Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people living in the Middle East and North Africa share their responses to myths and stereotypes about LGBT people in the region on a new video and special feature released today by the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality (AFE) and Human Rights Watch.
Although these myths can be harmful, activists who spoke to AFE and Human Rights Watch for this video face them every day with grace, determination, and humour. In the video (watch it below), they debunk these myths and share their experiences with other LGBT people in the region, letting them know they are not alone.
Video made by Human Rights Watch (HRW) together with Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality (AFE).
«Nothing is wrong with you, you are not sick. Love has never been a disease, and all we are doing is loving», said one activist, Mhamad Hjeij, when asked for his message to other LGBT people in the Arab world.
When faced with the myth that «LGBT people have to come out», a transgender woman activist from the Gulf said: «I don’t feel that I have to ‘come out of the closet’ for my identity to be validated and to belong to the LGBT community. I was never in the closet in the first place».
This video builds on No Longer Alone, a video series released by Human Rights Watch in 2018 that showed how LGBT people in the region are finding creative ways to combat discrimination. In the face of state-sponsored efforts to silence LGBT voices, these campaigns echo the resilience of LGBT people who have the courage to keep fighting for their rights to live and to love, despite the risks that this struggle carries.
