Lebanon’s caretaker interior minister has given instructions to security forces to stop gatherings of the LGBTQ community, following pressure from religious institutions. Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi instructed Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces and the General Security agency to “immediately take the necessary measures to prevent any type of celebration, meeting or gathering” by the LGBTQ community. The orders followed “calls on social media to organize parties and events promoting homosexuality in Lebanon, and following communication from religious figures rejecting the spread of this phenomenon,” he said.