(Re)Constructing Beirut: Helem and "Local" Homosexualities Pascal Chahine Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University, Montreal August 2008 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts - Thesis. © Pascal Chahine 2008 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-53690-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-53690-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada Chahine i ABSTRACT This thesis attempts to present the way in which male members of an emerging gay scene in Beirut, Lebanon conceive of their sexuality. The work is based on ethnographic research conducted between March 2005 and June 2007 that explores this gay scene and Helem, the first civil rights organization in the region publicly advocating gay rights. The ethnographic materials include interviews with the administrators of Helem, materials published by Helem (i.e. newsletters, magazines, press releases), secondary sources on the organization (i.e. media and news reports), twenty-five interviews with members of the Beirut gay scene, and two surveys with one hundred and sixty-four respondents. The analysis begins by exploring some of the limitations and binary constructions that appear within the study of homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic world and pursues an ethnographic response to this scholarship. Case studies on Helem's activism and materials from informants in the gay scene are used to illustrate the construction and negotiation of "local" homosexualities. The reconstructed area of Downtown Beirut, where the fieldwork was conducted, is understood as a site of struggle where these sexual identities are negotiated. My central claim is that these understandings of (homo)sexuality disrupt a number of existing dichotomized frameworks that are currently embedded in the study of homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic world: global/local, identity/behavior, visible/invisible, and West/East. ABSTRAIT Cette these tente d'identifier les facons selon lesquelles les membres d'une scene homosexuelle emergeante a Beyrouth concoivent leur sexualite dans. La presente these, avec du recherches menees durant la periode de Mars 2005 a Juin 2007, examine la gay scene dans la capitale libanaise, Beyrouth, et Helem. Cette derniere est la premiere association visant a promouvoir publiquement les droits civils des hommes homosexuels. Le materiel ethnographique inclut des entrevues aupres des administrateurs de Helem, des publications de Helem (bulletins, magasines, communiques de presse), des sources secondaires concernant l'organisme (rapports et/ou reportages des medias et des nouvelles), vingt-cinq entrevues passees par des membres faisant partie de la scene homosexuelle de Beyrouth, et deux sondages avec cent soixante-sept repondants. L'analyse debute par 1'exploration d'un certain nombre de limitations et de constructions binaires qui se sont manifestoes a portee de l'etude de l'homosexualite dans le monde Arabe et Islamique. Cette analyse cherche a formuler une reponse ethnographique a son erudition. Afin d'illustrer un meilleur portrait de l'homosexualite 'locale', nous utiliserons, des etudes de cas visant l'activisme de Helem et des materiaux offerts par des informateurs de la scene homosexuelle. Downtown Beirut, une region nouvellement reconstruite et qui me servit de terrain de travail, est reconnu comme etant un site ou les identites sexuelles sont negociees. Ma principale hypothese est que la multitude d'interpretations ainsi que la comprehension (ou le manque de) vis-a-vis de l'(homo)sexualite perturbent un grand nombre de structures dichotomiques deja existantes : globale/locale, identite/conduite, visible/invisible et Ouest/Est. Chahine ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisors, Michelle Hartman and Setrag Manoukian, for their advice and guidance throughout the thesis writing process. Additionally, I would like to express my gratitude to Diana Allan for her encouragement early on during the project. I would like to thank the Institute of Islamic Studies for their generous support and Kirsty McKinnon for the reminders without which I would never have finished. To Natasha Kaskas, Lara Kabbani, and Noor Rawi, your help and attention to the detail truly made this research sparkle. To Pier Luc Dallaire, your aid was invaluable throughout the project. To Arianne Plasencia, thank you - you have an amazing grasp of the English language. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their patience. Their support continues to carry me through. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract/Abstrait i 1. Introduction 1 2. Beirut: Helem and the Gay scene 17 3. Negotiated Subjectivities: Dissociation Within an Emerging "Community" .' 46 Conclusion ...77 Appendix A: Helem.. 82 Appendix B: Interview Questions 88 Appendix C: Survey Results 90 Appendix D: Research Compliance Certificates 92 Bibliography. 94 Chahine 1 INTRODUCTION This thesis is an attempt to present the way in which male members of an emerging gay scene in Beirut, Lebanon conceive of their sexuality. My central claim is that these understandings of (homo)sexuality disrupt a number of existing dichotomized frameworks: identity/behavior, local/global, visible/invisible, and West/East. The thesis explores the process of "subjectification" of same-sex practitioners in Beirut through ethnographic fieldwork, historical analysis, and the study of local gay rights activism. Emerging "Gay" Groups in the Middle East At the end of the twentieth century, the Middle East witnessed the emergence of a number of groups of men who identified as "gay." As early as 1990, Bruce W. Dunne noted "reports of gay rights demonstrations in Kuwait and the formation of underground gay organizations in large cities such as Cairo."1 In 1998, a special edition of the journal Middle East Report entitled "Power and Sexuality in the Middle East" included articles on an AIDS hotline in Cairo and transsexuals in Istanbul,2 as well as another article by Dunne in which he confirmed "the formation of small 'gay' subcultures in large cosmopolitan cities such as Cairo, Beirut and Istanbul and a degree of political activism."3 Frederic Lagrange would soon reaffirm that "homosexual desire is to be found throughout the anonymous metropolises like Cairo and Beirut."4 Similarly, Joseph A. Massad would proceed to state a couple years later that "small groups of men in 1 Bruce W. Dunne, "Homosexuality in the Middle East: An Agenda for Historical Research" Arab Studies Quarterly 12, no. 3-4 (Summer-Fall 1990): 58. 2 See Karim El-Gawhary, "Breaking a Social Taboo: AIDS Hotline in Cairo," Middle East Report 206 (Spring 1998): 18-19; Mary Robert and Deniz Kandiyoti, "Transsexuals and the Urban Landscape in Istanbul," Middle East Report 206 (Spring 1998): 20-25. 3 Bruce W. Dunne, "Power and Sexuality in the Middle East," Middle East Report 206 (Spring 1998): 11. 4 Frederic Lagrange, "Male Homosexuality in Modern Arabic Literature," in Imagined Masculinities: Changing Patterns of Identity for Middle Eastern Men, ed. by Mai Ghoussoub and Emma Sinclair-Webb (London: Saqi, 2000), 175. Chahine 2 metropolitan areas such as Cairo and Beirut" were exhibiting a "gay group identity."5 Unfortunately, beginning in early 2001, the Egyptian government began to arrest, prosecute, and convict a growing number of men in Cairo for sexual relations with other men—most notably in the widely publicized trial of the 'Queen Boat 52' .6 Although these arrests arguably suppressed the emerging group of gay men in Cairo,7 groups in other metropolitan areas, and particularly Beirut, continued to grow.8 In fact, the Beirut gay scene has become significantly more visible since the beginning of the, century. A growing number of local nightclubs, restaurants, and bars