In a first for Tunisia and the Arab world, a gay man is running for president.
France24 reports: “Liberal Party leader Mounir Baatour, an openly gay lawyer, announced on Thursday he would stand in Tunisia’s presidential elections, marking a first for the Arab world. Baatour’s candidacy marks ‘a first which will without doubt be a benchmark in history’, his party said. A lawyer at the Court of Cassation, Tunisia’s highest court, the Liberal Party leader presents himself as a defender of LGBT rights. But ahead of his announcement, a petition signed by 18 groups who campaign for those rights warned his candidacy would represent a ‘danger’ for their communities.”
