Dear Joumana,
I see you are preparing for the launch of your new book “I Killed Scheherazade: Confessions of an Angry Arab Woman” by Saqi this September. Congratulations.
I am writing you this letter because I read through your interview in the Guardian last week and big keywords popped out of the page: Hezbollah, Lebanon, seaside, Scheherazade, [...]

For the past year, a team of researchers have been looking at the relationship between the internet and the queer rights movement in Lebanon. The team included queer and feminist activists, techies, and policy specialists. At both personal and political levels, the Internet has aided, allowed, scared, connected, and protected LGBTs in Lebanon and their [...]

Another May 17, another IDAHO. Five years now I have been celebrating the International Day Against Homophobia in Beirut. My memory of each passing event is become less and less distinct – with the exception of my first event in 2006. In 2007, I remember we went to Masrah Al Madina for some panels on [...]

Last week, Nasawiya hosted a talk on anarchy and collective living by a queer person named Leil, who lives in Barcelona. A few of us at Meem attended the talk and found much similarities (and a few stark differences) between our work at Meem and theirs in their anarchist houses. There was one particular anecdote [...]

Exactly two years ago today, April 19, I went to a meeting in Morocco around resource mobilization for women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa. Over 100 of the region’s top women’s rights advocates were there and it was the first time I meet them. I was extremely nervous about being an out Arab lesbian in their midst, knowing that most of them saw me as diseased or abnormal, and certainly that all of them believed I didn’t belong in a conference like theirs. My experience at that meeting, however, was life-changing [...]

It is clear that the battle for sexual freedom is taking place in every political and philosophical sphere around the world. Those of you who think that Islam is the only religion opposed to homosexuality are hugely mistaken. In fact, the most vehement opposition against sexual rights in the United Nations is the Christian right. I had the chance to witness just how powerful this movement is at the 54th Commission on the Status of Women that took place earlier this month in New York. Marking 15 years since the Beijing Platform, the meeting failed [...]

In an article published February 11, 2010, English-language UAE-based newspaper Gulf News contributed to the homophobia frenzy of the recent years with a piece called “Too close for comfort: Homosexuality in schools.” Growing concerns over what officials are calling an epidemic of “boyat” (butch lesbians) led the authorities to launch a state-sponsored correctional campaign entitled “Excuse Me; I’m a Girl” in 2009 [...]

And… we’re back! We received so much acclaim for the January 11 issue that we decided to leave it on for a couple of weeks. Well, ok, that’s only partly true. Some of our team members are also to blame. We’re back now & are continuing our historic streak with new articles. Enjoy!

Remember this one? You probably don’t, but this was the poster of one of the very first public LGBT [...]

This week and next, we’ll be looking back at a decade of LGBT activism in Lebanon, counting down our favorite moments and analyzing our greatest accomplishments. As we turn a new page of a new year, we must also acknowledge all the work it took to get us here. We start with the Top 10 Lebanese LGBT publications that came out over the past 10 years. I cannot but stand in awe of the amazing feat accomplished collectively by individuals and organizations working for LGBT justice in Lebanon. Here they are in chronological order:

Hello! You’ve probably noticed that I’ve changed my sex on Facebook. Were you surprised? Annoyed? Intrigued? Disgusted? Outraged? Did you think it was a joke? Did you perhaps think it was a mistake?

Actually, I’m glad you asked. I’ve changed my sex on Facebook as part of the Operation: Sex Change campaign to raise awareness around challenges facing transgender people everywhere in the world. My message is simple. I want you to know what “transgender” means. It is a term used to identify the many people [read more...]