After Homophobic Assault, Gay Middle Eastern Man Refuses to Hide. “Yes, I Identify as a Gay Man.”

Nov 10, 2021 • The last summer before moving from Saudi Arabia to the United States, Jawad Bandar came out to his close friends. They all seemed to take it well - or so he thought. On one of his last nights in Saudi Arabia, Jawad was threatened by a group of men wielding bats. Though he escaped harm’s way, he later found out that his would-be attackers were tipped off by some people he thought were his friends. Rather than hide or retreat to the closet, Jawad took a different approach - upon relocating to Dearborn, Michigan, Jawad began living life as an open and unapologetically gay man.

Islam Is Homophobic. Stop Pretending It’s Not

Sep 14, 2020 • Homophobia, sexism and transphobia are rampant in Muslim countries--so why isn't it being called out by the LGBT and other communities?

The World's Worst Place To Be Gay | 2012

Russia Has a Long History of homophobia | 2013

Aug 10, 2013 • CNN's Matthew Chance reports on new anti-gay laws in Russia.

The Terrifying Reality of Life under Russia's Anti-Gay Laws

Jan 6, 2014 • The Iron Closet: Russia's draconian anti-gay laws effectively licensing violent vigilante gangs to target the LGBT community. Subscribe to Journeyman here:

Brutally beaten and forced to drink their own urine while being filmed for internet broadcasts, homosexuals lured into the hands of vigilante groups like Occupy Pedofilyaj (who uniformly view gays as paedophiles) should be very afraid. But they can't expect any help from the police: if they're caught the police arrest the victims and not their torturers. "The objective is to look for paedophile-minded residents and film a video that will them leave them publicly disgraced", Yekaterina Zigunova, of the group Occupy Pedofilyaj, boasts unashamedly.

The encouragement and free hand they're given is one of the more confronting features of Russia's anti-gay stance. The law has left homosexuals living in fear. Even an expression that you believe in equal rights, or any public display, could result in arrest. "Theoretically it's possible to start hauling us into the police station today", Masha Gessen says about co-habiting with her partner. But they're not giving up and see the Olympics as a great opportunity to confront Russian society. As one activist, Polina, says, "I would call on Games participants to come here and to do visible things in support of LGBT people. Only this way will we have a public discussion".

Russia: State of Homophobia #Observers

Nov 4, 2013 • A recent law in Russia that makes it illegal to give information about homosexuality to anyone under 18 ... has left gays living in a climate of constant fear. Intimidation, assaults, infringements of liberties...... has Russia become a state of officially sanctioned homophobia? Our observer -- Svetlana -- gives us a unique insight into the daily life of Russia's gay community.

‘Jesus Loves Me and My Boyfriend’: How One Gay-friendly Town Repelled Homophobic Protesters

THE GUARDIAN: Amid a national resurgence of anti-gay fervor, locals in Guerneville, California, countered the hatred and won – with pizza boxes

Suzy Kuhr, Dax Berg and Jake Hamlin, members of the Pizza Box Brigade. Photograph: Peter-Astrid Kane
Jake Hamlin lives within earshot of a group of protesters who have set up on the main street in downtown Guerneville, California, for the past several weeks. They probably park themselves outside Smart Pizza for the central location and because of the rainbow flag draped in front of the restaurant.

“We can’t get away from it. We can hear them in our living rooms!” he said, adding that they repeat the same chants. “‘This town is gonna burn! There’s more sin here than in San Francisco!’” He said the town will occasionally draw small groups of anti-gay protesters who set up tables with pamphlets, and generally behave politely. But these protesters are different. “The group is very active,” he said.

So locals like him are also taking a different approach to counter-protest, and appear to have succeeded in driving the protesters out.

As the protesters descended from out of town, always on Wednesdays, harassed passersby, and told locals not to eat at Smart Pizza or other LGBTQ+-friendly businesses, according to Hamlin and fellow townspeople Suzy Kuhr and Dax Berg, they have been met by the self-named Pizza Box Brigade. The Brigade is made up of 30 or so locals who organized via group text and greet the protesters with messages including “Hate is toxic” and “Jesus loves me and my boyfriend” painted on pizza boxes. » | Peter-Astrid Kane | Saturday, April 16, 2022

'We Are the Most Homophobic Country in the EU': Poland’s Election and the LGBT Fightback | 2020

A short note to Andrzej Duda: Being gay is not an "ideology"! Calling the LGBT movement an ideology is about as absurd as it gets! The movement came about because gay people were downtrodden over the centuries, and denied their rights as himan beings. If people had behaved in a fair and decent manner toward them, there would have been no need for an LGBT movement in the first place!

