Human Rights Watch To Lebanon: No More Anal Probes

It's both inexpressibly sad and deeply ridiculous that the Human Rights Watch, the four-star charity founded in 1978 to enforce the Helsinki Accords, must in 2012 issue a press release demanding that Lebanese police officers cease performing anal probes on suspected gay men. But they must, and they have.

From HRC:

“Forensic anal examinations of men suspected of homosexual contact, conducted in detention, constitute degrading and humiliating treatment,” said Rasha Moumneh, a Middle East and North Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, based in Beirut. “These ‘tests of shame,’ as local activists call them, should stop immediately – the state has no business punishing and degrading its citizens for consensual sexual conduct.”

In case you're wondering: When Lebanese cops probe your bum, they're looking for semen. The consensus among those few mainstream scientists who think about such things is that the probes are unreliable.

The issue's come up because of the police raid of a gay cinema in Beirut on July 29th, in which 36 men were arrested for peaceably watching a movie. They were all probed. Some were released post-probe; some were not. Those convicted of having performed sexual acts "contradicting the laws of nature" could be sentenced to up to a year in prison.

Lebanon: Gay Oasis in the Middle East?

For those of you who have been to both, is Beirut "the Provincetown of the Middle East" as the NYT proclaims?

"While homosexual activity (technically, sexual relations that officials deem “unnatural”) is illegal in Lebanon, as in most of the Arab world, Beirut’s vitality as a Mediterranean capital of night life has fueled a flourishing gay scene — albeit one where men can be nervous about public displays of affection and where security guards at clubs can intercede if the good times turn too frisky on the dance floor. But even more than the partying, Beirut represents a different Middle East for some gay and lesbian Arabs: the only place in the region where they can openly enjoy a social life denied them at home."

In February, a series of gay rights rallies, the first-ever in Lebanon, began in Beirut. Watch footage from them, AFTER THE JUMP...

Beirut, Lebanon Gay Rights Activists Hold New Rally

 The second major rally in four months has been held by a gay and lesbian activist group in Lebanon, Calcutta News reports:

"Gay men and women in Lebanon have taken to the streets in a brave effort to show the rainbow flag.  Protesters on Sunday carried banners and unfurled flags at a sit-in for gays and lesbians in Beirut.  The region's only overt gay rights organisation, Helem, which is based in Lebanon, is preparing for a campaign to overturn the law that makes homosexuality illegal. Helem has been responsible for organising the only overt gay rights protests ever to be held in the Arab world. In February, nearly two dozen gays and lesbians waved rainbow flags in a downtown Beirut square, carrying banners demanding homosexual rights.  They were protesting what they said was the beating of two gay men by police.  Helem is now set to challenge Lebanon's Article 534, which prohibits sexual relations that 'contradict the laws of nature.' The region has seen a recent spike in killings of homosexuals, blamed by some on the influence of Islamic extremists."

The AP looks at the gay rights struggle in Lebanon.

The screencap above is from a clip of February's protest, which you can view, AFTER THE JUMP...