Skip to main content

Home/ Media in Middle East & North Africa/ Group items tagged LGBT

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Ed Webb

LGBT+ activists call on Facebook to move faster on hate speech - 0 views

news.trust.org/...20200812181007-yflrc

Facebook socialmedia LGBT LGBTQ lgbtME hate bigotry speech rights Egypt Jordan

shared by Ed Webb on 16 Aug 20 - Cached
  • the Arab Network for Knowledge about Human Rights (ANKH), which has conducted the first survey of LGBT+ Arab Facebook users. More than 90% of the 450 Arabic speakers who responded had been targeted by hate speech on the platform, it found. A quarter of online hate speech in the Middle East and North Africa urged violence against LGBT+ people and 15% made direct threats. More than half the respondents reported feeling hopeless or depressed as a result and almost one in four had thought of self-harming.
  • Activists say Facebook can be an essential tool for LGBT+ people in the Arab world, where many face an oppressive legal and social atmosphere, and vague laws against indecency are often used to criminalize sexual activity. Strong social stigma around homosexuality, amplified by conservative religious entities, has led to low acceptance of gay people across the region. LGBT+ activists in the area risk social exclusion, prison sentences, and violence by security forces, according to Human Rights Watch.
  • Jillian York, director of international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said enforcing policies would require vast investment in language skills to navigate slang and dozens of dialects. "(Social media companies) are really bad at defining and dealing with incitement and dehumanizing language," she said, adding that Facebook "have a dearth of content moderators in a number of languages where they should have a lot more".
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Many Arab LGBT+ activists - even those who work closely with Facebook - say the rules are still poorly enforced. In recent months, LGBT+ groups have formed their own Facebook groups to mass-report viral hate speech, appealing to the company to act quickly. In June, Facebook set up phone calls with prominent Arab LGBT+ activists and groups to hear their concerns, according to four participants in those calls. But activists said they were unconvinced that moderators were well-trained to identify all Arabic hate speech.
  • The ANKH survey found the problem persisted into August, with 77% of respondents saying they were subjected to online hate speech.
  • "People were sending them to my family and colleagues asking if it was me," he said. "I never expected things would turn real."
Ed Webb

Gay Rights - Change.org: Is the Iraqi Government Executing LGBT People? - 0 views

gayrights.change.org/...vernment_executing_lgbt_people

Iraq rights sexuality repression LGBT

shared by Ed Webb on 03 Apr 09 - Cached
  • approximately 128 individuals have been arrested and sentenced to death for nothing more than being LGBT. And according to Iraqi-LGBT, executions are scheduled this week to start in "batches of 20."
  • Since the U.S. invasion, the death penalty in Iraq has soared to levels that not even Texas approaches.
  • If the Iraq government hopes to become part of the family of nations, it must respect the rights of all segements of its population, including all homosexual persons (who do not choose their sexual orientation).  To merit international respect, the government must behave justly and refrain from persecuting LGBT persons.   The world is watching Iraq as it develops into a true democracy that respects human rights. Posted by Stephen Harris
Ed Webb

An Arab world first: LGBT radio goes online in Tunisia despite threats | The Japan Times - 0 views

www.japantimes.co.jp/...online-tunisia-despite-threats

Tunisia radio media LGBT LGBTQ

shared by Ed Webb on 11 Jan 18 - Cached
  • An online radio station catering for the LGBT community, believed to be the first of its kind in the Arab world, started broadcasting in Tunisia on Monday
  • homosexuality is officially illegal
  • It intends “to sensitize the people of Tunisia, ordinary citizens and political decision makers about homophobia in society and to defend individual liberties,”
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Gay rights activists have emerged from the shadows in Tunisia since the revolution in 2011, but their position remains precarious in Tunisia’s conservative Muslim society.Article 230 of the penal code includes a punishment of up to three years in prison for homosexuality and young men are regularly detained and prosecuted.
Ed Webb

Egypt TV host Mohamed al-Ghiety jailed for interviewing gay man - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-46946612

