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Homosexuality is becoming less of a taboo in Lebanon - Feature
Beirut - In Lebanon, certain taboos are easily broken, and homosexuality is one. The country's gays and lesbians are starting to come out of the closet to live the kind of life that is away from and free of the traditional pressures of Middle Eastern society.
Unlike in many other Middle Eastern countries, they no longer need to live on the fringes of society or be confined to an underworld of nightclubs and exclusive gatherings. Nor do they have to fear Article 534 of the Lebanese penal code which makes "unnatural sexual intercourse" punishable by up to a year's imprisonment.
"Simply we have changed the way people think about gays in this part of the world, after we established our organization Helem," said George Azzi, a gay activist and the coordinator of the group.
Helem, Arabic for dream, is the first-ever advocacy group of its kind in the Arab world. It was founded in Lebanon in 2005, with the aim of improving the legal and social status of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT), providing awareness campaigns and medical assistance.
Azzi says the idea first came to life in an internet chatroom after members decided to organize an association and work publicly with civil society institutions.
Since Helem was established a relative improvement was registered in the way Lebanese society views homosexuality, he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
But Azzi stressed this is mainly true for the capital Beirut and not the country's rural areas. The hardships of being homosexual in rural Lebanon still includes threats of expulsion from the family home or death.
"I can say though that even in some rural areas things are improving nowadays," Azzi said.
"People here [in Beirut] are now aware that gays are there, regardless of whether they accept them or not. At least they don't deny their existence," says Mazen a gay Muslim who refused to be identified by his last name.
"I am gay and I am proud of it, but sometimes when you come from a well-known family you tend not to put your family under such pressure from the surrounding society," he told dpa.
"But at least I can say homosexuals are now more visible in society here," Mazen added.
Rola, one of the many lesbians active in Helem, says people in Lebanon are now acknowledging that gays exist, because they are increasingly open about their sexuality in Beirut.
Rola describes lesbians in the Arab world as "brave" because they break two taboos at the simultaneously.
"When you declare you are a lesbian, first you are saying you are having pre-marital sex, which is not accepted in our Middle Eastern traditions and second you are telling people you are having 'unnatural' sex," Rola said.
"As for men, they only break one taboo, because men in the Arab world originally enjoy more freedom and independence than women," she added.
"For us, the lesbian community is not as active as its male counterpart because freedom is restricted for the girls in this part of the world," Rola said.
For Lebanon's gay community, Helem has helped to eliminate some prejudice and discrimination it faces and lobbied for equality for its members, while lobbying for equality.
Homosexuality is discussed with much greater candor on television and radio talk shows. Several gay bars have opened for business, creating a flourishing nightlife for homosexuals from Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East to celebrate the small margin of freedom.
For Azzi and Helem ultimately though, the annulment of article 534 is a major goal because they believe this law is primarily used to target the LGBT community "by violating the privacy of its members and by denying them basic human rights."
"The abolishment of this law will help reduce state and societal persecution and pave the way to achieving greater equality for the LGBT community in Lebanon," Rola said.
this is great news as you say murrad but i also wonder how much of the war and oppression experienced by the people actually led to them being able to identify with some of the experiences gay people have?empathy the gate way to love and acceptence.does suffering of the masses enlighten the blind to the paralles of others pain?the bridge of identifying with others has been crossed.is this the path for all who are unjustly persecuted ?the suffering of the masses accelerates the knowledge of understanding?Is bad really good?
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