All people, whether straight or gay, deserve to be treated with decency and respect, indeed, treated in a humane way. People shouldn't be demonised for being true to themselves.

In recent weeks, since the start of Russia's war on the Ukraine, Poles have shown the world how extraordinarily kind and generous they can be. Poles have truly stepped up to the plate and treated Ukrainian refugees exceptionally well. Kudos! Would that Poles would also show the same kindness and consideration to gay people, many of whom struggle to come to terms with their sexual orientation.

Come on, Mr Duda! It's the Christian way. Gays do not choose to be so; rather, they are God's creation. God simply made them that way! If being gay is wrong, then God Himself has erred. But the mere idea of God erring goes against Christian doctrine that God is perfect and inerrant.

Therefore, on this Good Friday, Mr Duda, I implore you and your colleagues to re-assess your treatment of gay people in your country. It's the only thing that makes sense; and it is also the Christian way. – © Mark

LGBT in Poland: I Still Can't Be Myself - BBC News

Nov 24, 2021 • Large parts of Poland were labelled "LGBT-free zones", where regional governments, as well as smaller councils, declared they were against LGBT ideology or ideologies that “undermine” the family.

Now, provinces have started to backtrack after the EU said it would freeze funds.

But has anything really changed for LGBT people in those areas?

Poland Election: The Fight for LGBT Rights - BBC News | 2020

Jul 9, 2020 • Polish President Andrzej Duda, who is seeking re-election on Sunday, is accused of running on an anti-LGBT platform and says he plans to ban same-sex couples from adopting.

Before the coronavirus lockdown, Ben Hunte, the BBC’s LGBT correspondent, went to Poland to visit its so-called ‘LGBT-free’ zones, and discovered what life is like for gay people living there.

Filmed by: Sean Allsop, Patrick Clahane
Edited by: Tobias Chapple

A New Crusade: Poland's Embrace of Catholicism and Anti-LGBT Ideology | Foreign Correspondent

Apr 28, 2020 • When Poland’s Archbishop of Krakow talks about fighting a plague, he’s not talking about the new coronavirus. He’s talking about gay rights.

“A certain ideology is a threat to our hearts and minds…so we need to defend ourselves just like against any other plague”, says Archbishop Jedraszewski.

In the 1980s Poland played a central part in liberating the world from communism. Now there’s a push to wind back many of those hard-won freedoms.

The Catholic church and the Polish government are forming a holy alliance, joining forces to denounce Western-style liberalism as the new enemy.

“From the very beginning the history of the Polish state and Polish nation were connected with the history of Christianity”, says Archbishop Jedraszewski. “Christianity, nation and state were so tightly connected, they were almost inseparable.”

In today’s Poland, the church is supporting government moves to discriminate against gay people, wind back sex education and outlaw abortion.

But feminists, gays and liberals are fighting back.

Foreign Correspondent’s Eric Campbell reports on a deeply divided nation in the throes of a culture war.

He meets the Archbishop of Krakow who likens gay activists to the much-reviled Soviets who occupied Poland after the Second World War.

“This time it is not a red but a rainbow plague”, says Archbishop Jedraszewski. Regional governments across Poland have declared about a third of the country ‘an LGBT free zone’.

Eric interviews critics of the current government, including Lech Walesa, the father of Polish democracy, who warns “our Constitution is being broken, the separation of powers has been violated and we have to do something about it.”

He meets a gay mayor in a small town who says the rhetoric from church and state is leading to an “increase in hatred spreading against homosexual people.” And he films at a far-right rally in Warsaw where Catholic extremists are co-opting the church in their bid to push their nationalist agenda and vision of Poland as a new theocracy.

While many Poles believe a religious revival will lead their country to the light, others fear it is opening the gates to something darker.

Inside Poland's 'LGBT-Free' Zones | Insider Docs

Oct 21, 2021 • Warning: Some viewers may find scenes and comments expressed in this video upsetting. So-called 'LGBT-free' zones have made Poland the laughing stock of Europe. But it's no joke for LGBTQ+ people who face physical attack and verbal abuse - even from their own president. Activists are now leading a fightback that is showing signs of success.