Egypt media TV television LGBT LGBTQ censorship

shared by Ed Webb on 22 Jan 19 - Cached
  • An Egyptian TV presenter has been sentenced to one year of hard labour for interviewing a gay man last year.A court in Giza also fined Mohamed al-Ghiety 3,000 Egyptian pounds ($167; £130) for "promoting homosexuality" on his privately owned LTC TV channel.
  • Homosexuality is not explicitly criminalised in Egypt, however, the authorities have been increasingly cracking down on the LGBT community.
  • lawyer Samir Sabry, who is well known in Egypt for taking celebrities to court, filed a lawsuit against Ghiety for his interview which took place in August 2018
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Egypt's top media body, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, immediately took the channel off air for two weeks, citing "professional violations".
  • In addition to the jail term and fine, the misdemeanours court also ordered Ghiety to be put under surveillance for one year after serving his sentence
  • Egypt's media council banned homosexuals from appearing on any media outlet after a rainbow flag was raised at a concert in Cairo in 2017, in a rare public show of support for the LGBT community in the conservative, mainly Muslim country.
  • The authorities rely on a 1961 prostitution law that criminalises "habitual debauchery" to charge people who they suspect of engaging in consensual homosexual conduct.
  • Mr Sabry was also the lawyer who filed a case against Egyptian actress Rania Youssef on charges of "inciting debauchery" over a see-through outfit she wore at an awards ceremony last year. He later dropped the case after Ms Youssef apologised.
Ed Webb

Police Arrest Student and Venue Owner Organizing an Egypt Gay Concert - 0 views

hornetapp.com/...egypt-gay-concert

Egypt LGBT LGBTQ lgbtME repression music

shared by Ed Webb on 19 Feb 18 - No Cached
  • Egyptian police recently arrested a student in the Giza district of Kerdasa for “debauchery” after allegedly organizing a concert for gay people. The Egypt gay concert never happened. Now the student and one other man face legal charges.
  • Egypt’s recent and massive anti-LGBT crackdown began by targeting a musical event when  police arrested several young people who waved a rainbow flag at a Cairo concert in September 2017. The concert was that of Mashrou’ Leila, a Lebanese band whose name means “A Night Project” in Arabic. Mashrou’ Leila’s lead singer, Hamed Sinno, is openly gay.
  • Since homosexuality is not criminalized in Egypt, people are often arrested and charged with vague crimes like “debauchery,” “immorality” and “blasphemy.”
Ed Webb

Anti-LBTQ backlash grows across Middle East, echoing U.S. culture wars - The Washington... - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...dle-east-lgbtq-gay-transgender

Turkey Lebanon Jordan LGBT LGBTQ repression homophobia politics

shared by Ed Webb on 13 Dec 23 - No Cached
  • Across the Middle East, LGBTQ communities face a growing crackdown, echoing efforts by prominent American conservatives to restrict the rights of gay and transgender people and erase their influence from society.
  • Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have always stood out in the region on LGBTQ issues. All have queer scenes, all have hosted Pride parades or similar events. But in all three places, the community exists in a legal gray area — neither criminalized nor protected by the law. As anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment intensifies and is championed by some of the region’s most powerful figures, gay and trans people feel more vulnerable than ever.
  • Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council levied fines against streaming platforms including Netflix, Disney and Amazon Prime for showing “homosexual relationships” that are “contrary to social and cultural values and the Turkish family structure.”
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Although the talking points about protecting the family echo those espoused by some right-wing politicians in the United States, there are other influences closer to home, specifically Russia.
  • Russian videos with Turkish subtitles were proliferating on social media, promoting a new law in Russia that makes it illegal to spread “LGBT propaganda.”
  • Tarek Zeidan, the director of Helem, a Lebanese LGBTQ advocacy group, told The Post of “a cloud of fear and anxiety among the community.” Last week, he said, the organization received “dozens of calls” from people asking for assistance in leaving the country and advice on what to do if they were attacked.
  • the moral panic over LGBTQ people is ultimately a deflection strategy, “to shift the tension away from the actual problems” in a region beset by economic troubles, political stasis and climate woes.
Ed Webb

