Unspeakable Love: Notes to Chapter 2
1. The rainbow flag, now internationally recognised as a gay symbol, was designed by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, for a local parade in 1978. Its initial eight coloured stripes were later reduced to six and it gradually became popular worldwide. It is generally regarded as representing hope and diversity. Some also associate it with “Over the rainbow”, the song from the Wizard of Oz film which has a strong gay following. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_flag; http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/scotts/bulgarians/rainbow-flag.html and http://flagspot.net/flags/qq-rb.html. There is apparently no “right way up” to hang the flag.
2. As-Safir, An-Nahar, L’Orient le Jour and the Daily Star.
3. ‘Homosexuals carried their flag and participated.’ An-Nahar, March 16, 2003, page 4. In popular Arab culture, black T-shirts tend to be associated with satanism, heavy metal music and/or homosexuality.
4. See http://www.helem.net/about.zn
5. Sanderson, James: Postcard from Beirut. http://www.gayguidetoronto.com/1_turnstile/feb_2004.html. Helem’s website includes a “Queer Lebanon Guide” (http://beirut.helem.net/index.htm).>
6. Police storm gay nightclub in Beirut. Daily Star, March 31, 2003
7. ibid.
8. Author’s interview, June 2004. There have been similar campaigns against “devil worship” in Morocco and Egypt directed against heavy metal bands and/or their fans (see Whitaker, Brian: ‘Highway to hell’, The Guardian, June 2, 3003. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,968945,00.html).
9. Singh-Bartlett, Warren: ‘For some young Lebanese, staying means “life will be over”; increasing numbers are fleeing homophobic persecution.’ Daily Star, October 16, 2001.
10. ‘Dunkin’ Donuts accused of discriminating against gay customers.’ Daily Star, July 25, 2003.
11. There is also a joint Israeli-Palestinian community centre in Jerusalem called Open House www.gay.org.il. Two other organisations, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) and Hurriyyat Khassa (“Private Freedoms”) in Lebanon, deal with gay and lesbian rights among a range of issues affecting people’s personal lives – “domestic slavery, sexual equality, democracy inside family, and the right not to belong to a religious sect” in the case of Hurriyat Khassa (interview with Nizar Saghieh of Hurriyat Khassa, June 2004). The right to be secular is a particular issue in Lebanon, where all citizens are obliged to register as adherents of a specific faith or sect. An additional organisation based in Israel is Aswat, for 'Palestinian gay women' www.aswatgroup.org.
12. http://www.helem.net/about.zn
13. Human Rights Watch: In a time of torture: The assault on justice in Egypt’s crackdown on homosexual conduct. March 2004, p1.Available online at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/egypt0304/
14. Dawoud, Khaled: ‘50 Egyptian gays in court for “fomenting strife”.’ The Guardian, July 18, 2001. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,523249,00.html
15. Whitaker, Brian: ‘Homosexuality on trial in Egypt.’ The Guardian, November 19, 2001. http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,600791,00.html
16. ‘Egyptian government denies gay crackdown’, April 4, 2003.Cited at:www.sodomylaws.org/world/egypt/egnews211.htm
17. Bahgat, Hossam: ‘Explaining Egypt’s targeting of gays.’ Middle East Report, July 23, 2001. http://www.merip.org/mero/mero072301.html
18. Interview conducted in Egypt, April 2004.
19. Interview conducted in Egypt, April 2004.
20. Ghafari, Iman al-: ‘Is there a lesbian identity in the Arab culture?’ Al-Raida (Lebanese American University, Beirut) Vol XX, no 99, fall 2002/2003. pp 86-90.
21. ‘Gay Time Story: To be gay in Saudi Arabia.’ http://www.gaymiddleeast.com/news/article13.htm
22. ibid.
23. Dahir, Mubarak: ‘OutUK from Saudi Arabia.’ Undated article. http://www.outuk.com/index.html?http://www.outuk.com/content/features/saudiarabia/
24. Bradley, John: ‘Saudi gays flaunt new freedoms: ‘Straights can’t kiss in public or hold hands like us”.’ Independent, February 29, 2004. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article70138.ece. There is further discussion of this in Bradley's book, Saudi Arabia Exposed. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2005.
25. Dahir, op cit.
26. Bradley, op cit.
27. Dahir, op cit.
28. Article 37. http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/sa00000_.html
29. For a portait of the household as the basic unit of government in a traditional Arab society see Mundy, Martha: Domestic Government: Kinship, Community and Polity in North Yemen. I B Tauris, London, 1995.
30. Hamad, Turki al-: Adama. Translated by Robin Bray. Saqi Books, London, 2003.
31. For further discussion of these cases see Chapter 4.
32. Dahir, op cit.
33. Bradley, op cit.
34. ‘Gay Time Story: To be gay in Saudi Arabia.’ http://www.gaymiddleeast.com/news/article13.htm
35. Dahir, op cit.
36. The raid was first reported in al-Jazirah, a Saudi Arabic-language newspaper, on February 27, 2004. There were several subsequent reports on March 1, 2004: ‘Arrested Chadian says he was rehearsing for his legal marriage’ (Arab News); ‘At least 50 men arrested after Saudi religious police raid alleged gay wedding’ (Associated Press); ‘Saudi Arabia arrests “gay wedding” guests’ (Reuters).
37. http://www.alwifaq.net/news/index.php?Show=News&id=5102 (in Arabic). See: ‘Saudi puts gay wedding party on trial.’ Saudi Institute press release, March 16, 2005. http://209.197.233.93/content/view/235/39/ (No longer available).
38. ‘Saudi Arabia: men “behaving like women” face flogging.’ Human Rights Watch press release, April 7, 2005.
39. Human Rights Watch: In a time of torture: The assault on justice in Egypt’s crackdown on homosexual conduct. March 2004, pp 49-52; 65-68. Available online at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/egypt0304/
40. Dahir, op cit.
42. ‘Censorship in Saudi Arabia: access to gaymiddleeast.com blocked again.’ March 19, 2004. http://www.gaymiddleeast.com/news/article30.htm
43. Human Rights Watch, op cit, pp 73-74. The internet conversations, which were in English, appeared in the case file.
44. Human Rights Watch, op cit, p 74.