Young and Gay in Putin's Russia | Part 1

Jan 13, 2014 • When Russian President Vladimir Putin banned gay "propaganda" in June last year, Russia's LGBT community went from being a stigmatized fringe group to full-blown enemies of the state. Homophobia becoming legislation means it's now not only accepted in Russia but actively encouraged, which has led to a depressing rise in homophobic attacks and murders.

The main aim of the law, which essentially bans any public display of homosexuality, is to prevent minors from getting the impression that being gay is normal. Which means that, if you're young and gay in Putin's Russia, you're ostracized and cut off from any kind of legal support network.

In part 1 we get a ride with Artem, a young driver for Moscow's gay taxi service "Our Taxi", meet Nikita, a 17-year-old activist who has been labeled a "propagandist" because of his LGBT rights YouTube channel, and Yulia, a young lesbian who started LGBT self defense classes after her favorite gay bar in Moscow was attacked by about 20 armed men in October 2012.


Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Homophobia in Russia I The Feed

Aug 5, 2013 • There's a rising tide of aggressive homophobia across Russia. But who is behind these attacks and how is Russia's legal system allowing them to continue? Andy Park look at why Russia is allowing homophobic attacks.

Russia Has Long History of Homophobia

Aug 10, 2013 • CNN's Matthew Chance reports on new anti-gay laws in Russia.

Gay Priest Comes Out at Vatican, Is Immediately Fired

Oct 3, 2015 • Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa is calling on the Vatican to publicly change its stance on homosexuality

Related.

Gay Priest Fired by Vatican because of Homophobia

A Polish priest, who came out as gay and was fired by the Vatican just before a meeting of bishops about outreach to gays, said a "very special kind of homophobia" exists among priests, because those who are homosexual are forced to hate themselves.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Krzysztof Charamsa said that everybody at the Vatican knows who is gay and who is not, but nobody talks about it freely

. Charamsa was a mid-level official in the Vatican's doctrine office. He openly admitted his homosexuality in interviews in Italy and Poland last month, saying he was happy and proud to be a gay priest and was in love with his boyfriend.

The declarations, a day before the bishops met, prompted the Vatican to fire him. Despite his dismissal, Charamsa remains a priest, although the director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, hinted that his superiors could take further action.

Charamsa, 43, now lives with his boyfriend in Barcelona.


Related links.

Schools Drop Anti-homophobia Guidance at Outposts in Middle East

LGBT charities have raised their concerns with the schools | DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/PA WIRE
THE TIMES: Middle Eastern branches of leading British private schools have scrubbed anti-homophobia guidelines from their bullying charters.

An investigation by The Times has found the international franchises of schools including King’s College, Sherborne and Royal Grammar School (RGS), Guildford, omitted rules designed to stop homophobic bullying.

The rules, a legal requirement in Britain, have been ditched because homosexuality is illegal in some Middle Eastern countries. Schools wishing to open on the Arabian peninsula have to follow strict Islamic government guidelines on ownership, curriculum content and patriotism to obtain operating licences.

Such rules have been used in Middle East franchises to ban teachers from educating pupils about the Holocaust, evolution and the existence of Israel.

LGBT charities last night urged the schools, which earn tens of millions … » | Ben Ellery, Jacob Dirnhuber | Saturday, January 22, 2022 [£} *

The Times currently has a special offer for new subscribers: the first month is free.

Gay Priest: Roman Catholic Church 'Violently Homophobic' - BBC News

Oct 29, 2015 • A senior Vatican priest, Krzysztof Charamsa, stripped of his post after admitting being in a gay relationship, tells BBC News why he wrote to the Pope criticising the Church over its hypocrisy in banning gay priests.

Christian Couple Ban Gay Man and His ITV Producer Partner from Buying Their Dream Surrey Home due to Their Relationship

MAIL ONLINE – EXTRACT: A gay couple were stunned to be told they could not buy their dream house in Surrey from a devoutly Christian couple - because of their sexuality.

When they tried to arrange a viewing through internet estate agents Purplebricks, they were refused and sent astonishing references to fire and brimstone Bible passages by the couple.

Luke Whitehouse and his ITV producer partner Lachlan Mantell spotted a £650,000, three-bed, semi-detached cottage as they looked to get on the property ladder. Read the story here » | Nick Craven for MailOnline | Thursday, January 20, 2022

Christian homophobes ban gay couple from buying their home, cite Bible verses at them instead: A Christian physicist and her husband refused to sell their house to a gay couple, instead messaging them with Bible verses. »