UPDATE: Crime to be gay

[DrLeftover]

Well, they SAY that it is not illegal.

But I fail to see the difference.

16/09/2014 / EGYPT
Egyptian police use dating sites to hunt down gay people

Though homosexuality is not illegal in Egypt, police have been using social media and smartphone applications to hunt down and arrest gays and lesbians. Two gay Egyptians, who hide their sexuality and live in fear of being arrested, tell us their story.

A week ago, seven men were arrested after they appeared in a video showing a marriage ceremony between two men. The footage showed a gay couple exchanging vows and rings under a traditional canopy on a boat on the Nile, in the presence of a small group of friends. The footage was shared across social media and was picked up by the local press, who condemned this ceremony.

At the beginning of the week, the public prosecutor’s office ordered the two men featured in the ceremony to undergo “medical tests” that were supposed to be able to determine if they were homosexual. However, after the men were “tested,” the authorities admitted that the results showed that they had not engaged in homosexual relations.

Homosexuality is not illegal in Egypt. Despite this, numerous people have been arrested while taking part in festivities celebrating gay unions and accused of “debauchery.” In May, for example, four men were arrested during a party organised in Nasr City, located east of Cairo. One of them was sentenced to 12 years of prison, the heaviest sentence ever given to an LGBT person in Egypt.

http://observers.france24.com/content/20140916-egyptian-police-dating-sites-gay

 

[Dee]

That's because there is no difference. The police and society are bullies over there, and no one is punishing the authorities for punishing citizens for something that is supposedly not illegal. This is hypocrisy at its finest, and pure and utter prejudice. Ridiculous. I feel terrible for the people who have to live in a country where they are even hunted by the police for their sexuality.

 

[DrLeftover]

At least they are not being executed for it. Yet.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/12/iran-s-new-gay-executions.html



Which, when you come right down to it, makes it seem like hardcore Islam does have a lot in common with the Fascists of the last world war.

"In the SS, today, we still have about one case of homosexuality a month. In a whole year, about eight to ten cases occur in the entire SS. I have now decided upon the following: in each case, these people will naturally be publicly degraded, expelled, and handed over to the courts. Following completion of the punishment imposed by the court, they will be sent, by my order, to a concentration camp, and they will be shot in the concentration camp, while attempting to escape. I will make that known by order to the unit to which the person so infected belonged. Thereby, I hope finally to have done with persons of this type in the SS, and the increasingly healthy blood which we are cultivating for Germany, will be kept pure."

Heinrich Himmler
Reichsführer-SS, February 18, 1937

 

[Dee]

That's not to say they wouldn't. They're simply one step away from bringing death upon people who they think are sinners or unnatural.

 

[DrLeftover]

That's not to say they wouldn't. They're simply one step away from bringing death upon people who they think are sinners or unnatural.

Which is the usual sentence for such 'crimes' under Sharia.

 

[CumberCookieCrumble]

I have gay friends.

One of my best friends is bisexual & I dont care she is still the same person I knew before she came out.

Some of my celeb crushes are gay. Darren Hayes, Derren Brown, Andrew Scott & Eric Millegan.

 

[DrLeftover]

What is it like to be a gay refugee? James Longman hears some Syrians' disturbing accounts of abuse

"There is nobody left in my life who hasn't hurt me."

Jawad worked in sales in Syria before the war began. When his father found out he was gay, he had him arrested.

After five years of hard labour, he emerged a broken man, only to find his country at war. Estranged from his family, he found himself dangerously exposed.

Soon after his release, he was gang raped at gun point by four men from an armed group.

"They could tell I was gay," he told me, through stifled sobs, looking out over the Beirut cityscape.

His vulnerability made him an easy target for this brutal weapon of war. Now in Lebanon, where he thought he could start again, he works as a prostitute.

"I have nothing but my body to sell. That was my reward for the Syrian revolution."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29628281

 

[Enter Username Here]

I hate homophones.

We all have the right to love who we want.

 

[DrLeftover]

We all have the right to love who we want.

Evidently not in Syria, Uganda, Iran, Malaysia.... .....

 

[DrLeftover]

I hate homophones.

We all have the right to love who we want.

Proof that you don't.

The gay people pushed to change their gender

4 Nov

Iran is one of a handful of countries where homosexual acts are punishable by death. Clerics do, however accept the idea that a person may be trapped in a body of the wrong sex. So homosexuals can be pushed into having gender reassignment surgery - and to avoid it many flee the country.

Growing up in Iran, Donya kept her hair shaved or short, and wore caps instead of headscarves. She went to a doctor for help to stop her period.

"I was so young and I didn't really understand myself," she says. "I thought if I could stop getting my periods, I would be more masculine."

If police officers asked for her ID and noticed she was a girl, she says, they would reproach her: "Why are you like this? Go and change your gender."

This became her ambition. "I was under so much pressure that I wanted to change my gender as soon as possible," she says.

For seven years Donya had hormone treatment. Her voice became deeper, and she grew facial hair. But when doctors proposed surgery, she spoke to friends who had been through it and experienced "lots of problems". She began to question whether it was right for her.

Watch Ali Hamedani's report on Our World at 16:10 and 22:10 GMT on Saturday 8 November and 10:10 GMT on Sunday 9 November on BBC World News. Assignment is on BBC World Service from Thursday.

"I didn't have easy access to the internet - lots of websites are blocked. I started to research with the help of some friends who were in Sweden and Norway," she says.

"I got to know myself better... I accepted that I was a lesbian and I was happy with that."

