CALEM - Confederation of Associations LGBT, European
or Muslim - Paris colloquium 17 to 19
November 2012
During the international congress that last week was organized in Paris - France by CALEM, was a very interesting meeting with many
LGHBTQI's organizations and activists.
CALAM provided a platform for participants to engage in three days of debates, discussions and mutual learning to think about questions
relating to Islam, secularism, sexualities and transgender rights and other issues like HIV, AIDS.
Emir Belatoui was invited to tell about the Secret Garden Foundation and the work it does. He met many important activist and herby stories of two of them:
Ani Zonneveld, is Co-founder and President of Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV), a 501 (c) (3) founded in 2007. In the short years since
inception, Ani presided over MPV's expansion to include chapters and affiliates in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Atlanta, Salt Lake City,
Columbus (OH), as well as Ottawa and Toronto, Canada. She has organized numerous interfaith arts and music festivals, participated in many
interfaith dialogues and is a strong supporter of LGBTQ rights. She is the brainchild of Literary Zikr - a project that counters radical
Islam on-line and most recently MPV's first book, an anthology titled "Progressive Muslim Identities - Personal Stories from the U.S. and
Canada". Ani is a singer/songwriter/producer and is the first woman to release an English Islamic pop album in the U.S., titled "Ummah Wake
Up" followed by "One". Her latest project "Islamic Hymns- Celebration of Life" establishes a new musical genre. Ani performs wedding services
for mixed faith and gay couples and in 2006, she was named a Muslim Leader of Tomorrow by the American Society for Muslim Advancement. Muslims
for Progressive Values (MPV) is an inclusive community rooted in the traditional Qur'anic ideals of human dignity and social justice. We welcome
all who are interested in discussing, promoting and working for the implementation of progressive values - human rights, freedom of expression,
and separation of church and state - as well as inclusive and tolerant understandings of Islam.
BUILDING A PROGRESSIVE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
Too often Muslims in America are asked 'where are the progressives amongst us? Aren't there any Muslims who are for women's reproductive rights,
for LGBTQ rights, for the separation of Religion and State?'
Muslims for Progressive Values has been in existence since 2007. Quietly and diligently we have been building our progressive community, one
city at a time, and now one country at a time. In the short time since its inception in Los Angeles, we have expanded to include chapters in
Washington DC, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Columbus (OH), as well as Ottawa and Toronto, Canada.
We assert that Islam is inherently progressive, inclusive and egalitarian; an understanding from which our community is built on and that
informs the ten principles of MPV.
I'm a gay Palestinian and I fight for my people's rights
His story, narrated in the interesting documentary "The invisible men" of the Israeli director Yariv Mozer, has touched the world: Rawashda Abdu,
24 years old, was arrested and tortured by Palestinian security forces on suspicion of being an Israeli spy. But his only "crime" was to have
relationships with Israeli boys. After managing to leave from the Middle East, Abdu was granted political asylum in Norway, where he became an
activist for the LGBTQ* rights and for the human rights of Palestinians. He supports also Queers4Palestine, a network of LGBTQ* activists, which
demands respect for the essential rights of the Palestinian people and for the UN resolutions related to Palestine.
And while the media has already set aside the last Israeli raids that have killed more than 150 people (including 43 children), injured hundreds
of civilians, destroyed nearly 250 buildings (including 200 houses, three mosques and a medical center), Abdu has agreed to tell us his views on
the current situation in the Middle East.
What's the status of LGBTQ* people in Palestine?
There's no status: we exist, but secretly.
Israeli law explicitly denies the possibility of granting political asylum to any Palestinian and imposes heavy penalties for those who help
illegal refugees. "The invisible men" showed the terrible conditions of gay Palestinians in Israel, as reported also by the Israeli human rights
associations. However, many people are convinced that Israel is the only salvation for LGBTQ* Palestinians, because "it grants them asylum"...
No, it isn't true: Israel sends gay Palestinians back to the Palestinian territories. Don't believe to propaganda: Israel is the worst country for LGBTQ* Palestinians!
We can't forget that in Palestine women's and LGBTQ* rights are daily violated...
We're suffering a lot, but I think the most important thing for us as Palestinians is to get liberated from the occupation: only the we'll can liberate
ourselves and our minds.
Many people think that to criticize Israeli government's policies, including bombings, means to not recognize the Israelis's right of life, to want
to destroy their state, to side with Ahmadinejad, to be anti-Semites...
I hate Ahmadi-fucking-nejad and I don't want to destroy Israel as a state, but I want to destroy Zionism as the ideology that is driving Israel to the
hell. My best friends are Jews and Israelis, but they aren't Zionists.
See also this video done by: Abdellah Rwashada:
Two trans women arrested in Kuwait
Kuwait continues with 'morality' campaigns that also target LGBT people, and in particular the trans
community, with at least 15 transgender women now imprisoned
Two trans women were arrested today (28 November) in Kuwait.
The two, described by Al-Watan daily as 'cross dressers', were driving their car, but a police patrol became suspicious and tailed them.
The two tried to escape, by switching to different streets and increased their speed but were chased and apprehended.
The police 'figured out' they were in fact men [probably via id] and proceeded to arrest and send them to detention.
On Sunday (25 November) Al-Rai daily reported another case related to LGBT Kuwaitis, saying that two 'tomboyish' women assaulted another woman in a café in a Mall located in Salmiya, Kuwait city.
The two women were alleged to have harassed the woman, asking her to do 'obscenities', and when she refused the paper reported that the two proceeded to physically assault and abuse her.
The paper cited a 'security source' who said the two women literally attacked her and threw her to the ground, and ran away after the police was called in, but said they are looking for security camera footage and speaking to witnesses in order to arrest them.
However, a Gay Star News source in Kuwait interviewed one of the security men in the mall that witnessed the event and he reported a different story.
The two were walking when a woman in the sitting in a café called them derogatory words and laughed at the way they looked with her friend.
The two got furious and answered back.
The lady sitting in the café threw at them cutlery which they threw back at her.
The lady then stepped out of the café, approached the two and start swearing and bullying them. One of the two tried to push her away and she fell to the ground.
All this started a commotion with people shouting call the police, the two got frightened and ran away.
A transgender activist in Kuwait told Gay Star News: 'The media in Kuwait is trying to create a moral panic about LGBT by distorting facts or even fabricating them.
'This is just another attempt to use LGBT issues in the ongoing battle between the government and the Islamist opposition.
'The government want to show that they are in control and just as "moral" as the Islamists so the use as scapegoat.
'It is all about their self-interests not the people of Kuwait.
'Meanwhile there is no recognition of our existence, both the government and opposition use LGBT issues as tools to attack each other, while refusing to recognize the rights of LGBT community in Kuwait.
'Because of shame, religion, culture or any other excuse that they can think of'.
This brings the total known number of transgender women being held in prison awaiting trial to fifteen.
The arrests of the transgender women is part of an on-going 'morality' campaign which also target lesbian, gay and transgender people.
The situation for LGBT people, and in particular transgender people has been progressively deteriorating since 2007, with this year in particular witnessing mass arrests.
On 10 December 2007, the Kuwaiti parliament passed a bill proposed by Islamic MPs that amended article 198 of penal code so that anyone 'imitating the appearance of a member of the opposite sex' could be jailed for up to a year or fined up to 1,000 dinars ($3,500 €2,800).
This law is causing substantial persecution and misery to transgender people in Kuwait which was slammed in a Human Rights Watch report published on 15 January this year criticizing arrests, torture and abuse of transgender people in the country.
