Le Printemps Homo devra attendre - 360° Magazine

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When moving forward is moving backwards!?

When you don't step outside your idyllic fantasy for a moment and take a good look at how things are in what seems rather comedy than political public stand-up in Egypt, multinational pumping stumbles and moves MENA hubs out of Cairo.
When you have to delay your internship year of hospital practice for a year until your father turns 60 so that you would be exempted from your hateful compulsory army service, your calculating mental timetable of your future plans snoozes only on your side because the universe doesn't adhere to a time clock meanwhile, your bf's timing in the plans moves a fair step forward in the "normal world".
When you spend more 'mum-is-visiting-until-march' time you get to have space for more interesting grown-ups conversations with your mother, you figure out that you got it many times wrong/hateful as a kid but only now you hear her side of the story so you finally feel more empathetic with the forward her but less with your self-victimizing passive aggressive emotional father.
When it's not quite daytime and not quite nighttime while you are making yourself open to messages about your future. This in-between place is symbolic to your life right now; not knowing where - or how - to go to the next step, Escapes from reality can be wonderful detours if only occasionally allowed; past that healthful point, they take a toll on your well-being.
When you electrify whatever room you walk into, you should finally believe that if you are entertaining angry or vengeful thoughts about someone - even if you never show your anger or seek revenge on that person - you are causing harm. But you aren't causing harm to the one you are upset with; you are causing harm to yourself. By allowing negative thoughts to eat away at you, then you are building a wall around yourself. Each negative or hostile thought is like a brick in that wall. The higher you build it, the harder it will be for good thoughts and positive energy to enter. Let go of what you can't control.
When you know it in your heart that the 40% - where you are only 6% of - of the society can't face the opponent mal-educated religion driven 60%. You feel uninspired, ideas are eluding you, your creativity seems oppressed, your energy is flagging. Then they tell you if you face the music now, you can turn it into a symphony!?

Wrinkle wrinkle deeper scar!

So another year has passed and my "born-on-7-7-09" blog is 3 years old now. Same like how kids start to get annoying by the age of three; my blog is starting to bore me in a way! Maybe because I'm feeling uninspired to write anything for a long time now? Maybe because I grew out of it? Over the years, I've noticed that I usually create something that inspires me then after a period of time it ceases to inspire me anymore to continue doing it. But, I'm not ready to give up on my blog just yet!

And since my to-be-posted posts are still in draft, I'll at least keep my tradition of publishing my favorite readers' comments over the past year as a celebration for my blogaversary!

haha.. god you sound so wierd in arabic.. you're almost a different person in that post, most probably it's because I don't actually know you.. intresting!

anyway, abdo's a dick and you're a whore :p
By Ninja on "حين ميسرة"

نا مش مصدقة!! its very well written. You should definitely write more in Arabic.
طبعا عبده معرس ابن وسخة و انتي قحبة بنت شرموطة بس اللازم اعترف ان انتي فتحتي باب لكل كوانين مصر!! و انا من مكاني ده باحييكي على سفالتك و شرمطك اللي كسرت الحاجز اللغوي بين الكوانين و التعبير عن رغباتهم و تجاربهم الجنسية. هايلة يا ديدي

ps the 'Well of Loneliness' reference is a classic!
By E on "حين ميسرة"

This post is just wonderful, it is genuine, it is true, it is honest, its thrilling and defenitely erotic.
By Anonymous on "حين ميسرة"

Ice Queer, I am knowing you backwards, from end to beginning. And i like what im reading so far. I must admit it's one hell of a ride. You make an excellent existential writer.
By Jess on "حين ميسرة"


And they say dogs r satans! they were the angels who God sent to stop you fornicators from doing what u r doing!
By Anonymous on "حين ميسرة"

probably the best thing u've ever written there...hang in there...and stay focused!
By Anonymous on "In a search for a sanctuary"

You know ow much I like your posts but now this one is realy what I can relate to 100%. I'm glad you saw Vienna like I see Europe and you, going thyere with an open heart and soul, just recieved its gift, a very simple gift that costs nothing and means everything, this is life! I'm glad you noticed the freedom, the greenery, the silence, that everything is real. Work is real, fun is real, acceptance is real and grenery is real... Oh and beauty is real, a beauty that anyone can see not in the eye of the beholder, not immersed in ugliness and not scattered in a matrix of ranomness...
Believe me even if you were thre alone you woul have felt the same, Europe can always make you happy if you go to her with an open heart...
Glad you liked it and keep going there, IT WILL LEAVE A MARK...
By Meto on "Di Vienna rowda mel Ganna"

Wow! If this was a musical album it would be the most exciting and personal to date!
I would give it a Grammy!
Finally something genuine! :P
No I am pulling your leg.. but for once you didn't relay on some cheap trick or shortcut to actually "move" people.
I was moved entirely by your personal struggle, not because there was a controversy or some attempt at sloppy psychology or sexual kink.
This was deep and meaningful and I thank you for sharing it.
By E on "Ich habe keine Geduld"

wow.. my heart rate went up about 35 bpm reading that post! :)

What really grabbed me was the "Running to perfection, running away from the void" statement, I don't know which is actually scarier, the void or the perfection. To me, they both sound as suffocating as each other. Maybe the after-life is just the complete perfection that you keep running away from!
By Ninja on "Ich habe keine Geduld"

*finger snaps*
I swear I could hear you in my head narrating this whole post, it was amazing.
I expecially liked the "fear of your thoughts being judged" and "bathroom of any party/place would be
Your sanctuary". You're a brave brave sole, write on! *fist in the air*
By Michael on "Gayja-vu?"

I don't know you, and I came across your blog as I was googling mine * so narcissistic I know*... I have only read a couple of your posts and I am addicted to it already... and I think what clams us down too is writing about our fears in our blogs, knowing that someone out there might relate to it, might share our fears and anxieties, knowing that we are not the only crazy paranoid oppressed people out there...
I take my hate off to you Ice Queer... Your blog is one of a kind...
By Confessions of me on "Gayja-vu?" 

I absolutely loved it!! it's so genuine and honest!!
Most of these questions i have in my head and i LOVE that movie :)
chapeau 
By Jess on "Gayja-vu?"

I am reading this post 6 months later but the points you mentioned are still valid of course. Living in a country like Egypt requires you sacrifice a lot of things and put so much effort into things that should simply be your basic rights. I agree with you that LGBT rights in Egypt will not really see the light unless Egypt fundamentally changes into a secular country, and God only knows how long that will take! I am scared that you will keep on postponing being totally and perfectly who you are until it's too late. You are still young, I believe now is the time to travel, experience new things and grow both mentally and emotionally then maybe come back to Egypt stronger and fight for LGTB rights having the right knowledge and using the right tools.

Anyways, I am sorry for the long reply. I am not telling you to go or to stay. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation anyway! Just bear in mind that there's a price to pay whatever you decide.

I love you and I'll miss you if you go, but I want what's best for you. Am I not the best person you know born under the sign of Aries? :D 
By Anonymous on "Limbo"

I was so bored and hangover because I can't see my love (it's a long distance, stupid time shifting) and obviously I drank to much so whatever I've keept reading your blog since the morning started and I really like it. Somehow it motivated me to start writing more experiences down like I used to do it a while ago.

Gonna keep reading your blog. Hope everything over there going to get better soon ;-).

