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.

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).

In Lebanon it is still impossible to conclude civil marriage; couples can only register a marriage outside the country or conclude religious marriage.

Lebanon repealed one of the longstanding laws that allow rapists to avoid criminal prosecution if they marry their victims.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 Women’s groups have agitated for years for the laws to be repealed, saying they further victimize survivors.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.