CAIRO: The Tunisian LGBT community is angry over recent homophobic comments made by Tunisia's Minister of Human Rights Samir Dilou on a private Tunisian TV channel last week. Dilou said that there are limits to freedom of expression when it comes to homosexuality. He added that being gay was a “sexual perversion” and should not be given equal consideration to other human rights concern. The initiative, suggested by the Facebook page of Gayday Magazine, hopes to garner attention and support for the LGBT community in Tunisia, which has been battling an increase in attacks against their persons in recent months. “I say to his highness the minister for the sake of his memory, since perhaps he has forgotten or ignored, that the World Health Organization – since 1990 – announced that homosexuality has been removed from the list of mental illnesses, concluding a century in which it had been considered as a medical condition,” argued Paloma Negra, a writer for the magazine, in an article entitled, “I'm a Human, Too, Minister of Human Rights.” The country, which had been known as a beacon of tolerance and understanding in North Africa, has been witnessing an shifting of perspectives toward LGBT rights and the community. Hend, a 22-year-old veiled university student and lesbian, recently told Bikyamasr.com via email that she is “scared of the future” for her friends and family. She noted that the rise in the conservative elements in the country are part of the reason. “But it doesn't stop with the Islamists, it is everyone who is becoming more conservative and this is threatening what had been an open society,” she said. The country's elections last fall saw the Ennahda party – a moderate Islamist group – earn around 40 percent of the vote, and while they don't have a majority, Hend said they have a growing influence. “Many people here want to seem more religious because there are still uncertainties toward how our country will go,” she continued. “But still, we live in a society that is pretty open and we can go out and enjoy ourselves as we want still.” According to a Tunisia Live website report, Tunisia's Gay Day Magazine, launched in March 2011, is the first online Tunisian magazine for the LGBT community in the Middle East and North Africa. It reported that a blog, Facebook page and Twitter account have been established for the magazine in an effort to interact with Tunisian homosexuals across a number of mediums. The online publication spoke with Fedi, a 23 year old unemployed college graduate and the online administrator of Gay Day Magazine's website. “We aim at advocating for human rights, and against stereotypes. We wish to serve as a space that facilitates communication among the Tunisian LGBT community and provides a healthy and interactive environment to confront issues that face our community,” Fedi told Tunisia Live. Although there are laws on the books in the country that criminalize same-sex acts, with a jail sentence of up to three years, Tunisians have never seen a case taken to court. Without numbers available on the LGBT community it is difficult to understand their weight in society. Those like Hend believe that taking the situation day-to-day will be an important step for the country to regain its tolerance and openness. “We have all seen how other countries in the region are becoming more violent toward gays, but here it remains a little more open, as long as you don't talk about it,” she said. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/MuFe5 Tags: GayDay, LGBT, Perversion, rights Section: Culture, Features, Human Rights, Latest News, Tunisia
