Feminists fight for women’s rights; yet, most of the time, women themselves are too ignorant to know what their own rights are. Yes, we try to raise awareness among people but it only seems a minority, an elite, which really understands what is at stake. What’s the point of fighting when most people find nothing wrong with songs like “Joumhouriyet Albi”? What’s the point of fighting when ads that belittle women keep growing in number as if advertising companies were doing it on purpose? Most of the time, these ads are not even related to the product or service they are marketing. Can someone tell me what football and whether women are interested in it or not has to do with a mall? Can someone explain to me how “permanent youth and beauty” are related to a bank? I apologize if I am not smart enough to understand the logic behind most of today’s advertising campaigns. Is pissing us off their only goal?

What is the point of raising our voices against oppression, when the government keeps limiting our freedom with constitutional articles such as 534 or the new laws for the Internet?

What is the point of raising our voices when the government bans a video-clip because it could offend Turkey, but doesn’t care about songs that offend women, when society, at its core, is deeply homophobic and transphobic?

Let me tell you what I witnessed recently. A few weeks ago, I was on my way back from work when two women got on the bus. People started staring at them as if they had seen something incredible. Then, after the two women got off the bus, a guy says that he would have killed them immediately, had he had a gun. Why? Because they were two transsexual women.

Are our causes lost causes? Are we going after utopian ideas? Are we making progress? When we write articles here, aren’t we preaching to the wrong people, to those who are already believers? What about the rest who need to be “converted” to our causes? Are they reading our articles? How many homophobic and transphobic people actually read our articles? Are we reaching the right audience?

Am I the only one to ask these questions or do some of you have the same doubts?

- Contributed by St.

In this vein, Only 534 begins with an overview of some of the violations LGBT people are subjected to because of their sexual orientation – violations that are facilitated and exonerated by the existence of laws that are understood to criminalize homosexual sexual behavior. The analysis offered of article 534 in the Lebanese penal code is also worth noting. Helem unabashedly take aim at the legislative language of article 534, which privileges a particular set of moral and social considerations at the expense of an individual’s personal freedoms. While all societies regu late sexuality in myriad ways, this particular legal regulation was introduced to Lebanon by the French during the colonial period, basing it on the regressive sexual mores of the Catholic Church, which views sex as dirty, shameful, and purely for the purposes of reproduction. On a societal level, the law also represents part of social order whose basic unit is the patriarchal family – any behavior seen to be threatening to that order is therefore criminalized (apart from 534, marital rape laws and adultery laws for example also serve this purpose while maintaining the privileged status of the male within the familial unit).

Funded by the Ford Foundation, the report concluded a series of thematic researches that address the effect of Article 534 on the political, civil, economical, social, and cultural rights of people of non-conforming gender identities and sexual orientations.

In December 2009, Helem released a groundbreaking report on the legal situation of homosexuals in Arab countries, with cases studies from Tunisia and Lebanon.

The organization said that all three researches would serve as the basis of its future planning and advocacy campaigns.

Dr. Faysal El-Kak and Ms. Tamam Mroue

• Homophobia in Universities in Lebanon

Entitled “The Right of Gays and Lesbians to Universities,” the first study was prepared by social worker Tamam Mroue.

It covered a representative sample from five different universities in Lebanon, namely the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut (AUB), the Lebanese American University (LAU), Université St. Joseph (USJ), and Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik (USEK), which teach public health, philosophy and psychology, as well as social service.

The study was also based on focus group discussions with heterosexual students, interviews with professors and three case studies of homosexual students who suffered discrimination, two of which are included in the report.

“Homosexuals find it hard to completely integrate social and emotional communities,” Ms. Mroue explained, “some times due to the Lebanese society’s limited acceptance of their orientation or identity in general, and others due to discrimination against them going as far as ostracization, marginalization, and psychological as well as physical abuse. Add to that Article 534 of the Lebanese penal code which criminalizes ‘unnatural relations’ and with which legislators strictly define homosexual relations. Their acceptance differs from one university to the other, and from one faculty to the other even, not only due to the students’ diverse cultures, walks of life and religious affiliations which all forbid homosexual relations, but also due to universities’ educational approaches.”

Even though the reasons for university-based discrimination against LGBT people are not entirely clear, the study supposes that negative or positive practices affecting homosexuals are influenced by the positions of the Lebanese educational system through what it produces in terms of positions, cultures, concepts, tools to spread knowledge and perpetuation of positions on social causes, including homosexuality. It attempts to venture into public and private universities in Lebanon to explore how homosexuality is addressed in their regulations, by-laws, curricula and treatment of homosexuals.

