Jordan, Middle East

Jordan is generally seen as a moderate Muslim nation and although the criminal code makes no explicit distinction between private, adult and consensual heterosexual and homosexual relationships, Jordanians are Muslim and look critically upon homosexuality. Private, adult and consensual sodomy was decriminalized by the Penal Code of 1951. The age of consent is 16. Article 306 punishes people who offer or solicit sex from anyone under sixteen with up to six months in prison. Today, homosexuality is not a crime provided that it is noncommercial and occurs between consenting adults in private. However, vigilante honor killings of gay family members are not uncommon. Also see: Islam and Homosexuality

 

 

Deadly Stigma: HIV Infections in Middle East on the Rise

Despite a historically low prevalence of HIV infections, countries in the Middle East and North Africa are facing a rising number of HIV/AIDS cases at a time when the rates of new infections drop across the globe as part of a concerted effort to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Such a dynamic is on… Read more »

LGBT magazine faces threats after publishing in Arabic for the first time

An LGBT magazine in the Middle East was praised by many for publishing in Arabic, but now the founders are facing lawsuits and death threats. My Kali, an online LGBT magazine in Jordan, published their first issue in Arabic for its May/June edition. Celebrate the Season at a Central Valley Vineyard Lodi is home to… Read more »

Everything you need to know about being gay in Muslim countries

The official fiction, Brian Whitaker explains, is that gay people don’t exist in the Middle East. They do – and for many of them, the attitudes of family and society are a much bigger problem than the fear of being persecuted When the US supreme court ruled in favour of same-sex marriage last year, the… Read more »

What Does The Koran Say About Being Gay?

In the wake of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that took the lives of 49 people, there has been much speculation around gunman Omar Mateen’s motives for the attack. The rationale for the crime, first considered to be a straight man’s act of homophobic violence, became self-loathing when it came to… Read more »

The Myth of the Queer Arab Life

For most people in the West life in the Arab world for gay people is hard to fathom. It is, like many other parts of life in this region, complicated. One of my favorite television shows growing up was a Ramadan special featuring an Egyptian performer called Sherihan. One year she had a Ramadan special… Read more »

Online activists spur change in Middle East, China, world

Online LGBT activism and community-building are the focus of this week’s video in the “Quorum” series of 11 discussions of international LGBTI issues. Moderator for the latest discussion is Andre Banks, executive director of AllOut.org, the U.S.-based advocacy organization that has enlisted 2 million people worldwide to take action online for LGBTI rights. Panelists /… Read more »

Jordanian society anti-gay despite decriminalizing same-sex relations

Amman: Although Jordan is one of the few Arab states to have decriminalized same-sex relations, anti-gay discrimination and harassment remain common in the conservative desert kingdom. “Culturally speaking, this type of sexual behavior is not accepted in the very conservative society in Jordan,” Musa Shteiwi, director of the Center for Strategic Studies at the University… Read more »

Greetings from Amman

Friends, As people committed to justice, we know that to achieve full equality for LGBT communities, we must collaborate with other movements for human rights. Working side-by-side with women’s rights activists is one example of a critical partnership. After all, LBT women are women, too. And much of the homophobia and transphobia we deal with… Read more »

Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood Decries Halloween Party As Homosexual

Islamists in Jordan have condemned a Halloween party held in an Amman cafe, decrying it as homosexual and Satanic. The Muslim Brotherhood blasted the celebration held Friday in a statement on its website the following day. “We watched with disgust and shame last night homosexual and Satanic rituals in an Amman cafe,” the Brotherhood is… Read more »

Gay Jordan News & Reports

Also see: Gay Middle East Web Site More information about Islam & Homosexuality Other articles of interest Queer Muslim magazine Gay Islam discussion groups: Muslim Gay Men     LGBT muslim Queer Jihad           Bi-muslims Trans-muslims       Lesbian muslims 1 Jordanian-American Family Lesbian Kidnap Case Resolved 1/02 2 Passage to Islam: Brotherhood Amidst Raging War 11/03 3 Gay Jordanian… Read more »