A television channel in Lebanon recently launched an ad campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in the country, sparking outrage among religious leaders.
Murr Television (MTV) released a video last September 2nd announcing its support for abolishing a provision in Lebanon’s Penal Code that makes "unnatural sexual intercourse,” often used to target members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the country, punishable by one year in prison.
An extremist, anti-LGBTQIA+ militia group stormed a bar in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on the night of August 23 while a drag event was being held, threatening violence against members of the LGBTQIA+ community in a country that is seeing a rising wave of hatred and bigotry against them.
After an incident in a coastal city in southern Lebanon where a woman was allegedly harassed for reportedly wearing an “indecent” bathing suit, activists staged a protest at a beach on May 21st.
Dozens of female protesters defied a ban imposed by the conservative, Sunni Muslim-majority city of Sidon regarding the bathing suit incident. They rallied against it, according to a reporter from Agence-France Presse (AFP).
Ungodly and not in line with Lebanese customs – these are some of the reasons why security forces have cracked down on various LGBTQ community groups and the events they hold.
LGBTQ-friendly events, according to the Interior Ministry in its statement on June 24, “violate our society’s customs and traditions, and contradict with the principles of the Abrahamic religions.”
An Isis fiancé plotted to become a martyr after her fiancé was killed in Syria. Her plans were found before she could commit terror in a British Museum grenade attack. Her mother and sister are also involved in plots to “unleash violence in the heart of London”.
Lebanon repealed one of the longstanding laws that allow rapists to avoid criminal prosecution if they marry their victims. It was the latest in a string of countries in the region to reverse such provision under pressure from Arab women’s group. Women’s groups have agitated for years for the laws to be repealed, saying they further victimize survivors.
Maronite patriarch Beshara Rai urged Muslims and Christians to cooperate and work towards a tolerant, pluralistic society in Lebanon but he conveniently left out atheists from the equation.
After Lebanese president Michel Sleiman’s term came to an end, he left behind a vacuum that many fear could further affect the influence of Christians in a turbulent regime consumed with sectarian infighting.