PS: Awesome there is even an german interview.
By OldNick on "Ein gewisses Risiko bleibt immer"

Truely inspiring to hear how you and your friends unite for freedom. Just a friendly note to say we are reading about you here in New Zeland and we are thinking of your people, especially our GLBT brothers and sisters who face challenges every dsy
By Anonymous on "Cruising is out in Tahrir Square" 

congrats! Looks like you become a new political voice of the gay egyptians! so that is maybe what it all was meant for... 
By Simonsan on "A gay voice from Tahrir Square - Gay City News"

Hahaha :) I do sometimes feel so hot and do the same chat :)

I never had drinks before bum bum :) It is partly true that the ones who want to have drinks do not come with you to your or his home :)

I had drinks with some. And with any of them we did not have sex :)
By caner on "Don't talk, you'll wreck it"

Ice baby, U r The shit, man. gr8 writing & a lot of fun. we've all been there, wasting time, skirting around the issue. There r times when one wants 2 say "I'd rather be masturbating" ...
Love from Cape Town
By incommonworld on "Don't talk, you'll wreck it" 

Maybe not everyone is emotionally detached as much as you are :)
By Anonymous on "Don't talk, you'll wreck it"

i went on this blog thinking that i might find something i can relate to, stories revealing our struggles being gay in a country where they consider it a sin, instead i found some bullshit about you wanting to "cut to the chase" and have sex. maybe there's more to this blog but the first two posts are a turn off. people like you are the reason why we're discriminated against,thinking that we r a bunch of sexually oriented freaks. seems like you are not any different from all the prostitutes and cheapos on manjam. oh and maybe u should consider changing your shrink, don't think he's of great help to you
By Anonymous on "Don't talk, you'll wreck it"

Don't talk, you'll wreck it!

Last time I wrote a personal post, Mubarak was still in office! I've been writing a certain post for so long that now it looks like random thoughts that are paragraphed only in my head but not on paper so I've decided to post this post to try to break my dry spell(no pun intended)!

Scene I:

Him: heyyyy
Me: Hi
Him: how are u ?
Me: Good
Me: u
Him: i'm great
Him: i'm sorry where do u live again ?
Me: Cairo
Him: hahahah ya i know
Me: I don't remember u either lol
Him: i mean where in cairo ?
Me: (X)
Him: mmm
Him: i'm (X) 22 yrs
Him: lives in (X)
Me: What's ur profile?
Him: but i will be in (X) area for the week
Him: (X) on jam
Him: urs ?
Me: (X)
Him: i like ur pix
Me: Thx
Him: so maybe we can meet for adrink sometime if u want
Me: Can't we just meet 4 sex directly? :p
Him: hahaha
Him: maybe we can meet for adrink first and then we see
Me: I don't understand this abt most of guys in Egypt! Lol
Me: What will happen in "having a drink and seeing"? :D
Me: If it's abt "seeing", u saw me already in pics n you'll c me n have drink or smoke a joint if u want before we've sex lol mesh hanott 3ala ba3d immediately ya3ni
Him: it means we can meet , see each other and have adrink speak
Him: and maybe we have asex after
Me: Aren't we "speaking" now? LOL
Him: ya but u know
Me: Yeah?
Him: sometimes you chat with some one and then u meet him and u see atotally different guy
Me: I'm aware of that, but you've a tongue that u can use and say "u r a nice guy but I don't think we've chemistry"
Him: hahahha
Him: u know what
Him: i really like ur pic
Him: from the chat ya u r nice guy
Me: Yeah thx
Him: maybe we can go for the sex


Scene II:
So I cursed the hormones that made me log on our online freak show and thought about checking "grindr", I mean it's clearly a hook-up mobile app, nothing should go wrong and in the night I should be fucking with someone through it. But little did I assume to know!

Me: Hey sexy, what's up?
Him: Good, u?
Me: Good too, thnx
Him: Where r u from?
Me: Egyptian Moroccan living in (X), u?
Him: I'm Egyptian but living a board
Me: Aha ok! Here on vacation or business?
Him: Business but I'm staying at my parents house in (X)
Me: It's okay, I've got a place
Him: What r u looking for?
Me: Sex

Him: What's ur role?
Me: both, u?

Him: Top
Me: oh really? what's ur dick size?
Him: 17cm but thick
Me: Interesting!
Me: So when r u usually free? Free tomorrow after 2pm if u like to meet for some fun?
Him: I finish work around 2
Me: great then!
Him: We can meet for coffee first
Me: What for?
Him: So we can see each ather, talk a little and c if we get a long
Me: You saw already many pics for me and you'll c me when we meet!
Me: And abt "talking", you've got the 10-15min awkward minutes before sex where u can talk all u want! :p
Him: you r wierd!
Me: No, you r here for 10 days!
Him: so what?
Me: So u r 30 years old, I'm 22 so we're both basically what? 40?! Why can't u just be realistic and accept the fact that there is no need for us to "socialize" or "be friends" since I've a bf, don't need "long distance" friends who live "a board" and I've told u from the beginning that I'm looking for sex!


*The End & I've No Comment, really*

Winds of Change - DNA Magazine

Thanks to Hossein Alizadeh

Homophobia is the solution?

Not too long ago, the ex.vice-president, Omar Suleiman, used "Muslim Brotherhood" as an "Islamophobic" straw-man in all his interviews during the Jan25 Revolution to scare the whole world of what would happen if Mubarak left. Today, the Muslim Brotherhood are using homophobia and xenophobia to attract people's votes like they did before during the constitutional referendum and influenced people to vote "yes"!

On the 3..5.2011, at rally attended by about twenty five thousand people in Tanta, capital of the Gharbiya governorate north of Cairo, Mohammed Badie, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood stated that "it is not permissible for Democracy to allow what's forbidden (haram) or forbid what's allowed(halal) even if the entire nation agreed to it."

He stressed that "the seekers of freedom and democracy and citizenship will only find them in Islam which is keen to build a good man", adding  "the West has allowed gay marriage under the pretext of democracy, which we will never allow in Egypt, and we will not allow under the pretext of national unity that a Muslim woman would get married to a Christian man which violates the Islamic law(Sharia)."

The Muslim Brotherhood infamously campaigned "Islam is the solution" during parliamentary elections a couple of years ago. Today, it says it will contest half of the seats in the country's parliamentary elections in September, revealing plans to become a major force in the country's post-revolution politics (though it had previously promised it would not compete for more than 30 per cent of seats). For this end it has founded a new political party called “The Freedom and Justice Party”, and appointed its new leaders in a press conference last Saturday. 

"This is not a religious or a theocratic party," claimed Mahmoud Morsi, the party's newly appointed hawkish leader. He described the platform of the Freedom and Justice Party as civil but with an Islamic background that adheres to the constitution. Brotherhood leaders said that the political party will be separate and independent from the religious group, although in effect, it was the Brotherhood’s own Shura council that elected the Party’s leaders. Both the party’s leader, and it’s vice president, Dr. Essam Elarian, have been long active in the Muslims Brotherhood of Egypt. The latter infamously declared (when he was the Muslim Brotherhood’s spokesman) during the notorious Cario 52 or Queen Boat incident in 2002: "From my religious view, all the religious people, in Christianity, in Judaism, condemn homosexuality. … It is against the whole sense in Egypt. The temper in Egypt is against homosexuality."

Nine years later, even after the amazing changes taking place in Egypt, has Dr. Essam Elarian changed his mind? In a recent interview to the Guardian he said: "The issue of human rights has become a global language," he said. "Although each country has its own particulars, respect of human rights is now a concern for all peoples" – though he specifically excluded gay rights. So it seems at best he has slightly moderated his tone but not his views.

Although the Brotherhood appears to have firmly embraced democracy, the means for reconciling that with its religious principles are not entirely clear: the issue of God's sovereignty versus people's sovereignty looks to have been fudged rather than resolved, and this is most apparent for women, non-Muslims and minorities, including Egypt’s LGBT community. We can thus rightly ask: for the Freedom and Justice Party – homophobia is the solution to cover up this blatant contradiction?

Article was published on GayMiddleEast 
Article is published on San Diego Gay & Lesbian News
Article got translated into Turkish and published on KAOS GL

Popular Uprisings: Marriage Equality and Gay Rights in Egypt - Global Post

Photo is taken from Gender Across Borders.

The most talked about issue in the gay rights movement in America is marriage equality. And Wednesday signified a historic moment for the LGBTQ community, when the Obama administration announced that, “Section 3 of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages — is unconstitutional and [we] will ask the Justice Department to stop defending the law.” (I agree with others that this should have come sooner. But it is something.)