ONI Releases 2009 Middle East & North Africa Research | OpenNet Initiative - 0 views

opennet.net/...dle-east-north-africa-research

opennet censorship middle_east middleeast news analysis internet socialnetworking

shared by Ed Webb on 12 Aug 09 - Cached
  • While not all countries in the Middle East and North Africa filter the Internet, censorship across the region is on the rise, and the scope and depth of filtering are increasing. Testing has revealed political filtering to be the common denominator across the region; however, social filtering is on the rise.
  • Based on ONI testing results, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and the West Bank do not currently filter any material; however, none of those are without regulations.
  • Bahrain, Iran, Syria and Tunisia have the strictest political filtering practices in the region.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Although increased filtering is the rule and unblocking the exception, there are a few instances of the latter since our last report. Syria has restored access to Arabic-language Wikipedia, Morocco has lifted a ban on a number of pro-Western Sahara independence Web sites, and Libya has begun to allow access to previously banned political sites. Additionally, Sudanese filtering of sites containing LGBT, dating, and health-related content has lessened since the last round of ONI testing.
  • Iran is among the strictest filtering regimes in the world, pervasively filtering political and social content, as well as Internet tools and proxies, and substantially filtering content related to conflict and security.
  • In the Middle East and North Africa, the filtering of social media and social networking sites has become relatively commonplace. For example, YouTube and Facebook are currently filtered Syria and Tunisia, and Orkut and Flickr are blocked in Iran and the UAE. Iran also filters a local social networking site, Balatarin.com, and the UAE and Saudi Arabia filter certain YouTube videos, though not the entire site.
  • Blocking Web sites in a local language is approximately twice as likely as blocking sites only available in English or other international languages.
Ed Webb

The Failure of #amazonfail « Clay Shirky - 0 views

www.shirky.com/...comment-page-1

amazon #amazonfail trust LGBT shirky

shared by Ed Webb on 15 Apr 09 - Cached
  • Ed Webb on 15 Apr 09
     
    Essential reading
Ed Webb

Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - Women, bloggers & gays lead change in ... - 0 views

ac360.blogs.cnn.com/...-lead-change-in-the-arab-world

CNN bloggers blogging middleeast Arabs women LGBT rights minorities

shared by Ed Webb on 15 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Ed Webb on 15 Oct 09
     
    Rather too many broad generalizations for my taste, but given the platform, this should get some attention.
Ed Webb

Ahwaa.org - 0 views

ahwaa.org

lgbtME LGBT LGBTQ middleeast socialmedia

shared by Ed Webb on 17 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Ed Webb on 17 Apr 11
     
    Officially launching our latest project, an interactive bilingual platform to debate LGBTQ issues in the MENA: http://ahwaa.org #lgbtME @mideastyouth rock
Ed Webb

Egypt: Forcibly disappeared transgender woman at risk of sexual violence and torture | ... - 0 views

www.amnesty.org/...of-sexual-violence-and-torture

Egypt LGBT LGBTQ policing police rights abuse abuses authoritarianism

shared by Ed Webb on 08 Mar 19 - No Cached
  • Fears are growing for the safety and wellbeing of Malak al-Kashef, a transgender woman seized during a police raid from her home in Giza in the early hours of 6 March and who has not been heard from since, Amnesty International said. Malak al-Kashef was taken by police to an undisclosed location. Her lawyers have not been able to locate her and police stations have denied she is in their custody.
  • Egyptian authorities have a horrific track record of persecuting people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity
  • Amnesty International believes that Malak’s arrest relates to her calls for peaceful protests following a major train crash in Cairo’s central train station on 27 February that killed at least 25 people. “Malak al-Kashef appears to have been detained solely for peacefully exercising her rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Due to her gender identity, Malak is at increased risk of torture by the police, including rape and sexual violence, as well as assault by other detainees
  • Malak al-Kashef is a transgender woman who is undergoing gender affirming surgery. However, she has not yet managed to have her gender identity officially recognized and is therefore registered as male in official documents
1 - 20 of 38 Next ›
Showing 20▼ items per page