But living in Iran as an openly gay man or woman is impossible. Donya, now 33, fled to Turkey with her son from a brief marriage, and then to Canada, where they were granted asylum.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29832690

 

[DrLeftover]

Gambian leader approves anti-gay law
President Yahya Jammeh signs bill into law under which ‘aggravated homosexuality’ can lead to life imprisonment

21 November 2014

... ...
The Gambian law criminalises “aggravated homosexuality”, and targets “serial offenders” and people living with HIV or Aids. Suspects can be charged with aggravated homosexuality for engaging in homosexual acts with someone who is under 18, disabled or who has been drugged. The term also applies when the suspect is the parent or guardian of the other person, or is “in authority over” him or her.

People found guilty of aggravated homosexuality can be sentenced to life in prison.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/21/gambian-leader-approves-anti-gay-law


MORE:

Lesbians flee to Senegal as Gambia cracks down on homosexuality

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/gambia-lesbians-idUSL6N0TB2M320141121

 

[DrLeftover]

Evidently the Caliphate is homophobic.

ISIS executes two men suspected of being gay
Activists on social media assert allegations made as pretext to kill ISIS opponents, according to AFP.
Nov. 26, 2014

Two Syrian men were stoned to death for being gay by ISIS, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to AFP.

The first man, 20, was killed in Mayadeen, in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, AFP reported. A second man, 18, was stoned to death in Deir Al-Zor.

ISIS, also known as the Islamic State or ISIL, claimed it had found videos on the first man's cellphone, in which he was "practicing indecent acts with males," according to the report. ISIS also accused the second man of being gay without specifying the basis for its allegations.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.628554

 

[DrLeftover]

21 Dec

Cairo (AFP) - An Egyptian court on Sunday tried 26 men for alleged debauchery after accusing them of homosexual activity at a Cairo public bathhouse in a case that sparked international condemnation.

The handcuffed defendants, many of them crying, arrived in court with their heads bowed as police pushed them inside a metal cage, an AFP correspondent reported.

"I am innocent. I was in the hammam for therapy, I swear in the name of Allah," said a defendant as he wept inside the cage, indicating that he was in the steam room of the bathhouse to treat back pain.

"The police beat us every day and force us to sleep on our stomachs," said another.

Egyptian law does not expressly ban homosexuality, but gay men have previously been arrested and charged with debauchery instead.

The defendants were arrested on December 7 in a night raid on a hammam in central Cairo's Azbakeya district.

...
Twenty-one defendants underwent "forensic tests" to determine whether they were homosexuals, forensic department spokesman Hisham Abdel Hamid told AFP.

"Three of them have fresh marks of non-consensual sexual assault," Abdel Hamid said.

"Eighteen others have no visible marks to show that they are homosexuals, but that does not mean that they are not homosexuals."

Such medical tests have long been used in Egypt to identify suspected homosexuals.

MORE:
http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-court-tries-26-men-debauchery-164949707.html;_ylt=AwrBJR9nA5dUjUIAwb3QtDMD


Another article:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20141220/ml--egypt-gays-45aea81d75.html

 

[seasidemike]

Seriously all... We are talking about feck'n Uganda.. It's a shithole .. This law is probably as stupid as most if their backwards laws.

 

[DrLeftover]

It's not just Africa.

Yemen: According to 1994 penal code, married men can be sentenced to death by stoning for homosexual intercourse. Unmarried men face whipping or one year in prison. Women face up to seven years in prison.


Saudi Arabia: Under the country’s interpretation of sharia law, a married man engaging in sodomy or any non-Muslim who commits sodomy with a Muslim can be stoned to death. All sex outside of marriage is illegal.

United Arab Emirates: Lawyers in the country and other experts disagree on whether federal law proscribes the death penalty for consensual homosexual sex or only for rape. In a recent Amnesty International report, the organization said it was not aware of any death sentences for homosexual acts. All sexual acts outside of marriage are banned.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/02/24/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death/

 

[seasidemike]

It's not just Africa.

Yemen: According to 1994 penal code, married men can be sentenced to death by stoning for homosexual intercourse. Unmarried men face whipping or one year in prison. Women face up to seven years in prison.


Saudi Arabia: Under the country’s interpretation of sharia law, a married man engaging in sodomy or any non-Muslim who commits sodomy with a Muslim can be stoned to death. All sex outside of marriage is illegal.

United Arab Emirates: Lawyers in the country and other experts disagree on whether federal law proscribes the death penalty for consensual homosexual sex or only for rape. In a recent Amnesty International report, the organization said it was not aware of any death sentences for homosexual acts. All sexual acts outside of marriage are banned.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/02/24/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death/

Just for clarity, when you say Africa, and then compare it to other counties, it is not a correct comparison.
Africa is not a county, it is a continent with 29 countries in it. Uganda along with a few other fucked up African countries does not represent all African counties, many of them are prosperous, modern and progressive. You just never hear about them because there is nothing to hear.

A lot of countries have fucked up laws, Iran still stones women to death.

 

[DrLeftover]

I understand all of that.

I was merely pointing out that while the last couple of stories have come from Countries on "the Dark Continent", there are other countries with similar attitudes toward gays. As for the other side, South Africa allows same sex marriage, at least for now. They are also having 'issues' with their Islamic minority on certain matters.

And I didn't even mention Malaysia, or, for that matter India. Where the said behavior is also illegal.

 

[DrLeftover]

Another precinct heard from:

Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code is an archaic regulation imposed by the British colonial government in 1938. It criminalizes male homosexual acts and those found guilty can be detained for up to two years. The constitutionality of Section 377A was challenged by several petitioners but the Court of Appeal upheld the law last October. However, all hope is not lost since the court reminded the petitioners that they can still ask the parliament to repeal the law: “Whilst we understand the deeply-held personal feelings of the appellants, there is nothing that this court can do to assist them. Their remedy lies, if at all, in the legislative sphere.”

http://thediplomat.com/2014/12/southeast-asian-laws-that-ought-to-be-repealed-in-2015/