For me, marriage equality is less about a burning desire to sign a legally enforceable marriage contract with the one I love and more about an expression of my personal freedoms and liberties. I believe every person should have the right to choose whether or not they want to enter into marriage (and have access to the 1,138 federal benefits that come with a marriage contract).

Yet, just like reproductive rights do not encapsulate the entirety of women’s rights, marriage equality is not synonymous with gay rights. Marriage is, in fact, a relatively recent strategic focus (and, some might argue, not necessarily the most important). The issues that we—LGBTQ folks and allies—mobilize around have inevitably changed with time. In America, today our issue is marriage equality; in the past it was decriminalizing sodomy, fighting housing discrimination, etc.. etc., etc.

In the face of changing times and evolving issues, a consistent basis for the LGBTQ movement, and any social movement, is our freedom of association—the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests.

I found myself thinking a lot about this right as I watched the protest movement in Egypt unfolding. And now that the revolutionary masses have left Tahrir Square, I wonder: When people talk about the future of human rights in Egypt does this include equal rights for gays and lesbians? What are the most pressing issues facing the Egyptian LGBTQ community—the issues a movement could be built around (and, perhaps, the issues already being discussed in hiding)?

To date, although Egypt does not have an anti-sodomy law on the books, other laws have been used to target and arrest gays and lesbians, including claims of violations of the “Public Order & Public Morals” code and “violating the teachings of religion and propagating depraved ideas and moral depravity.” The most widely known attack on homosexuals occurred in 2001 and was dubbed “The Cairo 52” — 52 gay men aboard a floating nightclub called the Queen Boat were arrested. The detainees were subjected to forensic examinations, apparently in order to determine whether they had engaged in anal intercourse. They were also forced to say “my name, my job, my address and say ‘I am gay.’” Despite the pleas of international humanitarian organizations, 23 of these men were imprisoned.

I am not the only one wondering “what now?” for the LBGTQ community in Egypt. Last week in the Huffington Post, Keli Goff posted an article in which she expressed skepticism about what the regime’s demise would mean for gays and lesbians. Goff wrote,

“While I hate to be a “Debbie Downer,” it must be said that amid the worldwide jubilation that greeted the news of Hosni Mubarak’s retirement from his chosen profession of dictator, not all are celebrating. A big question mark remains regarding what this new era in Egypt will mean for gays and lesbians.”
And in light of last week’s announcement that the state’s emergency laws might be lifted in six months Katherine Franke offered a thoughtful perspective on the “Gay Rights Angle on the Egyptian Revolution?” Franke wrote,

“As Egypt and its supporters begin to dismantle the decades-old institutionalization of the State of Emergency, it is important to bear in mind the ways in which the denial of basic civil and human rights for sexual minorities can be used to undermine larger projects of democratization that seem not to “be about” gay rights at all.”

On a slightly more optimistic note, the website Gay Middle East (GME) featured an interview with the well-known Egyptian gay blogger IceQueer, in which he stated:

GME: “I suppose it’s too risky and even counter productive to ask directly for LGBT rights in the protests, but how do you see these issues in the context of the revolution and a larger human rights agenda?”
IQ: “You can’t ask for lots of changes that have different affect on people. I mean already asking for “freedom” and “fall of regime” bedazzled the whole country and its people. So imagine what would happen if we asked for LGBT rights?
“I believe that Egypt’s LGBT community can only have its rights when Egypt becomes a real secular country.”

To date, no organization exists in Egypt whose explicit aim is to improve the legal or social position of LGBTQ Egyptians. Furthermore, Egyptian human rights organizations have largely avoided LGBTQ-rights issues for fear of a backlash from the government or socially conservative citizens.

Hopefully, this can and will change now.

Rasha Moumneh—a researcher with Human Rights Watch who works with feminist and LGBT groups in the Middle East—was interviewed on The Gist and provided a nuanced description of what the protests might mean for LGBTQ Egyptians.

“I think the key issue to look at going forward is if there is a democratic transition and if there is a popular government that is truly representative and that does respect human rights. I think the most important thing to look at is whether freedom of expression and freedom of association are going to be guaranteed. I think those are going to be the most indicative things moving forward to see whether work on sexual rights or gender rights is going to be pushed forward.”
It remains to be seen what the popular uprising will mean for every sector of Egyptian society, including gays and lesbians. Whatever it is, it seems likely that meaningful change will be slow to emerge. As a friend of mine likes to say, “Evolution is more complex than a revolution.”

Something that went largely unmentioned in all of the reporting on the recent uprising in Egypt is that before Tahrir Square was the center of the pro-democracy movement it was the most popular place for gay cruising in Cairo. Let’s hope that now it can be home to both democracy and the LGBTQ community.

And as change unfolds, let’s—as an international LGBTQ community—actively support Egyptians. Our issues may be different but our right to express our sexuality and the freedom to collectively promote, pursue and defend common interests is the same.

Original Article

Source

A WIND OF CHANGE? - GayRomeo

A WIND OF CHANGE?
The news and images coming out of Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and other countries in North Africa and the Middle East, remind us of all the LGBT people who suffer or have been the victims of violence at the hands of the state or society. We can't choose where we are born, or who we are destined to love. Nor can we forget the cruel and tragic images of youths being hung in Iran - a country where death remains a real threat for anyone accused or suspected of being gay.


Image Source: Ice Queer - LGBT people were among the crowds in Tahrir Square, Cairo

In the past weeks, many gay people have taken part in the mass protests across North Africa and the Middle East. Their heartfelt aspirations they have for their countries and for their own rights are deeply inspiring. We must hope that whatever "freedoms" are won will include and not exclude the rights of sexual and other minorities. Experience shows that while governments and regimes can sometimes fall overnight, it takes much longer for a society to lose its prejudices.

Source

L'Egitto, tra rivoluzione, Internet e omosessualità: anche il blogger gay IceQueer in piazza Tahrir

Abbiamo sentito raccontare le rivoluzione del Nord Africa da esperti (spesso presunti), da leader politici, da ideologici, da professori universitari. Sentirsela raccontare da chi quella rivoluzione l'ha fatta nella strada, con le idee della strada, fa tutto un altro effetto. E ci permette di capire davvero la rabbia e la gioia, la paura e la speranza, l'incertezza e la sicurezza e soprattutto la fede assoluta nel popolo e in Internet che sono state in grado di muovere le masse e di abbattere i dittatori.

Dopo che Rachid, rappresentante in Italia dell'associazione lgbt clandestina marocchina KifKif, ci ha raccontato le rivolte in Marocco, ora il più noto blogger gay egiziano, IceQueer, ci racconta gli eccezionali giorni che l'Egitto sta vivendo. Ce li racconta con gli occhi di un semplice amante della libertà che, senza alcuna esperienza di politica, come lui stesso ammette, ha vissuto la straordinaria esperienza di scrivere la storia in piazza Tahrir...

* * *

Quali sono state le cause principali della vostra rivolta?

Il popolo egiziano non ne poteva più di Mubarak e del suo regime: la rivoluzione è stato il risultato naturale di quello che abbiamo sofferto negli ultimi 10-15 anni e forse anche di più. Il popolo in piazza Tahrir chiedeva i diritti più essenziali, che sono libertà, giustizia sociale e democrazia.


Qual è stato il ruolo di Facebook, di Twitter, dei blog?

I social network hanno giocato un ruolo importante nell'organizzare il popolo e anche nello smascherare l'ipocrisia dei mass media. I social network semplicemente dicono la verità. Puoi leggere di un caso di tortura su Twitter, vedere il video su YouTube e poi discuterne su FaceBook!


Dal punto di vista occidentale, il ruolo dell'esercito non è molto chiaro...

Ad essere onesti, il ruolo dell'esercito adesso non è molto chiaro neppure per noi. Il popolo è contro questo governo di transizione e l'esercito sta cercando di rimanere il più neutrale possibile, ma non è abbastanza.


