Tag: gay saudi arabia

Politics of a Queer

Growing up in KSA, I witnessed a Pakistani and an Indian being executed in Medina for being gay. The image of the two beheaded bodies still haunts me until now. It never fails to stir anger and despise against the Saudi kings and princes, especially that I know for a fact that Prince Abdulmajid, the… Read more »

Saudi journalist arrested for ‘gay party’

Saudi Arabia’s religious police arrested an editor of a well known daily who was allegedly preparing to attend a ‘gay party’ A journalist and editor at a ‘well-known’ daily newspaper was arrested in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for planning to attend a ‘gay party’, using make up and possession of alcohol. The kingdom’s religious police known… Read more »

Repression, homophobia and transgender policies in Iran

Repression, homophobia and transgender policies in Iran Because of Islam’s many sects and a lack of centralized religious authority, there is no one opinion on the status and rights of LGBT peoples. The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) notes that of the seven countries that currently have the death penalty for homosexuality, all are… Read more »

Saudi Arabia bans ‘gays, tom-boys’ from schools

Saudi Arabia has decided to bar “gays and tom-boys” from its government schools and universities within a crackdown against the spread of this phenomenon in the conservative Moslem Gulf Kingdom, a newspaper said on Monday. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most feared law enforcement authority in the oil-rich… Read more »

Twitter may censor LGBT tweets across the Middle East

This Thursday Twitter announced  that the company will now start to censor tweets on a country-by-country basis, allowing the popular microblogging site to comply with local governments’ request to remove, block certain content or users. Gay Middle East fears this will mean censorship of LGBT Tweets in the Middle East and North Africa. Previously, Twitter… Read more »

Man arrested for Facebook gay date in Saudi Arabia

As British prime minister, David Cameron visits Saudi Arabia today, activists report the plight of a man arrested by the religious police who may face corporal punishment. Activists are concerned for the safety of a 30-year-old man arrested by the religious police in Saudi Arabia for using Facebook to date other men. The man, whose… Read more »

Kenyan men trafficked as sex slaves to Gulf states

A Kenyan gay magazine has exposed male sex trafficking between Kenya and the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Identity magazine says that gay and bisexual Kenyans are being lured from universities with promises of jobs only to end up as sex slaves. The prestigious Kenyatta University is being particularly targeted, the magazine found.… Read more »

Gay Saudi Diplomat Seeks U.S. Asylum

Los Angeles — An openly gay Saudi Arabian diplomat in Los Angeles who requested asylum in late August said he had received death threats since making it public on Saturday that he had asked to be allowed to stay in the United States. The diplomat, Ali Ahmad Asseri, was still awaiting word from American officials… Read more »

The Kingdom in the Closet

Sodomy is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, but gay life flourishes there. Why it is “easier to be gay than straight” in a society where everyone, homosexual and otherwise, lives in the closet Yasser, a 26-year-old artist, was taking me on an impromptu tour of his hometown of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on a sweltering… Read more »