Fifty activists have protested in Lebanon, demanding that laws criminalising homosexuality as “against nature”, be repealed. The protest, organised by LGBTI rights group the Helem Association, took place outside the Hbeish Gendarmerie in Beirut and is the first protest of this kind in four years. The morality police often take suspects to the Hbeish Gendarmerie and the protesters were also calling for the release if four trans women. “Most people arrested under this law aren’t detained in the act but in the street because of their appearance,” Helem chief Genwa Samhat told the AFP. Lebanon is considered to be more tolerant of LGBTI issues than other Arab states however, police still regularly raid venues frequented by LGBTI people and still carry out anal “testing” of gay and bisexual men.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 17th May 2016 - 12:27pm