SF Arab Film Festival forges into forbidden territory

The San Francisco Chronicle reports Arab Film Festival forges into forbidden territory.

"The festival is spotlighting gay issues for the first time in its eight years. While festival organizers know that some in the Arab American community may balk at the theme, they also hope it creates awareness of a subject that only occasionally gets widespread attention. In the past three years, for example, the international media have covered the case of gays in Cairo who were arrested en masse and put on trial. The main character in "Road to Love" is a student who makes a documentary about gays and Arab society, which clarifies his own sense of sexuality.

"The Arab community is closed to gay and lesbian issues, but we're trying to create a dialogue," says Amir Jaffer, an activist and filmmaker who was the main organizer of the panel discussion, which he will moderate. "We don't have many films in our community that address (gay) issues."

Let's talk about Arab gays & lesbians. The Dove was born and raised a feminist, and my parents emphasized tolerance and acceptance of gays and lesbians from my teen years. By the time I moved to New York City at age 19, I'd been friends with more gays and lesbians than I could bother to count. I lived on the Lower East Side in the middle of a very gay art, music and club scene (and I do mean gay - I just didn't know many lesbians in those New York days). So by the time I first met openly gay Arabs, I was completely accustomed to being a straight person in the middle of gay life.

This is all to say that I have known gay and lesbian Arabs for at least the last 21 years. Being gay, lesbian, bisexual or (less frequently) transgender is nothing new in the Arab world. OK transgender as in having operations may be new - but have you been to a traditional Egyptian wedding? What do you think of the guy with the long hair and the swirling robes who spins and wears a candelabra on his head?

I'm glad that the Arab Film Festival is focusing on LGBT issues this year. And I know how completely reactionary the larger Arab community can be about this issue. But let me be clear: just because Arab queers are getting a bit of attention now doesn't mean they haven't been around for a very long time.

And of course, sexual practice is extremely fluid. People may not think of themselves as specifically gay or lesbian, but I understand that some men and women have always had homosexual experiences in the Arab world, and that it is simply part of the culture, just not talked about.

I may get jumped on, cursed or attacked for saying this. Sorry folks, but this is the reality. Anybody who attacks me for saying this probably has a gay or lesbian relative in the closet and doesn't know it. Being gay, lesbian or bisexual is a completely natural human behavior, exists in all cultures and societies. Arab lesbians and gays make enormous contributions to the world, even if they usually live deep in the closet.

Comments

[Jonathan Edelstein]

Wasn't there a sort of quasi-marriage between men in some communities of Egypt's western desert and Libya?

[Leila]

My friends the gay Egyptian twins told me all about this (circa 1982) but since it's hearsay, I didn't want to print it. Perhaps a better researcher than I can dig up the anthropological studies.

You can imagine this topic drives people crazy. I heard (and saw) all kinds of things when I lived in Cairo in 1983, but I don't want to repeat what is essentially gossip. Let's just say that homosexual behavior flourishes, as long as people keep it discreet.

[Jonathan Edelstein]

All the accounts I've heard have been hearsay as well - but on the other hand, every Egyptian I've met seems to agree that this used to happen. If I ever run across proof, I'll let you know.

I can definitely understand why this subject drives people crazy (although, if the level of rhetoric is anything to go by, it seems to drive people less crazy in the Arab world than in southern and eastern Africa). You were very lucky in your choice of parents. :)

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