Homosexual culture blamed on foreign support

Gay seminar stirs outrage in Morocco

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/03/19/68776.html

Thursday, 19 March 2009

Rabat (Hassan al-Ashraf)Outrage swept across Morocco following a gay association’s announcement of a planned seminar on sexual problems.

The seminar entitled “Gender and Sexuality,” is set to be held in April and will tackle sensitive issues that people are too shy to discuss for religious and social reasons, said Mariam Benebodallah, media spokesperson for the Moroccan homosexual association Kif Kif.“The seminar will host experts and lecturers who will present their points of view about how Moroccans can develop their sex life,” she told AlArabiya.net.”We will tackle the issues at the seminar with extreme caution, and we are not trying to provoke anyone.” Spokesperson for the Moroccan homosexual association (more…)

A gay teenager who faces the death penalty if he is forced to return to Iran has won a temporary reprieve after the Home Secretary halted his planned deportation and agreed to reconsider his case.

The Government’s surprise intervention yesterday follows an international outcry over the plight of Mehdi Kazemi, 19, who lost his asylum claim in Britain even though his former boyfriend had been arrested by the Iranian state police and executed for sodomy. (more…)

Now Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain faces deportation By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor

An Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain after her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death faces being forcibly returned after losing the latest round in her battle to be granted asylum.

The case of Pegah Emambakhsh, 40, comes a day after The Independent reported on the growing public outcry over the plight of a gay Iranian teenager who fears he will be executed if he is deported to Iran. (more…)

Gay Muslims living in Germany walk a fine line between freedom and religious constraints on sexual self expression, and between their status as outsiders and a practical need to blend in as Europeans.

The New York Times published an article on the difficulties faced by gay Muslims (www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/world/europe/01berlin.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin) on Jan. 1, taking a look at a gay dance party called a “Gayhane” that takes place at a Berlin night spot called SO36.

The Gayhane events draw a largely Turkish and Arab crowd, reported the Times, many of them gay or bisexual.

(more…)