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Egypt's Darkest Hour: Exposing the Homophobic Purge Our Media Is Brushing Aside

James investigates the crackdown facing Middle-Eastern LGBTQ+ individuals.

By James WilliamsPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Amidst news of the mosque bombing in terror-struck Egypt, there remains an ongoing undercurrent of injustice. Set against a backdrop of what seems like a gradually emerging utopia of support for the LGBTQQIAAP community in the West, Egypt's own tattered rainbow flag has become drastically bleak. Pictured above is the scene of a fan waving a pride flag at a Mashrou' Laila concert in Cairo — a sight which also provoked the state to launch a torrent of torture at the LGBTQ+ people, giving new meaning to the term 'repression."

In addition to at least 22 fans with rainbow flags at the concert being arrested, Egypt has erupted in a homophobic crackdown, arresting people based on their sexual orientation/private sexual practices. Arrests have dramatically risen in the recent years, in what authorities are dubbing the "Public Morality Investigation Unit's campaign against LGBTQ individuals." A report by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) published earlier in the week asserted the following:

"In the period from October 2013 to March 2017, the total number of people arrested and prosecuted in such cases has reached 232 [...] who profess sexual difference, for the sake of accusing of them with 'ha- bitual practice of debauchery.' [...] Among 232 [arrests], 129 were via dating and social networking websites, 39 through police reports received from domestic residence, 19 arrested through raiding their residence, 10 others after being put under surveillance, 6 men were arrested for wearing women’s clothes, 3 were arrested on the street, 6 from hotels, and 10 through campaigns and 3 arrested without stating the means or conditions of arrest.

Putting aside the contrast in political climate between the UK and the Middle-East, to defy a group's personal freedom to love or identify with who they choose is an act that any country should be vehemently ashamed of, especially when the "morality police" (who surely should be targeting individuals of actual moral offence, rather than the queer people) are brutally ensnaring innocent civilians through LGBTQ-populated dating apps like Grindr. Regardless of political differences, deliberate acts of violence targeted on a given demographic is abhorrent and is the real challenge to human morality that should be investigated.

Moreover, the way false accounts are being made on gay/trans-friendly hook-up and dating is barbaric; to mislead someone in such a sly, cruel manner was, I assumed, unthinkable, especially when the only crime these people have committed is being brave enough to reject heteronormativity and embrace who they truly are in all their rainbow colours. Nevertheless, the Public Morality Investigation Unit are acting as ruthless perpetrators of a biased order without conscience or empathy.

"The first and most common strategy is the entrapment of individuals, especially transgender women, through fake accounts on LGBTQ dating websites and applications."

If an unsuspecting individual falls victim to an authority's fake account, they are firstly given a false sense of security as the officer initiates a chat, then lures the unknowing target into meeting where they are ambushed, accused of advertising "debauchery" and arrested. The EIPR report adds that once arrested, individuals are treated like mere animals — to the degree that their basic rights as human beings are stripped.

"[Victims have received] cruel treatment on the part of the police, such as throwing water on them, depriving them of food and water, depriving them of visitation rights [...] and as well as allowing media to photograph them against their will.”

Perhaps most inflammatory of all, however, is the hateful propaganda and homophobic manipulation of the media in the region. Egyptian news websites are covering the incidents of arrest in such a way as to incite a "moral panic," depicting them as violent threats and challenging the "moral fabric of society," when ironically the real, prejudiced moral threat to humanity is staring right back at them. The media are using terms with heavy moral connotations such as "deviant" to brainwash the public into rejecting members of the LGBTQQIAAP community, instilling hatred and allowing authorities to carry out the purge without protest. Articles have been released stripping arrested LGBTQ individuals' dignity by branding them "‘sexual deviants,' ‘third sex,’ or associating them with ‘drugs’." Reporters even follow police raids, as television presenter Mona al-Iraqi did during a public bathhouse raid. A victim involved in this incident claimed the news correspondent was "filming [them] very proudly" and encouraged others to film the raid, shouting "You are sexual deviants."

As the world celebrates newfound marriage equality in Australia, we are on the other hand struck with this foul state repression of largely gay and transgender groups in Egypt. The fight for LGBTQ+ rights is more important than ever in a world where acceptance and equality seems to move one step forward and two steps back. These people have committed no crime. In fact, homosexuality is not even prohibited by Egyptian law. This is a game of mass indoctrination through violent propaganda; a smear project of contagious hatred stoked by officials, viciously targeting the LGBTQ+ people without cause or crime — and this is by far the more genuine threat to society's unravelling threads of so-called "moral fabric."

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James Williams

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