Denied the Right to Love
Injustice in Lebanon prevails. From toying with the investigation of the August 4th, 2020 port explosion to the government standing-by as the Lira devalues every day, justice is one of the most fundamental human rights robbed of the people in Lebanon. Amid that public, there is a group of individuals unrightfully abused and often sidelined in the fight for human rights. Advocating for their right to love, that group is the LGBTQ+ community.
According to Article 534 of the Lebanese penal code, "any intercourse that is unnatural shall be punished by up to one year in prison". Multiple judges have tried to counter that article by ruling that "consensual same-sex activity" and homosexuality are not unnatural; also, that personal freedom is not a crime. In spite of these efforts, the law still allows for the unrightful interrogation and detaining of individuals who express their sexualities and genders in ways that do not abide with the typical societal norms. And although it has been a few years since someone has been convicted under that article, the streets remain unsafe for members of the LGBTQ+ community, as the law itself — the main tool for justice and protection — is not complacent with the demands of social reality.
Last April, Tarek Zeidan, head of Helem association, an Arab group defending LGBTQ+ rights in the region, took to the news to denounce the interior ministry's instruction to security forces to clamp down on events “promoting sexual perversion”. Helem filed a lawsuit against the State Council, which ended the ban on gatherings aimed at promoting “the phenomenon of sexual deviance”.
In spite of these small battles, the streets are not safe for LGBTQ+ people in the country. Earlier this year, there were reports on social media stating that the police in Beirut were posing as gay men on Grindr — a dating app for members of the LGBTQ+ community — to entrap and arrest users. Human Rights Watch affirmed these testimonies in a 135-page report released in February 2023, in which the Lebanese Security Forces are denounced for using "online extortion, online harassment, and outing" to illegitimately formulate evidence against members of the LGBTQ+ community. "The targeting of LGBT people online is enabled by their precarious legal status… the absence of protection by laws or sufficient digital platform regulations," Human Rights Watch wrote. This violent repression is unfortunately not only in Lebanon, but also in neighboring states, such as Jordan and Egypt. We may therefore conclude that while the community’s existence in Beirut is prevalent, their right to freedom of expression — a fundamental human right under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, safeguarded in the Lebanese Constitution — remains lacking. For that reason, when demanding justice, minorities and less privileged groups, including the LGBTQ+ Community, must be at the forefront of our battles.
At 26 Letters, we ensure that our students receive an education that is respectful of everyone’s diversity. We develop our own books and class materials, which are personalized depending on our student’s needs, interests and demands. As such, we can educate them on mainstream ethics, integrating ethnic, racial, and cultural variety through texts and illustrations, along with gender and sexual diversity. Being aware of and practicing one's fundamental human rights are at the core of our values. Our students know very well that there is no harm in loving another, however there is harm in denying someone else’s right
