The West and its failings is a topic that we return to again and again over the course of our conversation. Many Jordanians grew up on Queer as Folk, Glee and Will and Grace, but they offered few recognisable models for Arab queers. “Cultural imperialism is strongly felt in Jordan, and we’re trying to reclaim our Arab identities: we are trying to negotiate wanting to be associated with the west [and the benefits of LGBT visibility and acceptance], but not wanting to endorse all of the west.” After all, women’s issues and LGBT rights have become central justifications for the West’s bloody interventions in the region, fuelling the perception of the Arab world as prejudiced and primitive, crying out for the aid of white saviours. “There’s colonialism in queer theory,” Khalid adds . Edward Siddons on Khalid Abdel-Hadi, founder of the Middle East’s leading LGBT magazine My.Kali
Mawjudin By Rola Zyada
Poetry and Lyrics Bhebek Written by Mohamed Haleem . Singing by Rula Aazar A boy is worth more than a girlMatar. Abu Nawas. Between 756 & 814. Shem el Yasmine - Tayf(ghost) Mashrou Leila, 2010.
Other Media A sinner in Mecca, Still from documentary by Parvez Sharma. 2015 Webpages and print media
Protest poster, Rola Zyada, 2017.
Love and fear define Ramy Youssef ’s life in Cairo, Youtube video by RMW media.
Tahrir Square Graffiti, Egypt,
legal Qeustions about homosexuality in Egypt. Paper-bird.net. 2014. https://paper-bird.net/2014/10/17/egyptlgbtlegal/
Barra, 2005. Lebanon’s fist LGBTQ Magazine.
A boy is worth more than a girl Abu Nuwas
For young boys, the girls I’ve left behind And for old wine set clear water out of mind. Far from the straight road, I took without conceit The winding way of sin, because this horse Has cut the reins without remorse, And carried away the bridle and the bit. Here I am, fallen for a faun, A dandy who butchers Arabic. His forehead, brilliant like a full moon, Chases away the black night’s gloom. He cares not for shirts of cotton Nor for the Bedouin’s hair coat.
I had this dream that what if all gays, lesbians, transgenders, and intersex in Egypt became one. They know each other, they are one community. So I had this crazy idea, what if we got a group of people that go around all Egypt, finding out about all LGBTQs in all the smaller towns and villages and cities and unpopular places. Over two years this idea has developed into an oral history project. After two years of constant work and a lot of frustration, its actually active now as we speak as a group of researchers going around all of Egypt to find out about these facts. Ramy Youssef at RNW media
Questions about police assault what if i am stopped at a police checkpoint, and for any reason, the officer suspects and asks me if i am gay? is he allowed to ask me that? what if i have women’s clothing or condoms on me when they ask me, how should i act?
Questions about government discrimination Is there a law that allows the government to run medical tests on me without my consent, if they suspect i am gay?
Before becoming what was probably Egypt’s first and only graffiti against homophobia, its original motive was homophobic in itself. Originally it depicted two kissing policemen and the slogan said “cops are gay�. This was painted over by another graffiti artst who turned it into an anti-homophobia statement. But within weeks, this new version was overpainted.
Bhebek Mohamed Haleem Roula Azar
I love you, she said, my love for you has no price The waves blush And on the fence fell a star that lit a lighthouse I love you, God give you joy That smile Frees captives Excites revolutions I love you, and in the moment of truth To the fence I go and I scream To stop the movement of the tides The people of Haifa panic And Ramle reaches Lydda I’ll buy you Khan al-Umdan And the wedding at knight’s hall You mother can bring the Kebbeh and Tabouleh Ill bring desserts from Lebnan (Lebanon) I love you? Should I say anymore
Initially published between 2005 and 2006, Barra (out), was considered the Middle East’s first LGBTQ magazine.
Smell the jasmine Taste the molasses And remember to remember me Brother don’t forget me My love, my prize I would have liked to keep you near me Introduce you to my parents, have you crown my heart Cook your food, sweep your home Spoil your kids, be your housewife But you’re in your house, and I’m in another house God, I wish I had never let you go Smell the jasmine And remember to forget me
Mashrou Leila Tayf (Ghost)
I sang along with a chorus of ghosts under my city’s gunshots And i danced Dabkat under the traffic signal light I got high on the electricity from the roots of the pole And i poured the neon’s tears on the blackness of the eyes And the caps took us to the prisons to castrate us and to make insignias We’ve sewn our flags from the shrouds of the friends’ bodies who were executed The mushroom is starting to grow, tomorrow we inherit the land 1 The mushroom is starting to grow, tomorrow we inherit the land I’ve spent my life while my rights controlled by your feelings And i’ve been erased from history as if it’s your own history And we’ve translated the verses of Abu Nuwas and Sapho for them And we’ve sewn them on banners to shout it in our demonstrations The mushroom is starting to grow, tomorrow we inherit the land The mushroom is starting to grow, tomorrow we inherit the land The mushroom is starting to grow, tomorrow we inherit the land Raise up your voice with singing, songs are still allowed
Still from Parvez Sharma 2015 documentary “ A sinner in Mecca�, in which he documents his journey to Mecca , to complete his pilgrimage, as a gay Muslim man.
Through the creation of these small magazines, we are attempting to engage with a discourse of oppression and liberation through the act of documentation and archiving. Both magazines aspire to create an introduction to a topic of dire social importance that extends beyond activism to include poetry, music, scholarship and visual art. Queerness in the Arab world exists on the margins of visibility as disability does in the united states. For people who inhabit bodies impacted by these identities, we want to create a living archive that encompasses the spectrum of pain and beauty in our daily lives. We are also interested in expanding the definition of an archive to include both traditional and contemporary sources.