illustrates how SUPPORT: Hadi victimising a group Damien was as vulnerable as the astonished by the success of queer community is Beirut Pride one of the easiest, most powerful tools in silencing political dissent. It is no coincidence that abuses against LGBT+ people in Lebanon often surge after the state is seen to have lost credibility elsewhere, such as in national security matters. As rock star Hamed puts it: “We can’t protect the country from Islamic State but we can keep the homos in jail.”

BEIRUT IS A CITY WHOSE SPIRIT of revolution and hunger for justice are palpable and infectious. However, HRW admits that it is still unclear what additional effect Beirut Pride will have on Lebanon, especially given that the city has, for decades, been marking

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