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    Tunisian Human Rights Minister’s Remarks Spark Debate on Homophobia

    By Charles Baeder | Feb 9 2012 Share on Linkedin Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google Share on pinterest Print

    Tags: gay ,gay rights ,GayDay ,hannibal ,Homosexual ,

    While the newfound liberty of expression in Tunisia has allowed LGBT advocates to speak out more than ever before, recent homophobic comments from Tunisia’s minister of human rights have called into question the entitlements of the nascent movement.

    On January 28 a public demonstration called upon the government to take a more active role in guaranteeing the rights of Tunisia’s homosexual minority. However, this exposure of a subject long considered taboo aroused vitriol from segments of Tunisian society.

    During an interview with talk-show host Samir el Wafi, on February 4, Samir Dilou stated – in response to a comment concerning whether the homosexual community should be afforded the freedom to express themselves openly across all mediums – that “freedom of expression has its limits.”

    The discussion concluded with Dilou and Wafi stating in agreement that homosexuality was a sexual perversion that requires medical treatment and that sexual orientation is not a human right. Their statements were not without response.

    GayDay magazine,Tunisia’s first publication dedicated to the homosexual community in the Middle East and North Africa, recently published a letter of reply to the remarks.

    “I say to his highness the minister for the sake of his memory, since perhaps he has forgotten or ignored, that the World Health Organization – since 1990 – announced that homosexuality has been removed from the list of mental illnesses, concluding a century in which it had been considered as a medical condition,” retorted Paloma Negra, a writer for the magazine, in an article entitled, “I’m a Human, Too, Minister of Human Rights.”

    “It was both laughable and tragic to watch the live insult and mockery of one who claims to be the minister of human rights for a constituency that continues to suffer from various forms of exclusion, injustice, and marginalization,” continued Negra.

    El Wafi, the talk-show host from Hannibal TV who interviewed Dilou, had a previous reputation for expressing homophobic sentiment. Following the demonstrations on January 28, el Wafi wrote on his Facebook page – followed by over 55,000 subscribers – a scathing indictment of the protestors and their tacit sponsor – GayDay magazine. “In the name of freedom and in a conservative country whose people are facing a struggle between modernity and tradition; a magazine for fags dares to come out and challenge all the circumstances, rules, morals, ethics and customs,” el Wafi stated.

    “Do we need further strife because a very small minority expresses its perversion… not caring about the feelings and the sacred beliefs of a majority?” he added.

    His post currently has 158 likes, 80 shares, and 50 comments.

    While these comments have revealed the prevalence of homophobia from socially conservative political constituencies, even those affiliated with the socially progressive side of the political spectrum have been hesitant to answer the call of upholding the rights of Tunisia’s homosexual community.

    Selma Baccar, a representative of the Modern Democratic Pole (PDM) – a socially liberal opposition party – stated her conviction that addressing the rights of Tunisian homosexuals is not a high-priority issue. She claimed that Dilou’s comments were intended to divert attention away from the crucial socio-economic challenges facing the country and to provoke a response from the progressive, leftist parties that could alienate them from elements of the Muslim community.

    In her article, Paloma conveyed her dismay that the dialogue surrounding Dilou’s comments have revealed that the inclusive society envisioned during the revolution is still a ways off.

    “This is what has been achieved in the country of the revolution. The revolution that we thought was, or almost was, a revolution of dignity and freedom,” Paloma wrote.

    Written in Collaboration with Mischa Benoit-Lavelle and Samia Fitouri

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    1. Redwan /

      Society as with any system, needs limits and rules in order to maintain order and not fall into chaos, immorality and obcenities, anarchy, and disorder like weve been witnessing here in the West. All those who call for free speech, do not want freedom, they want society to follow its whims and desires, and not be bound by rules, which in essence, is a evil call. There is no Freedom, man must follow either that which is True or False, no one can escape that. That which is True benefits the individual and society in itself and that which is false corrupts the individual and society as well, kind of like the lies we’ve been fed about how looking at pornography and masturbation is good for you. Few short years later after the advent of the internet, we now see porn addiction as an epidemic, and women in the West degraged and stripped of their clothing and dignigty as a commodity with young girls parading in skimpy outifits at beauty pagents. If you look back 150 years up until now you would see the major degradation of values here in the West, in comparison to earlier times. False calls brings corruption, just like the false call for Freedom, don’t believe me? ask the one who is calling for freedom of speech what he means by that. If he says to allow any and all types speech ask him, should we then allow child pornography to be set lose on society as well? If he says yes, then his deviation is made clear, and if he says no, then he has contridicted himself. The West always try to make themselves feel as if they are upon the right way, and any other who doesnt follow there way of liberalism, democracy, and freedom, ect, is an oppressor, yet they themselves push their corrupt ideology on the masses as well under the guise of freedom. If democracy is majority rules, then what if the majority wants something that is corrupt? The Truth should be the rule and not majority as mankind in general commits alot of evil i.e. genocides, riots ect. So my advice to people is to look for the Truth, and do not blindly follow what your society tells you is the Truth, because then you yourselves will be blameworthy in supporting what may be a very evil and false cause, corrupting yourself and those upon the earth. Question for non-muslims, do you believe everything you hear on the media about Islam, is this the correct information? Question for Muslims, are you sure you are following the Islam as practiced by the Prophet Muhammad may peace be with him, and as understood by his Companions and not a deviated way?

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