Non è molto chiaro neppure il ruolo dei Fratelli Musulmani...

La rivoluzione egiziana non ha portato avanti alcun programma politico o religioso, ma gran parte del popolo fino ad ora non vuole i Fratelli Musulmani per le prossime elezioni.


A Palermo, un ragazzo marocchino, Noureddine Adnane, si è dato fuoco per protestare contro le persecuzioni della polizia italiana, emulando il gesto storico del tunisino Mohamed Bouazizi. Credi che i giovani delle due sponde del Mediterraneo possano unirsi per lottare contro tutti gli oppressori?

La gente non ha alcuna idea di come ci si senta quando inizi a uccidere le tue paure e diventi capace di dire: "No, ora basta, andatevene via!". E' uno spirito che spero che persista in Egitto e nel mondo intero.


Cosa ne pensi dell'Italia?

Sarò superficiale: ti dico che l'Italia per me è la moda, i bei ragazzi e l'architettura, ma sono sicuro che ci sono molte più cose da conoscere a proposito dell'Italia. Io sto cercando di conoscerle attraverso i miei amici italiani, qui in Egitto.


E del nostro governo, cosa ne pensi?

Del vostro governo? Beh, io non sono un'esperto di politica, quindi non so davvero cosa dire sulla situazione in Italia, ma di tanto in tanto leggo notizie sulla corruzione di Berlusconi.


Come vivono i gay e le lesbiche in Egitto?

La vita per i gay e le lesbiche in Egitto varia da persona a persona: alcuni sono profondamente repressi, alcuni sono "discreti", alcuni sono dichiarati, ma non con tutti, e una minoranza sono dichiarati con i propri genitori e con gli amici. Fondamentalmente ci incontriamo tra di noi attraverso i siti di incontro online.


Qual è la situazione dal punto di vista legale?

Anche se in Egitto l'omosessualità non è illegale in senso stretto, gli omosessuali vengono arrestati in riferimento ai reati di "depravazione abituale" e di "comportamenti osceni", in base all'articolo 9c della legge n. 10 del 1961 sulla lotta alla prostituzione, e al reato di "disprezzo della religione", in base all'articolo 98 del codice penale.

Source 

A gay voice from Tahrir Square - Gay City News [Updated]

If the ongoing Egyptian people’s revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak in just 18 days — after 30 years of dictatorship — quickly engulfed the whole country, its beating heart was always Cairo’s Tahrir Square (in Arabic, “Liberation Square”), for many years a gay cruising mecca.

And gay people were among the millions of Egyptian citizens who made the revolution possible and joined the crowds who occupied the square to demand democracy and freedom from oppression.

This revolution was motored by young people through the Internet, and one of them was a well-educated, 22-year-old gay blogger and medical student who uses the pseudonym Ice Queer (“It’s a pun on ‘Ice Queen,’ as I’m a calm, cool person,” he explained). He was present in Tahrir Square during much of the protest, including last Friday, February 11, when Mubarak finally fell.

Ice Queer was an early participant in what has been dubbed the “Facebook revolution” that harnessed the social network to organize the first protests in Tahrir Square and elsewhere on January 25. But social networking was a means to an end. What motivations led Ice Queer to join this movement and help mobilize the demonstrations?

“Because we were fed up of Mubarak and his regime,“ he told Gay City News in an interview conducted through a series of email exchanges. “I started participating after I made sure that the protests didn’t have any political or religious agenda from any party and that all protesters are protesting because we are Egyptians and humans who have been oppressed for decades!

“Also it gave me and others a great sense of self, because for so many years most of the Egyptian society was undervaluing the power and enthusiasm of us, the youth! Everything that everyone did mattered, even those who showed up in Tahrir Square just to support and show solidarity.”

On his first day of protest in Tahrir Square, Ice Queer said, “I was holding a sign saying ‘Secular’ in Arabic, English, and French, and also my friends (straight, gay, girls, Christians, and Muslims) were holding similar signs, and we all were chanting that this protest is for the people and not for any party or religion.”

The multitudes in Tahrir Square reflected a veritable rainbow, as Ice Queer witnessed: “Gay, straight, Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Poor, Rich, Black, White, Nubian, Bedouin… EVERYONE was in Tahrir in a beautiful humanitarian image that I saw with my own eyes!”

Every step the Mubarak regime took — seesawing back and forth between violent repression and minor concessions — backfired, stiffening the protesters’ resolve to continue and swelling the crowds in Tahrir Square, Ice Queer said. Because he was on call in the hospital where he interns, he was not present in the square on the day Mubarak sent undercover police and thugs from the lumpenproletariat, paid 8 Euros a day, to attack the pro-democracy demonstrators with clubs, knives, and Molotov cocktails. With a tinge of regret, he wrote, “I don’t know if I should feel lucky or sorry that I wasn’t there on these days.”

But Ice Queer was fortunate, he said, to have been in Tahrir Square when Mubarak’s hand-picked vice president and notorious point man in the CIA’s rendition and torture program, Omar Suleiman, read a short statement on national television announcing that the dictator was stepping down and handing power over to the Military Council.

“On 11th of February, I was in Tahrir Square after Friday’s prayers,” he told this reporter, “and it was very peaceful as on most of the protests’ days. Shortly before the announcement of Omar Suleiman, I was on my way with my friends to grab a bite to eat from a place that’s about ten minutes away from the square, and while we were in the middle of that distance we heard a very loud cheer and cars joyfully tooting their horns. We couldn’t believe it because there was a ‘false alarm’ before, so we called our families for confirmation and we couldn’t have been happier!”

Unlike the previous day’s unrealized rumors that Mubarak would step down that evening, which had sent the square’s throngs into paroxysms of joy, Suleiman’s announcement on February 11 was for real.

“When we went back to the square, we were amazed!,” Ice Queer continued. “People were all hugging and congratulating each other, chanting ‘People indeed removed the system,’ ‘There is no people like the Egyptian people,’ and that ‘Mubarak should be prosecuted’. All the women started to do the popular Zaghrouta (ululation), some people were crying with joy, and some were dancing. Basically everyone was expressing his/ her joy the way he/ she knows to!

“For me, I was having goosebumps all of the time after Mubarak quit! I kept dancing and chanting with my friends and called my boyfriend to share the moment with him too.”

In contrast to the vast majority of Egyptian men who have sex with men — he guesses that “maybe five percent” of whom are out of the closet — Ice Queer self-identifies as gay and is out to his parents and friends, and frequently blogs on gay themes.

Homosexuals under Mubarak’s dictatorship lived under a cloud of fear, marked by waves of intensifying repression. A defining event in the regime’s crackdown was the May 11, 2001 arrest of the men known as the Cairo 52, when police raided a gay party being held aboard a floating nightclub, the Queen Boat, anchored in the Nile.

Although homosexuality is not strictly illegal in Egypt, of the 52 men arrested on the Queen Boat, 50 were charged with “habitual debauchery” and “obscene behavior” under Article 9c of Law No. 10 of 1961 on the Combat of Prostitution. The other two were charged with “contempt of religion” under Article 98f of the Penal Code. These laws have regularly been used to prosecute Egyptian gays, as has the Emergency Law — in place since Mubarak assumed the helm in the wake of Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981 – which gives the government the right to arrest people without charge, detain prisoners indefinitely, limit freedom of expression and assembly, and maintain a special security court.

The Cairo 52 were brutally beaten and tortured by police. In a series of hugely publicized trials — during which the uniformly homophobic Egyptian media sensationalized the Queen Boat incident and vilified the men arrested — nearly half of them received prison terms of three years. During the same crackdown, all gay websites were closed down, either by censorship of the Internet or by the arrest of those who ran them.

The persecution of the Cairo 52 was Mubarak’s attempt to throw a sop to the Islamist fundamentalist imams and the Muslim Brotherhood, who were campaigning against homosexuality.