Discriminatory Practices on Campus: By virtue of universities’ ideologies and structures and in the absence of any related and proper codes of conduct, homosexuals are subject to discrimination, including harassment, insult and ostracization.

The identities and cultures of the university are not strictly influenced by the ideas and ideologies of its current and past founders, professors and lecturers, as well as its academic material,” noted Ms. Mroue. “They are also influenced by their geographic location, architectural design, by-laws, and students’ communication spaces outside the classroom, which all allow or forbid the existence of tools to express opinions and positions and allow cultural, and religious minorities to show themselves and take part in the public sphere. The multitude of these tools of expression encourages homosexuals, as minorities with psychological and social particularities, to proclaim their difference, problems and demands.”

Homosexuality in Academic Approaches in Lebanese Universities: Homosexuality is mentioned in the curricula of the aforementioned specialties in Lebanese universities, however the means to address it differ depending on the professors, administrations and students, and they’re not all positive.

Approaches are always marked by openly racist positions on the part of students,” said Ms. Mroue, “and moral condemnation of homosexuality on the part of professors.”

Drawing on the works of such educational theorists as Paolo Freire and Pierre Bourdieu, Ms. Mroue stressed that education reproduces the existing social system with its positions and values. As such, “the Lebanese educational system is a mirror of the Lebanese society with its contradictions and diversity,” she concluded. “Universities are at the service of the interests and values of those in charge, be they religious secthos in universities with religious affiliations, or sectarian parties in universities and campuses where they play the role of the ‘de facto authority’ as is the case in the Lebanese University.” Consequently, LGBT people find it difficult to integrate such environments.

Recommendations: Notwithstanding the need to address homophobia in schools, Ms. Mroue called upon all stakeholders to actively work together to end discrimination against LGBT people in Lebanese universities. She recommended that human rights organizations in particular document and report on gay rights abuses, that homosexual people stand up for themselves to break stereotypes and misconceptions about their behavior, that public and private universities amend their curricula in conformity with research and science developments and in compliance with human rights and anti-discrimination conventions, and that the state enact modern and just laws that conform to international rights-based conventions it adheres to.

• Homophobia in Clinical Services in Lebanon

The second study entitled “Homophobia in Clinical Services in Lebanon: A Physician Survey” was authored by Dr. Faysal El-Kak, a medical doctor specialized in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a seasoned public health professional.

Based on a sample of 120 – mostly married – providers of different specialties, namely obstetrics/gynecology, family medicine and internal medicine, from both urban and semi-urban areas with an 8-year average of years of practice, the quantitative study assesses attitudes, knowledge, and practices of health care providers.

Not a far cry from the university system, the medical system in Lebanon is another place which LGBT persons find it difficult to integrate or be accepted in, “because all the people in charge of these systems adopt positions that are based on inherited cultural traditions that still reject and oppose homosexuality,” Dr. El-Kak said.

He added: “As much as we’d like to think that an academic’s or physician’s positions on providing services must be based on scientific and professional evidences, the study proved otherwise.”

Findings: The study included a list of pertinent findings, of which we cite the following:

• Slightly more than 50% of physicians discussed safe sex practices, sexual health, and took a sexual history, however only a third asked about the sexual preferences of the client, making their practice contradictory. “Physicians assume that patients are heterosexuals, which makes clients uncomfortable disclosing their sexual preferences and practices,” Dr. El-Kak explained, adding that patients’ reception is highly heterosexist and heteronormative.
• Less than 30% of physicians reported being aware of a homosexual relative or friend, including gays, lesbians, bisexuals and to a smaller extent transsexuals.
• 60% and 72.9% of physicians respectively viewed homosexuality as a disease that needs medical assistance and psychological counseling, “which underlines extreme homophobia in the medical professional as well as the grave lack of sexual health teachings, particularly the range sexualities, in medical schools,” Dr. El-Kak explained.
• Less than 13%, 28.6% and 15.7% of physicians viewed homosexuality as an acceptable behavior, a personal preference and a natural sexual orientation respectively.
• Only 50% of physicians said they would attend to homosexuals. Physicians aware of a homosexual relative or friend and who live in urban areas were more likely to attend to homosexuals.
• Roughly 85% of physicians reported that special skills were needed to approach homosexual clients, while only 7% had received training related to LGBT health. “This signifies that while a physician does not feel comfortable in dealing with a homosexual patient,” Dr. El-Kak noted, “they are also aware that they are competent to do so and would be giving substandard levels of care.”
• Only 64% of physicians stated that they would be willing to receive training related to homosexual health since only 50% were willing to tend to the medical needs of a homosexual patient, “signifying that 14% of the sample is not as homophobic or opposed to treating homosexuals as they think themselves to be,” Dr. El-Kak concluded.

