{"id":11658,"date":"2012-09-18T20:53:16","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T20:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fadingad.com\/fadingadblog\/?p=11658"},"modified":"2012-09-18T20:55:46","modified_gmt":"2012-09-18T20:55:46","slug":"gay-life-in-egypt-by-george-tenreiro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fadingad.com\/fadingadblog\/2012\/09\/18\/gay-life-in-egypt-by-george-tenreiro\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay Life in EGYPT by George Tenreiro"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gay life in Egypt is harsh and dangerous. Egypt\u2019s population is mostly Muslim and its society and politics are heavily influenced by Muslim attitudes and teachings which are intensely intolerant toward gays. Consensual sex between same-sex individuals is not expressly criminalized in Egyptian law, \u201cbut it is a serious taboo\u201d where \u201cgay men are vilified by the press and public.”<\/p>\n

\n

Worse still, starting in 2000 or so, Egypt began exploiting the \u201cPublic Order & Public Morals\u201d to arrest, charge, torture, and sentence gays to prison and hard labor. The charges tend to be based on references to \u201cdebauchery\u201d or some similar \u201cmoral\u201d allegation.<\/p>\n

LGBT life was arguably getting slightly better in the 1990\u2019s. Then in 2000, an Egyptian gay couple was arrested and charged with \u201cviolation of honor by threat\u201d and \u201cpracticing immoral and indecent behavior.\u201d These two arrests were widely covered and became a media sensation and led various Egyptian public figures to demand that Egypt \u201cexecute homosexuals or send them to mental institutions to be reformed.\u201d Soon after these demands, Egypt began a very organized and public crackdown on homosexuality initially by way of police raiding private parties attended by Egyptian gay men.<\/p>\n

The first of these raids took place in 2001 when the police stormed a private boat party in Cairo. There, the police arrested fifty-two Egyptian gay men who would become known worldwide as the \u201cCairo 52.\u201d Despite intense pressure by international governments and human rights organizations, twenty-three of the Cairo 52 were sentenced to prison with hard labor. Subsequent raids and arrests have continued In 2003, police set up checkpoints in a popular cruising area in downtown Cairo and arrested 62 men. In 2004, a 17-year old male student was sentenced to a 17-year prison sentence (with 2 years of hard labor) simply for posting a personal profile on a gay dating site.<\/p>\n

A 2004 Human Rights Watch (\u201cHRW\u201d) report entitled \u201cIn Time of Torture\u201d stated that HRW knew of at least \u201c179 men\u201d charged \u201cunder the law against \u2018debauchery,\u2019\u201d but HRW suspected the true number of defendants charged with this crime was much, much greater. And HRW nevertheless reported that hundreds of others above the 179 men charged were known to have been harassed, arrested, and\/or tortured simply based on their sexuality. According to HRW, police \u201croutinely torture men suspected of homosexual conduct, sometimes to extract confessions and sometimes simply as a sadistic reminder of the burden of shame their alleged behavior incurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is too early to tell whether the recent revolution that toppled the Hosni Mubarak\u2019s regime will usher in greater acceptance of the LGBTI community. Keli Goff of the Huffington Post and others remain skeptical that better days lie ahead and note that a \u201cbig question mark remains regarding what this new era in Egypt will mean for gays and lesbians.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Unites States Department of State recognizes that country conditions for the LGBTI community in Egypt remain hostile. In its Country Conditions Report for the year 2011, the United States Government found that Egypt \u201callows police to arrest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons on charges of \u2018debauchery,\u2019\u201d and that \u201c[g]ay men and lesbians faced significant social stigma in society and in the workplace, impeding their ability to organize or publicly advocate on behalf of the LGBT community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, gay life in Egypt has gone back to being mostly underground. Gays are forced to find solace on the Internet and secluded places away from public view. They understand that they will face intense hostility if they are even perceived to be gay, let alone if they are caught displaying any sort of same-sex intimacy. Like so many other Middle East (and African) countries, Egypt persecutes its LGBTI community in stark and unequivocal ways, and it does so, ironically, in defense of morality.<\/p>\n

The conditions are so brutal that most gay Egyptians who make it to the United States will be eligible for asylum so long as they (i) have a clean criminal record, (ii) have not married a member of the opposite sex, and (iii) file within the one-year filing deadline. But (again) every case is different and it is important to discuss asylum with an experienced asylum attorney to determine whether it is a viable option. This is so even if you do not meet the three forgoing factors (e.g., 1-year filing deadline), because waivers and exceptions may be available depending on the particular circumstances of your case.<\/p>\n

I am able to represent clients in all 50 states, and will be glad to speak with anyone who has questions regarding gay asylum at no charge.<\/p>\n

George Tenreiro
\nBALDASSARE & MARA, LLC
\n570 Broad Street, Suite 900
\nNewark, New Jersey 07102
\nOffice: 973.200.4066; Fax: 973.741.2482
\nE-Mail: gtenreiro@mabalaw.com
\nAdmitted in New Jersey and New York<\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n