Crackdowns on gays served another purpose as well. When critics of the regime disseminated rumors the dictator’s son, Gamal — whom he hoped to install as his successor as president — was gay, repression of queers was used by Mubarak to cauterize accusations that his government was guilty of “Western decadence.”

Arrests, brutality, and torture of gay men by police — designed, in part, to ferret out the names of other homosexuals — were common in the Mubarak years.

“They even used to make some of them a deal that they will let them go if they lead them to other homosexuals or if they work for them to trap other homosexuals online,” Ice Queer noted.

He went on to explain, “Mubarak knew very well how fear could make him fully control people. The Cairo 52 catastrophe is in the mind of every gay guy in Egypt. Whenever I go to or host a gay party, I always had to a certain degree the fear of ‘This could be another Queen Boat catastrophe.’ Although I wasn’t actively gay at the Cairo 52 time, I remember very well that time and how I was following the case in newspapers though I was only 12 and didn’t fully know about homosexuality back then.”

Ice Queer’s first sexual encounter occurred when “I was 13-14,” he said.

“My parents were away for summer vacation and I was home alone,” he recalled. “I chatted with someone on Yahoo chat and then I brought him home. It was a horrible experience — he was totally not my type, but thankfully it wasn’t hardcore.”

The young blogger elaborated, “I went through the phases of self-struggle like most gay guys, but what made me get quickly out of them into self-acceptance were my friends, reading, doubting, and questioning until I reached balance. I didn’t choose to come out to my parents. It’s a very long story, and they saw it coming anyway, as they indirectly asked me many times before whether I’m gay or not. They knew all along but were in denial and had no ‘evidence’ against me, until one day my sister and my mother confronted me with a chat history that I forgot to delete, so I had no other choice. Their reaction was very surprising actually, because I always thought it would be a disaster and that they would ground or violently punish me.

“They just sat me down and asked me if I was molested when I was a kid and whether I had sex or not, then they said, ‘It could be a psychological problem, would you like to see a shrink?’ and so I did! I saw my shrink for a year and half, then I stopped going and told my parents that I’m ‘cured.’ (You can check my blog posts about the whole experience starting January 2009).

“My closest straight friends knew way long before my parents because I was sick of living a lie and having to pretend to be someone else in front of them. Some of them are still my friends up till now and some are not. Their reactions were mostly positive, but some just tried to preach and gave me religious books because they don’t want me to ‘suffer’ and they wanted ‘what’s best for me.’ Anyhow girls’ reaction was much smoother than guys’.”

Ice Queer, like most self-accepting Egyptian gays, believes that winning the basic human rights of free speech, freedom of association, and freedom of the press are necessary preconditions to the educational process that alone can change hostile cultural attitudes toward same-sex love in Egypt. Now that Mubarak has fallen, this reporter asked him if he believes that raising the question of gay rights must wait until those freedoms are clearly and unalterably established.

“Totally!” he replied, adding, “We need first to realize basic human rights and establish a democratic secular atmosphere before fighting for our LGBT rights. In recent years, homophobia hasn’t really changed in our media, and the post-Mubarak Egypt will depend on which political party will rule.”

The optimism of the will that animated young Egyptians in overcoming their fears and launching protests that led to the revolution is evident in Ice Queer, who voiced no doubts about the army being held to its promises of full democracy.

“If we were able to get rid of Mubarak’s regime in 18 days, I guess we are able to do anything if we unite again for our freedom,” he declared.

What does Ice Queer want from the new, post-Mubarak Egypt?

“To always enjoy the ‘freedom’ that I’m enjoying in these days, to be able to express my point of view without censorship, to be living in a real secular country, to not fear that I’d be prosecuted one day because I’m gay or because I’m atheist,” he responded. “To simply be able to enjoy my humanity by all its means!”

But the army now in power has been part and parcel of the corrupt, repressive regime and owns hundreds of highly profitable businesses in the poisoned, top-heavy economic system from which its generals have profited handsomely. The Interior Ministry’s security apparatus — which numbers one and a half million paid agents and informers — has yet to be dismantled, and the draconian Emergency Law remains in full force.

Observers can only hope that the optimism of the Egyptian youth — as illustrated by Ice Queer’s confident enthusiasm — is not misplaced, and that the democratic revolution in which they believe will not be sabotaged, deformed, or debased by the country’s power elite in the months and years to come.

Ice Queer’s blog— which he could not update during much of the revolution due to the Mubarak regime’s shutting down of the Internet — is at http://confessions-room.blogspot.com/. The Human Rights Watch 2004 report on the Mubarak regime’s anti-homosexual campaign and the Cairo 52 incident, “In a Time of Torture: The Assault on Justice in Egypt’s Crackdown on Homosexual Conduct,” is online at hrw.org/en/node/12167/section/2. Doug Ireland can be reached through his blog, DIRELAND, at direland.typepad.com.

Source 

Update #1:
Bikyamasr.com also published the interview

Radio interview with Gaydar radio

„IceQueer“ – der Gay-Blogger aus Ägypten - Siegessäule.de [Updated]

Er bloggt direkt aus Kairo, ist schwul, geht gegen das Mubarak-Regime auf die Straße und schreibt online über beides – auch wenn es gefährlich ist

SIS 10.2. – „IceQueer“ ist ein Internet-Synonym, seinen richtigen Namen kann er nicht nennen, denn Homosexuelle werden in Ägypten verfolgt. Siegessaeule.de sprach mit dem 22-jährigen, der in Kairo als Assistenzarzt arbeitet.

SIS: Wie erlebst du die Proteste in Kairo? Warst oder bist du am Tahrir Square?
IceQueer: Ich war am ersten und  8. Februar am Tahrir, es war sehr friedlich und ein bisschen wie Karneval. Die Leute rufen ihre Forderungen in Sprechchören, es herrschte eine fantastische Atmosphäre – es ist wie ein neues Utopia! 

Was denkst du, wie die junge Generation, die dort protestiert, gegenüber Schwulen und Lesben eingestellt ist? 
Die Meinung und Haltung gegenüber Schwulen und Lesben variiert stark von Person zu Person, man kann es also nicht eindeutig sagen. Einigen ist die sexuelle Orientierung anderer einfach egal, andere begründen ihre Haltung auf Religion ... Ich glaube, dass sich die Haltung gegenüber Schwulen und Lesben nicht an einer Generation oder einer sozialen Schicht festmachen lässt, sie ist abhängig von der jeweiligen Art zu denken und zu fühlen. Die ägyptische Jugend ist so vielfältig, ich kann nicht einmal für die Schwulen unter ihnen sprechen. Ich kann nur von meinen eigenen Erfahrungen berichten und glaube, dass diese neue Generation offener und liberaler ist. 

In Europa wird oft die Frage diskutiert, was passiert, wenn die Moslem-Brüder an die Macht kämen. Was denkst du als schwuler Mann über die Moslem-Brüder?
Auch wenn ich persönlich nicht pro Moslem-Brüder und auch nicht religiös bin, verdienen sie es gehört zu werden und an der politischen Zukunft Ägyptens teilzunehmen. Ich glaube nicht, dass sie es schaffen, den Präsidenten zu stellen, sie konnten es auch nicht als sie sehr stark waren und Sadat erschossen, wie sollten sie es also jetzt schaffen? Außerdem werden die Tahrir-Proteste nicht für eine bestimmte politische Agenda oder Partei geführt. Wir protestieren für Freiheit, soziale Gerechtigkeit, Demokratie und die elementaren Menschenrechte und viele andere Forderungen. Die nächste Präsidentschaftswahl sollte fair, legal und von Beobachtern begleitet durchgeführt werden, damit der die Wahl gewinnt, den das Volk wählt. Wenn die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung die Moslem-Brüder wählt, wer wäre ich, wer wärest du, das zu verurteilen? Es wären die Leute, die das Volk gewählt hätte und wir alle hätten das zu respektieren. 