Recommendations: In an attempt to counter discrimination against LGBT people in health care services and contribute to the changing of societal mentalities, Dr. El-Kak cited a series of recommendations, including integrating questions about sexual identity into health assessments, teaching health care providers on the health needs of LGBT individuals, educating health care professionals on how to communicate effectively with LGBT clients, minimizing homophobic attitudes with clients and among workers in the workplace, including LGBT health in the curriculum of medical schools, promoting the role and work of LGBT organizations and sensitizing homosexuals on health care services required.

“Doctors take an oath to do no harm,” Dr. El-Kak stressed. “It is their duty to respect individuals’ choices, without any kind of stereotyping or discrimination.”

Mr. Nizar Saghieh and Dr. Wahid El Ferchichi

Lebanon-based LGBT organization Helem launched on Monday, December 21, 2009 in Beirut a groundbreaking report on the legal situation of homosexuals in Arab countries.

Funded by the Ford Foundation, the publication, titled “Homosexual Relations in Penal Codes: General Study on Laws in Arab Countries with Reports on Lebanon and Tunisia”, is part of a series of thematic researches that address the effect of Article 534 on the political, civil, economical, social and cultural rights of gays and lesbians and other individuals who wish to express their sexual orientation and needs.

“The report is the result of a year and a half of work,” said Helem’s Charbel Maydaa. “We hope it will promote a calm and democratic discussion on sexual and gay rights as well as private liberties, and our right as citizens of this country and this world to lead a full life that is not oppressed on the basis of our sexual needs.”

He added: “It will serve as the basis of Helem’s future planning and advocacy work.”

The report was prepared by Dr. Wahid El Ferchichi, law professor at the Tunisian University, and Mr. Nizar Saghiyeh, Lebanese attorney at law and independent legal researcher.

Dr. El Ferchichi presented an overview of the comparative study on laws related to homosexuality in the Arab World, with a focus on the situation in Tunisia.

“This legal study covers laws and legislation in 20 Arab countries, which almost all penalize homosexual acts, whether they expressly mention them or not.” he said. “In spite of the differences in the penalties, homosexual acts, and the overall framework, sanctions are absolute violations of human rights, not just gay rights.”

Dr. El Ferchichi stressed that the “most vulnerable groups to the control of the law in Arab countries are women and homosexuals.”

Paths to reconciliation revolve around the “promotion of human rights and the decriminalization of the homosexual act in the laws,” Dr. El Ferchichi said. However he warned that decriminalization doesn’t necessarily mean acceptance or the legalization of this act. “It only means ridding our Arab legislations of all unjustified aspects,” he said.

Listen to Dr. Wahid El Ferchichi’s complete presentation and recommendations here (preceded by Charbel Maydaa’s opening speech):

W-Ferchichi-Legal-StudyL.mp3

Mr. Saghiyeh introduced the results of the research on the implementation of Article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code, which penalizes “sexual acts against nature” with up to one year in prison.

“I thought Article 534 wasn’t implemented,” he said. “But it is with both men and women. And I was surprised to find there was a number of prosecutions on the basis of 534.”

Mr. Saghiyeh said that there was a kind of “social schism” between the general discourse on gay rights found in Beirut, for example, and the courts, where people are being arrested and prosecuted. “There are no arguments that say the Article violates private liberties,” he said. “There is no hint whatsoever to that [discourse] or the possibility of finding a similar legitimacy.”

He saw the report as a means to bridge the gap between the discourse in the public sphere in Beirut and the judges’ verdicts in the hopes of repealing the Article through the judiciary instead of politicians.

His research covered roughly 50 verdicts over the last five years in Beirut, Baabda and Tripoli.

“We analyzed proofs, pursuits, penalties, and the concept of Article 534 as well as its elements to understand how it’s being implemented,” Mr. Saghiyeh explained, stressing that the entire implementation process is a grave violation of privacy.

