Tuesday, September 28, 2010

On the journey of world discovering :LGBT rights


I was always waiting to talk about my taboos, the issues that really had hard times to decide what I think about it and one of this issues is the LGBT rights, or the rights of the sexual minorities . I will tell you some of my stories with LGBT issues in this post.
I never thought of it before April 2008, in the meeting of raising fund for the feminist movement in the Middle East and North Africa. There was my first encounter with LGBT advocates, my good friend N was very outspoken and she articulated her interests as LGBT advocate and her talks showed the intersection between the sexual orientation, gender identity and age . I remember that I never approached her and I did not know how to deal with her , what to say and what not to say. She just broke many of the fundamental ideas I had, she offered me a complete new image which is  contradicting with my so called Islamic vision, I thought I have simple idea about Homosexuality and I considered  it a disease  as my source of knowledge Islam online said. My dear N stood in front of the icons of the Arab feminist movement claiming that the liberty of a woman will be gained by liberating her vagina, N advocated for freedom of all women not only women belonging to  the sexual minorities.
Then many bells rang in my mind, I started reading progressive interpretations of Islam and started question my deep rooted ideas, but what really make me feel completely different is reading Bareed Mast3jel , the stories of queer women in Lebanon, when they shared their fears, anxieties and small moments of joy through this book, I felt that we share more than I think and what differentiate us is only human made labels that will never be static and should not be taken for granted.  I just felt the pain and misery they face for no good reason other than claiming their rights to be who they are.
I know that I will never be a vocal  advocate of LGBT rights, i will be a supporter to this cause and  I will always support any person right to claim whatever identity they want .
Thanks N for showing me another dimension of the human diversity

10 comments:

Ahmed Awadalla said...

I hate the term sexual minorities. It sounds as if human sexuality is just limited into simple dichotomies.

I'm glad you broke the taboo about it, and it's interesting to hear your opinion about it.

Cheers!

Fatma Emam said...

the term minority and majority does not have any value judgment as far as i understand, it is about the numerical factor, i hate natural and unnatural though
i need to think more and evaluate my experience to talk more about the issue, stay tuned
i am also happy that taboos are starting to come down

Pazuzu HSP said...

Aw, that's sweet, I remember when N came back from that conference, she was telling us all about it and how at first she wasn't sure she did the right thing, but for sure it was an intense moment for everyone.

I'm also glad you read bareed :D yo2borne!

Thanks for writing this, it does make a difference ;)

Fatma Emam said...

thanks u for reading my dear
i think we have to stop being discreet about what we support, i hope i can do anything to make life better for us all
N is just a courageous soul, we need many of her to change our lives

Gay Middle East said...

Thank you so much for the post, admiration for your work!
Gay Middle Eat Team

Fatma Emam said...

no need for a thank you i just shared a good memory of a human struggle :D

Pazuzu HSP said...

ok it's silly to waste a comment on this but the Middle Eat typo was funny :P

Lara said...

Very honest post, great job! love it!

Fatma Emam said...

pazuzu
u r always welcome to write what u want, it is funny, i thought more ideas will be raised, other than the thank u one
but it is cool, they shared the post on twitter and that more than enough

Fatma Emam said...

thanks lara for the kind words