Was sind deine Hoffnungen für dein Land, was sind deine Hoffnungen für dein Leben und LGBT-Personen?
Ich glaube, alle drei Hoffnungen sind eigentlich eine einzige. Ich bin ja nicht zu den Protesten gegangen, weil ich schwul bin oder Rechte für LGBTs fordere, sondern weil ich das Beste für mein Land will. Wenn sich meine Hoffnungen für Ägypten erfüllen, würden sich auch meine persönlichen Wünsche leichter erfüllen. Zum Beispiel, wenn Ägypten wirklich ein säkularer Staat wird, habe ich mehr Raum zu sein, was ich bin. Und wenn alle Menschen faire Löhne für ihre Arbeit bekommen, werden auch alle mehr von ihrem Leben erwarten können und dadurch auch anderen gegenüber gelassener werden.

Ich habe gehört, das der Tahrir Square vor den Demos ein schwuler Treffpunkt war? Das ist natürlich sehr symbolisch für Freiheit!
Ja, viele cruisen gerne am Tahrir, viele haben auch einfach keinen Zugang zum Internet. Wenn die Polizei früher auf einfache Weise ein paar Homosexuelle verhaften wollte, fuhr sie zum Tahrir. Aber heute findest du da Schwarze, Weiße, Schwule, Heteros, Christen, Muslime, und einfach alle protestieren zusammen auf eine wundervolle, menschliche Art und Weise!

Wie ist die rechtliche Situation in Ägypten für LGBTs?
Es gibt kein Gesetz, das gleichgeschlechtlichen Sex oder Beziehungen verbietet, man wird statt dessen wegen Unzüchtigkeit oder Verstoß gegen die öffentliche Moral angeklagt. Das Problem ist, dass die ägyptischen Polizisten die von ihnen Verdächtigten in sprachliche Fallen locken. Sie sprechen zum Beispiel nur von Unzüchtigkeit und bringen die Opfer dazu, dies auch selbst zu tun, obwohl derjenige vielleicht nur gleichgeschlechtlichen Sex meinte. Das Notfallgesetz erlaubt es der Polizei außerdem, in deine Wohnung einzudringen, ohne einen Durchsuchungsbefehl zu haben.

Spielen Rechte für LGBTs eine Rolle in den momentanen Protesten, oder sollten sie es?
Ich glaube nicht, dass wir schon genug Freiheit oder Demokratie haben, um in Ägypten LGBT-Rechte zu fordern.

Was können LGBTs außerhalb Ägyptens tun, um euch zu unterstützen?
Internationale LGBT-Organisationen haben uns immer geholfen und tun es noch: Sie sorgen dafür, dass unsere Stimme per Internet und Medien gehört werden, sie üben Druck auf die Regierung aus, wenn diese Homosexuelle verhaften lässt und schaffen ein Bewusstsein für unsere Situation.

Musst du als schwuler und kritischer Blogger momentan irgendetwas befürchten? 
Die Angst und das Risiko verhaftet zu werden, ist immer da. 

Interview: Christian Mentz 

Siegessäule.de 
======================================

Update #1 (Feb20):

Interview is mentioned also here

My radio interview with Michelangelo Signorile on OutQ radio - US

 

 You can listen to my interview now on Signorile's blog, tell me what u think?

Cruising is out in Tahrir Square - Updated 12-3-2011

Cario, 04.02.11

Interview by Dan Littauer with "IceQueer", an Egyptian gay blogger

GME: Tell us a little about yourself...
IQ: I'm 22 years old Egyptian Moroccan guy, I'm a medical intern and interested in activism, politics, religions, music and lots of different things

GME: What is your blog all about?
IQ: It's about my thoughts and my perception of reality. Sometimes I feel it's like a non-stop documentary of some parts of my life and my personality.

GME: When did you start the blog and why?
IQ: I started in July 2008. It was a coincidence and a funny story actually; electricity was off at home so I thought of playing around with my laptop's pen and there it was my first post! Also the blog name in the beginning was "My thoughts & confessions" then I changed it to its current name after the first post.

GME: Do have a lot of gay readers following your blog? What kind of responses are you getting?
IQ: Well I can never be 100% sure of the number of readers/followers because how can you count readers who don't leave comments or follow the blog through blogger but according to the blog's stats, number of comments and number of followers, I guess I've a lot of gay and straight readers following my blog.
I get all kinds of responses and I approve and answer them all, actually comments are some of the things that keep me going and keep writing.

GME: You were in Tahrir square on Tuesday, describe what was it like?
IQ: I guess I was lucky because the day I went to Tahrir's demo was a very peaceful day after police's violence was over and before the attack of Mubarak's thugs (Thursday). It felt amazingly peaceful and cheerful. I loved how diverse yet finally united Egypt is! I was holding a sign saying "Secular" in Arabic, English & French and also my friends(straight, gay, girls, Christian and Muslims) were holding similar signs and we all were chanting that this protest is for the people and not for any party or religion. Everything was really beautiful and looked like a European carnival!

Before internet was shut down, I was very active on my twitter page and facebook raising awareness about how important #Jan25 is and that we all should participate. I never knew that facebook and twitter can be that powerful and that the things you tweet can actually make a change even if it's a little change like correcting someone's information

GME: You mentioned you were helping people in hospital, are there many people hurt? Any of your friends or family?
IQ: Yes, unfortunately many people were injured as the numbers said on News channels. My family and non-Egyptian boyfriend were safe but some of my friends had minor superficial injuries and also 3 guys I know were detained on the 25th of Jan but were released the next day. It's funny that most of Egyptian homosexuals fear police arrest but I was happy that those 3 guys were arrested because of a great cause like Jan25! Very honourable.

GME: We see reports of international journalists being attacked now in Egypt, but how are local journalists and bloggers are being treated?
IQ: Actually it's not about being foreigner or local, it's always about the news agency you work for and the things you blog/tweet about. So the more you are honest and scandalous about the regime, the more chances you get detained!

GME: What kind of changes do the people want to see?
IQ: Like we all chanted; Freedom, Social Justice and Democracy. And all of this will change by removal of Mubarak & his regime, dissolution of Parliament, ending the Emergency state/law and that High Court's judges should supervise the elections.

GME: Do you think there will be a transition to a democracy in Egypt now?
IQ: I'm hopeful that there will be a transition but first we've to get rid of stereotypes and medieval ideologies that unfortunately many people have in Egypt due to lack of proper education. Jan25 all started by the educated and well politically-aware youth of Egypt.

GME: Does this revolution have a leader or leaders?
IQ: No it doesn't have a leader or leaders, it's a revolution by Egypt's youth against a corrupted regime. This revolution is peoples' revolution and doesn't follow any political party or religious party.

GME: Some commentators have expressed their concern about the Muslims Brotherhood’s influence in the case of a change in Egypt, how realistic is such a concern?
IQ: I don't think MBs would have such an "influence" that would affect majority of Egyptians and Egypt.

GME: I suppose its too risky and even counter productive to ask directly for LGBT rights in the protests, but how do you see these issues in the context of the revolution and larger Human Rights agenda?
IQ: You can't ask for lots of changes that have different effect on people, I mean already asking for "Freedom" and "Fall of regime" bedazzled the whole country and its people so imagine what would happen if we asked for LGBT rights?
I believe that Egypt's LGBT community can only have its rights when Egypt becomes a real secular country.

GME: Can you describe the social/cultural situation for LGBT people in Egypt in the last few years?
IQ: It's diverse and it's like most of LGBT communities around the world; you've all kinds of social and culture differences from deeply conservatives to utterly liberal. But the exposure to western media via internet and TV helped a lot of people in understanding more about their sexuality and how to accept it...etc I already see that the new generation takes less time in accepting their sexuality than older generation used to

GME: Can you be out and gay in Egypt?
IQ: It depends on your personality, your social class, your friends and your family. For me, I'm openly gay to my parents and all of my close straight friends.