At the end of his presentation, Mr. Saghiyeh recommended that documentation of court proceedings continues, that a model court of the prosecution of a homosexual, based on judicial precedents be prepared to train lawyers, and that audiences be held with lawyers and judges to introduce the rights discourse to courts.

Listen to Mr. Nizar Saghiyeh’s complete presentation and recommendations here:

N-Saghiyeh-Legal-StudyL.mp3

Then came the most gratifying moment of the press conference.

Mr. Saghiyeh announced that after completing his part of the report in mid-November, a verdict came out of the court in Batroun in relation to Article 534, in which the judge discussed nature, negating the application of the Article on homosexuals.

“I think the verdict warrants no comment,” he said, reading parts of it out loud.

Listen to Mr. Nizar Saghieh reading parts of the Batroun verdict in Arabic:

Batroun-534-Verdict.mp3

… whereas on the other hand the law didn’t define a specific concept of nature or a standard to measure how the act is in conformity with or against nature or its laws; whereas if it were up to the Judge’s decision, we believe that man has not been able to understand all the aspects of the laws of nature and is still trying to explore nature and his own even; whereas based on the aforementioned, the concept of the ‘unnatural’ is related to society’s mindset, customs and its acceptability of new natural patterns which he’s not familiar with or that are not acceptable yet; whereas man is part of nature and one of its elements, and a cell within a cell in it, it cannot be said that any practice of his or any behavior of his is against nature even if it is a criminal act because it is the laws of nature. If it rained in summer, if a heat wave struck in winter, or if a tree bore fruit after its usual time, it is all in accordance with the system and laws of nature for it is nature itself…

Here are scans of the actual verdict in Arabic:

There you have it. We finally have a legal precedent with Article 534, one that refutes the concept of nature.

This is my call to action. I’m sick of it. We really need to get ourselves together and get out there and demand our rights. We cannot live in a country where we can be thrown in a tiny, nauseating cell with cockroaches for mates and batons for entertainment, all before we even have time to tuck our cocks back in. As fun as that sounds, I want to be able to fuck without having to watch my back (I’ll refrain from making an easy joke here).

Thus far, no serious effort has been done by any group in Lebanon to abolish Article 534. Let’s face it! It is still illegal to have “unnatural” intercourse in Lebanon, and honestly, if it’s “natural” then how much fun can it really be? We still live knowing that on a daily basis, the police can come and arrest us, throw us in jail for a year, and make our arrest (and our sexual adventures) public. It is rarely done, but the fact that it is complete legal keeps all of us on our toes.

These occasional moments of terror are what stops us from being who we want to be. I don’t want to undermine the hate and lack of understanding/knowledge of the society, but that’s another issue altogether.

For many years I have thought we need one brave soul to get up there and actually be the public face of homophobia. A sort of victim turned hero/activist/daring martyr.

I no longer think that.

What we need today is a community with balls (forgive the sexist idiom). We all need to get ourselves out there, go on TV, talk to the press, talk to our friends, colleagues, lawyers, politicians, wastats, enemies, and get things moving. Bring 534 to the spotlight, highlight how unfair it is, how it keeps us down, why it needs to go. By raising awareness of it, we can get people to demand that it goes away. Occasional phone calls to some random politician or friend of a friend will not do. We need grassroots demand for action.

We need to make sure that everyone in Lebanon knows what 534 stands for. As long as only gay people are aware of this law, it’s not going anywhere. As soon as our friends and allies realize what it is, then we may just be able to have some room for action.

This means that we must get out, no pun intended. We must educate and empower all of those around us to have the guts to get out there and demand that this hateful law be removed and thrown into the gutter. We must march on the streets, we must scream on the television, we must lobby politicians, we must educate, educate, educate, and most importantly, we must be able to share our experiences. One by one. It is our only hope, the only way to engrave the evil of 534 into the minds of everyone that matters.

Let’s start today.

