Why is anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric on the rise in the Middle East?

 | 
09/16/2023

From Lebanon to Iraq, politicians in the Middle East have stepped up their anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, raising concerns about an increase in homophobic violence and even tougher penalties for same-sex relations in the region. Most countries in the Middle East, with few exceptions such as Israel, Jordan and Bahrain, already ban gay sex and curtail the rights of transgender people. Several – Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen – retain the death penalty for same-sex relations, according to a 2020 report by the ILGA World LGBTQ+ advocacy group. But rights campaigners fear LGBTQ+ people’s limited freedoms in the region could be further restricted due to recent developments including proposals in Iraq to introduce the death penalty for gay sex and a crackdown on online discussion of LGBTQ+ matters in Jordan.

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 11/10/2024
11/09/2024
As Namibia heads to Nov. 27 presidential and parliamentary elections, young LGBTQ+ voters say political parties are out of touch, failing to evolve with …
Added on: 11/10/2024
11/09/2024
Martinique is called the Island of Flowers, but it is currently undergoing an intense social crisis that combines LGBTphobic violence and painful inflation. Martinique …
Added on: 11/10/2024
11/09/2024
The Nationalist Party is committed to continue strengthening the rights of LGBTIQ+ individuals, Bernard Grech has told European centre-right LGBTIQ+ activists. Grech said a …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Added on: 11/09/2024
In September 2023, Aidil Iman Aidid, a Malaysian youth activist, was invited by a group of students at a university in Kuala Lumpur to …
Added on: 11/05/2024
Many of us, as children, often imagined royals as living happily ever after in a faraway castle. For those of us who enjoyed shows …
Added on: 11/05/2024
In August, a principal in the Bangladeshi city of Kurigram was suspended from his job after allegations surfaced that he is gay, part of …