GME: Are you out to some people in Egypt, and if yes, what kind of responses do you get?
IQ: Like I said before, I'm out to all of my close friends. You get various responses, some would say they wouldn't lose a friend just because you've different preferences in bed, some would go into long tiring debates with you whether homosexuality is sinful or not and whether it's a choice or not...etc. Again it all depends on one's personality, social environment and religious background.

GME: How do people meet each other?
IQ: Mostly through dating website on the internet but you can also meet guys in private house gay parties and gatherings.

GME: Tell us about the legal situation… We understand that although there are no direct laws prohibiting same sex acts, we understand that other laws are enacted, like Public Order & Public Morals (as in the infamous case of Cairo52), and quite a few cases of people arrested through speaking with agents on chat rooms and gay dating websites… Can you elaborate on that?
IQ: Exactly, there is no direct laws prohibiting same sex acts or relationship but they usually affiliate it with Debauchery, Public Morals & Order.
The thing is that most of policemen play around a lot with words and the bugs in Egyptian law, they usually trap suspects by using words like debauchery when they ask them whether they practice same-sex sex or not, so they make suspects admit that they practice "debauchery" even though the suspect may only meant that he practice same-sex sex.
Also the emergency law gives the ability to policemen to check ur apartment without a warranty if they wanted.

GME: Any specific changes, relating to these two issues mentioned above, that Egyptian lesbian, gay, and transgender people hoping to see?
IQ: We're hoping that Egypt would become a real Secular country one day, that's when people learn to accept their differences then they would start accept people who r sexually different than they are.

GME: It’s a little bit symbolic that Tahrir square is also known as a meeting place for gay people, isn’t it?
IQ: Haha yeah I made lots of puns about this exact thing when I met up my friends in Tahrir to protest. I was like "A week ago, if I told you let's meet in Tahrir then go walk down to Kasr El-Nil bridge, you'd have judged me as a sleazy trashy gay guy"

GME: What can the international LGBT community do to help the general situation in Egypt and in particular the LGBT communities in Egypt?
IQ: If democratic political reforms happened in Egypt, international LGBT communities can help a lot of course by putting pressure on Egyptian regime to apply this kind of reforms too which are under the same umbrella of democratic reforms.

(Source: GayMiddleEast) 

Update Feb5:

Interview is also published now on LezGetReal

Update Feb9: 
-Interview is translated into German and published on Queer.de
-Interview is translated in Spanish and published on Ensentidocontrario
-Interview is published also on Xtra.ca

Update Feb14:

Mentioned in:
-Egypte: des LGBT au coeur de la révolte - Têtu
-C’est plus le moment de draguer sur la Place Tahrir - :: 360° :: le magazine lgbt de Suisse romande
-Egipto y la esperanza LGBT - Dos Manzanas
-Mubarak kaatui - entä nyt? - Ranneliike (Finnish)

Update Feb25:

Translated into Dutch and got published on Holebiplus

Update March12:

-Translated into Turkish and got published on Kaos GL
Mentioned in:
2560 Internacional Egipto y la esperanza LGTB - Gloss Chile

“Ein gewisses Risiko bleibt immer”

Er ist schwul und schreibt darüber. Nichts weiter besonderes, könnte man meinen. Doch Blogger "Ice Queer" lebt in Ägypten und bricht gleicht doppelt die Tabus: Dort steht Homosexualität unter Strafe und gilt als Krankheit. Über Sex spricht man allgemein nicht. Trotzdem berichtet er von seinen sexuellen Abenteuern. Ein Gespräch über das Coming Out in einem islamischen Land, anschließende Therapieversuche und das Risiko, von der Polizei besucht zu werden.
Interview: Jan Hendrik Hinzel


Schreibt darüber, wie es sich als Schwuler in einem islamischen Land lebt: Blogger "Ice Queer"


Wir treffen uns in einem Café am Nil. Die Haare hat der Blogger "Ice Queer" zu einem Mohawk aufgerichtet. Aus der Tasche seiner engen Hose kramt er eine zerdrückte Schachtel Zigaretten hervor. Er weist noch einmal darauf hin, dass er bitte anonym bleiben wolle. Schließlich ist schwul sein in Ägypten nicht erlaubt. Seit etwa zwei Jahren schreibt er aber darüber. Unter www.confessions-room.blogspot.com erzählt er davon, wie es sich als Schwuler in Kairo leben lässt. In der Selbstbeschreibungsrubrik "Mehr über mich" auf seiner Seite verkündet er: "Dieses Blog ist schon zu viel Information." Und tatsächlich: Er schreibt nicht nur über seine Therapiesitzungen, sondern plaudert auch Details aus seinem Sexleben aus.

Soukmagazine: Wie kommt man dazu, in einem Land, in dem Homosexualität verboten ist, ausgerechnet über sein Sexleben als Schwuler zu schreiben?

Ice-Queer: Es geht ja nicht nur um mein Sexleben. Es geht vielmehr allgemein um mein Leben. Und Sex ist eben ein großer Teil davon. Aber nicht in allen meinen Beiträge geht es um Sex. Ich schreibe oft auch nur meine Meinung zu bestimmten Themen. Es gibt nicht viele Blogs dieser Art und ich hatte eben den Mut dazu.

Soukmagazine: Du gehst aber doch an recht vielen Stellen – auch wenn es um Sex geht, bis ins Detail, beschreibst Personen. Und die Schwulenszene von Kairo gilt als klein. Wie groß ist die Gefahr enttarnt zu werden, wenn jeder jeden zu kennen scheint?

Ice-Queer: Ich verwende in meinem Blog nur falsche Namen. Die Chance, dass meine Identität oder die von irgendwem anders auffliegt, ist gering. Und selbst wenn andere Schwule wissen, wer ich bin: Sie würden mich nicht bei der Polizei verpetzen. Sie sind ja selbst schwul. Da hält man zusammen.

Soukmagazine: Aber nicht alle deiner Bekanntschaften kommen in deinem Blog gut weg. Was, wenn sie sich rächen wollen?

Ice Queer: Viele der beschriebenen Bekanntschaften wissen ja gar nichts von meinem Blog. Und selbst wenn: Dann müsste die Polizei erst einmal beweisen, dass ich der Verfasser bin. Und ich bin ja kein politischer Blogger, der die Regierung kritisiert. Ich schreibe nur über mein eigenes Leben und eben über Sex. Das schert die Polizei einen Dreck. Es wurde noch nie ein schwuler Blogger festgenommen oder sonst irgendwer, der über Sex geschrieben hat. Zumindest nicht, dass ich wüsste.

Soukmagazine: Du klingst fest überzeugt. Wie kannst du dir sicher sein, dass dich nicht doch jemand an die Polizei berichtet?

Ice Queer: Es gibt in allem was du machst immer ein gewisses Risiko. Auch wenn du dich mit jemandem Online verabredest, kann es sein, dass dir dann ein Polizist gegenüber steht. Man kommt aber nicht weiter, wenn man sich zu viele Gedanken macht.


Bisher auf Englisch und jetzt auch auf Arabisch: Ice Queers Blog "Confessions Room".

Soukmagazine: Hast du Angst, irgendwann zensiert zu werden?

Ice Queer: Hier in Ägypten, nein. In Saudi-Arabien bin ich aber schon zensiert. Da war ich zuerst erschrocken. Inzwischen finde ich es aber ganz lustig. Und das spricht sich natürlich auch hier in Ägypten rum. Dann ist das gute Werbung für mein Blog.

Soukmagazine: Wie bekannt ist dein Blog überhaupt unter Kairos Schwulen?

Ice Queer: Einer meiner besten Freunde hat mein Blog gelesen, bevor ich ihn kannte. Er hatte mich auf einer Party angesprochen und ich hatte mich mit meinem marokkanischem (Der Blogger ist halb Marokkaner; Anmerkung der Redaktion) Namen vorgestellt. Den verwende ich auch im Blog ab und zu. Dann hat er nachgefragt und es so rausgefunden. Zur Zeit habe ich etwa 40 regelmäßige Leser. Viele davon kennen auch meine wahre Identität. Je nachdem, was ich schreibe, wird der Link weitergeschickt. Es kann dann schon passieren, dass ich auf einer Party auf Beiträge angesprochen werde.