من الواضح ان المادة 534 من قانون العقوبات اللبناني لا تسمح فقط للشرطة بأن تعتقل المثليين والمثليات، بل هي تشكل دافعا ودعما لكل من يضمر الكره للمثليين. فهذه المادة لا تستعمل لـ”عقاب المثليين” بل تستعمل ايضا لابتزازهم مالياً والتعرض لهم من دون ان يستطيعوا ان يحتموا بالقانون. وكأن المادة في معانيها المتعددة تدفع بالمثليين الى الخروج عن القانون وذلك من خلال عدم التبليغ عن التحرشات الجنسية التي تطالهم، وعن السرقات التي يتعرضون اليها، وعن الذم والقدح والافتراء الذي يعانون منه. حتى أن المادة المذكورة لا تحاكم من يقتلهم ويهدّد بقتلهم. بذلك تبدو المادة 534 كأنها تدعم كل من يسرق وينهب ويتعدى ويقتل. فكيف يضع القانون نفسه موضع شك؟

هل يخدم القانون فقط المواطنين الذين لديهم مواصفات محددة كأن يمارسوا الجنس بطريقة محددة؟ اذا كان الجواب لا، عندها تصبح المادة 534 ثغرة في القانون يجب العمل على ازالتها. واذا كان الجواب نعم، يصح عندها ان نطلق على القانون اللبناني صفة “التمييز” وبالتالي لا خطأ أذا إعتبرنا ان المجتمع اللبناني يشبه المجتمع الالماني أثناء النازية، أي أنه مجتمع عنصري وغير عادل، يبني مخيمات التعذيب للمثليين كما كان النازيون يبنون مخيمات التعذيب والابادة.

ان المادة 534 واضحة في اثارها الخارجية، غير انها تخلق 534 في داخل كل مثلي ومثلية. فالرقابة الذاتية التي يمارسها الفرد في اخفاء او قمع مثليته/ها لها اثار نفسية عميقة ومؤلمة. ان الفرد الذي  لا يستطيع التعبير عن ذاته  وعن رغباته، يعيش في صراع دائم ويعيش حياة يؤدي فيها دورا غالبا ما يكون مصطنعا ومنهكا. فالرجل المثلي الذي يقوم بالتصرف “كرجل غير مثلي” يقوم بإعادة إنتاج صورة نمطية عن الرجل، وبالتالي يساهم في إستمرار “الذكورية ” التي هي من أسباب وجود المادة 534. والمثلية التي تقوم بإنشاء عائلة ولعب دور المرأة /الام تكون قد سجنت نفسها داخل حياة مليئة بالعذاب والاسرار والخوف. ان هذه الخيارات الاجبارية هي معاقبة ذاتية يختارها المثليون والمثليات بسبب وجود المادة 534 في القانون، الذي يعكس ما المسموح وما الممنوع في المجتمع.  فالمثلي او المثلية الت/ذي ي/تعلم م ان الهوية المثلية مرفوضة في المجتمع وتعد “جريمة” يجب المعاقبة عليها، ي/تقوم تلقائيا بمعاقبة نفسه او نفسها على هذه الجريمة من خلال انكارها، وبالتالي الاختباء وادعاء العكس والعيش في صراع داخلي وعذاب دائم.

ما يجب ان يؤمن به المثليون والمثليات، ان المادة 534 وان وجدت في القانون، لا سلطة لديها في تحديد هويتهم كأفراد وأشخاص. ويجب ان نتذكر ان هذا القانون الجائر هو نفسه القانون الذي يسمح بجرائم الشرف ضد النساء، ولا يعطي المرأة الحق بمنح جنسيتها لأطفالها ولا ينظر الى الفرد كمواطن الا من خلال انتماء الفرد الى طائفة ودين محدد. بالطبع، هذه المادة تؤذي العديد منا دونما حق، لكن يجب ان ننتبه الى أن 534 الموجودة في داخلنا أولا. وقبل ان نزيل تلك الموجودة في القانون، يجب الغاء ال 534 الداخلية لأننا عندها فقط نمتلك القوة لنزيل الظلم الموجود في داخلنا وخارجنا. يجب علينا ان لا نخاف، فكلما جاهرنا بما نحن عليه، كلما انتصرنا في هذه المعركة.

ما يجب ان نعرفه ونؤمن به، أنه في النهاية، لا تستطيع 534 ان تزج بمئات الآلاف في السجن !!!

On Monday, August 10, 2009, Nahwa Al Muwatiniya hosted Lawyer Nizar Saghieh for an open discussion about Article 534. You can listen to (or download) the full speech given by Mr. Saghieh here:

nizar-saghiyeh-10-Aug-09.mp3

We’re also re-posting “Notes on Article 534″ by permission from our friends at the Gay-Straight Alliance. They are not the same things the lawyer says in his speech, but are from a different speech made by Mr. Saghieh made at an event organized by Helem.

Notes on Article 534