Soukmagazine: Du beschreibst zum Beispiel, wie du es mit deinem Freund auf der Terasse treibst. Ist es dir nicht peinlich, dass deine Bekannten, die über dich und dein Blog Bescheid wissen, dein Intimleben kennen?

Ice Queer: Nein. Mit meinen Freunden unterhalte mich ja auch einfach so über Sex. Wenn auch nicht immer so im Detail…

Soukmagazine: Deine Leser können deine Blogeinträge kommentieren? Was schreiben sie?

Ice Queer: Viele erzählen von ihren eigenen Erfahrungen oder stellen Nachfragen. Oder sie sagen einfach ihre Meinung. Dabei sind die meisten Einträge eher positiv. Es kommt aber auch vor, dass sich irgendwelche homophoben Typen auf meine Seite verirren und dann ihrem Hass freien Lauf lassen.

Soukmagazine: Wie sehr ist man diesem Hass im Alltag ausgesetzt? Wie lebt es sich überhaupt als Schwuler in Ägypten?

"Mein Therapeut versucht mir einzureden, dass es an meinen Eltern und ihrer Erziehung liegt"

Ice Queer: Es ist immer noch ein Tabuthema und alles spielt sich im Untergrund ab. Ich selbst habe Glück, dass ich meinen Eltern davon erzählen konnte. Sie haben damit keine Probleme, was auch nicht üblich ist in Ägypten. Es hängt auch vieles von der sozialen Schicht ab. In gebildeten Familien ist man da vielleicht toleranter. Wobei man hier auch keine allgemein gültige Aussage treffen kann. Häufig wird es von vielen nach wie vor als Krankheit betrachtet und es gilt als Sünde.

Soukmagazine: Du selbst musstest auch zu einem Therapeuten gehen.

Ice Queer: Ja. Er spricht aber zum Beispiel nicht von einer Krankheit. Er sucht die Ursachen in der Kindheit oder darin, dass ich nie eine heterosexuelle Beziehung hatte und deswegen einfach nicht wüsste, was besser ist. Er versucht mir einzureden, dass es an meinen Eltern und ihrer Erziehung liegt, dass ich schwul bist. Das ist alles Unsinn. Ich hatte eine glückliche Kindheit.

Soukmagazine: Du bist sehr selbstbewusst und gehst offen mit deiner Sexualität um. Wie reagieren andere Schwule auf dich?

Ice Queer: Viele Schwule haben Angst vor mir. Ich bin geoutet und habe in meinem jungen Alter schon einiges ausprobiert. Ich bin jetzt 21 und schon seit sieben Jahren in der Schwulenszene unterwegs. Aber schon allein die Vorstellung, offen schwul zu sein, ist für viele Männer hier unmöglich. Sie hätten viel zu viel Angst vor den gesellschaftlichen Konsequenzen. Ein Coming-Out wäre für manche sicherlich gesellschaftlicher Selbstmord. Ich hingegen muss mir keine wirklichen Gedanken mehr um meinen Ruf machen. Manche sind darauf vielleicht auch neidisch.

Soukmagazine: Was würdest du diesen Schwulen, die ihre Sexualität im Geheimen ausleben müssen, empfehlen?

"Ein Mädchen wird Dir vermittelt. Willst Du einen Jungen, geht das eher schlecht"

Ice Queer: Ich würde ihnen nicht raten, sich zu outen. Bei mir ging es zwar gut. Aber manche würden sicherlich gleich von ihrer Familie verstoßen werden. Und auch sonst: Willst du ein Mädchen kennen lernen, können dir die Eltern ein Date verschaffen. Heiratsoption inklusive.Willst du aber einen anderen Jungen, geht das eher schlecht.

Soukmagazine: Wird sich die Lage für Homosexuelle in Ägypten in den nächsten Jahren ändern? Wenn ja, wie?

Ice Queer: Ich glaube, es wird besser werden. Viele Menschen sind sich mittlerweile überhaupt der Existenz von Schwulen und Lesben bewusst. Manche leugnen bis heute, dass es so etwas gibt. Wir jungen Leute wachsen alle mit westlichen Fernsehserien auf, in denen oft ein schwuler Charakter vorkommt und wo das völlig normal ist. Die Menschen haben immer Angst vor dem, was sie nicht kennen. Aber gerade durch solche Serien werden ihnen vielleicht etwas von dieser Angst genommen.

Soukmagazine: Würdest du deinen Blog ebenfalls als Mittel zur Aufklärung bezeichnen?

Ice Queer: Nein, auf keinen Fall. Hier geht es nur um meine persönlichen Erlebnisse und Meinungen.

Soukmagazine: Wieso schreibst du dann nicht einfach Tagebuch? Wenn du alles öffentlich machst, musst du ja wollen, das dass jemand liest?

Ice Queer: Ja, ich will schon gelesen werden. In den zwei Jahren, die ich jetzt schon schreibe, haben sogar knapp 29 000 Leser meine Seite besucht. Ich war sogar schon in einem Beitrag der BBC. Es geht mir eher um den Gedankenaustausch. Ich möchte, dass die Leute auf meine Beiträge antworten und sehen, wie sie reagieren. Darum mache ich das alles öffentlich.

Soukmagazine: Wie geht es jetzt mit deinem Blog weiter?

Ice Queer: Ich bin mir nicht sicher. Zur Zeit bin ich etwas uninspiriert. Vielleicht will ich das alles später als Buch herausbringen. Dafür muss ich aber erst noch einige Dinge mehr erleben, über die ich schreiben kann.

(Source: http://www.soukmagazine.de/leben/ein-gewisses-risiko-bleibt-immer/ )

Limbo

It's been so long since I last wrote something. Sometimes I write down random thoughts that cross my mind, sometimes I visualize a post in my head but I don't get inspired enough to fully write it on my blog. I used to be more private about what goes on on my mind in order not to freak people out or provoke them but in the last couple of years I became more and more open about expressing my mind & my emotions to my friends and specially my boyfriend to the extent that a blog doesn't make it for me anymore. It does no longer satisfy my sick urge to break and push people's limit to the extreme.

I'm looking now into this (700 x 340 pixel) box where me & my alter-ego are supposed to type what we want to express to the whole virtual world, although the box can expand with words as much as I want but I've a feeling that I grew out of it. I can't expand with it and it won't respond back, it's too submissive, it doesn't challenge me enough and no matter how much it expands, I can still feel its lame limits.
It doesn't bond with me like how Snow in Vienna did! It's not that cold, calm, powerful, shiny and Icy. But even though I connected with the snowy nature and had my lovely boyfriend with me, there was always an itching feeling that there is something missing; sometimes it itched me in the shape of my friends back in Cairo, sometimes it itched as homesickness, sometimes it itched as missing challenges when it was so easy to get anyone I want in the club or sexclub or sauna or online with no chase or the need to communicate verbally.
I got so confused with those mixed feelings, itches and the idea of moving to Europe. I felt like I'm in a state of limbo and wondered If one wakes up at a different time, in a different place, could one wakes up as a different person?

There I was, enjoying(slightly abusing) the near-perfect European life standards so why I was missing grumpy old Cairo? The idea of "Identity of one changes with how one perceives reality" made me realize that it took me loads of time and effort to reach a certain belonging to Egypt/Cairo as a living life and that I'm not sure if I can go through this whole process again somewhere else. It will be like building my whole life all over again? I'm very satisfied now with my boyfriend, my close friends and how my life is going in Egypt. I can make it better in the future for sure but I'm not sure if I'll be able to switch off, restart and then switch on in a different place!

But then again the "Living in limbo is better than dying in jail?" question and the idea that at some point my bf will leave Egypt are still killing me!