GUTTER: THE Party GiBs Have Been Waiting For

This Friday GUTTER makes its debut, hopefully not a one-off party but a regular gap-filler for the lousy GiB party scene lately.

There aren't many things that make me want to be in Beirut right now. But this certainly is one of them.

GAYROUTH

Maya Sioufi's article makes the cover of the Sept. Issue of Executive. Totally worth the read.

Meanwhile, the United States Celebrate Gay Rights

It's complicated but put simply, the decision by the Supreme Court today clears the way for same-sex marriage in California, the state with the largest population but also home of the infamous Prop 8 that banned gay marriage a few years ago. With 13 U.S. states that allow  marriage equality today, the U.S. remains perhaps not the most but one of the most progressive and tolerant countries out there... and we so badly need some of that fresh air.

akh... love.
Photo from Getty Images.

It's Part of the Job - The HRW Report on Gay Police Abuse is Out

For those who remember the "happy ending" of the arrest of GiL a couple years back, one tiny victory was the ability to meet with and speak to Human Rights Watch about the unfortunate event - essentially take part in the research they were doing, gathering statistics and testimonials about gay-related arrests in the country over the last 5 years.

The report titled "It's Part of the Job" (download it here) was presented yesterday; it paints a really dark picture of the current practices with gay men in police stations, which we already know but now are well proven and documented. Bottomline for GiBs: don't get into trouble. Oh and learn french.

Droits de l’homme

Quand la torture des détenus aux postes de police « fait partie du métier »...
Par Béchara MAROUN | jeudi, juin 27, 2013

« Le comité des droits de l’homme des FSI manque de personnel et n’a pas de réel pouvoir, tandis que la justice ignore régulièrement des plaintes concernant les violences policières. »
« Ils m’ont interrogé après m’avoir déshabillé. Ils ont versé sur moi de l’eau froide, m’ont attaché à un bureau au moyen d’une chaîne et m’ont suspendu par les pieds comme un poulet », raconte Mohammad à Human Rights Watch, qui vient de publier son rapport sur la torture des détenus vulnérables dans les postes de police libanais.
À l’occasion de la Journée mondiale de la drogue et de la Journée internationale de l’ONU pour soutenir les victimes de la torture, Human Rights Watch s’est cette fois intéressée au traitement par les Forces de sécurité intérieure (FSI) des détenus au sein des postes de police libanais, notamment les individus appartenant à des groupes marginaux, voire vulnérables, tels que les toxicomanes, les personnes qui exercent le sexe comme profession et la communauté LGBT (lesbiennes, gays, bisexuels et transsexuels).
Hier, un rapport de 66 pages a été publié par l’association qui œuvre pour les droits de l’homme. Se basant sur 52 témoignages de personnes arrêtées durant les cinq dernières années, car elles ont été soupçonnées de pratiquer l’homosexualité, le sexe comme profession ou d’usage de drogues, le rapport révèle au grand jour les mauvais traitements, l’abus et la torture subis par ces individus. Sur les 52 délits commis par les FSI, aucun n’a été vraiment puni.

Souffrances morales et physiques« Ils m’ont interrogé après m’avoir déshabillé. Ils ont versé sur moi de l’eau froide, m’ont attaché à un bureau au moyen d’une chaîne et m’ont suspendu par les pieds comme un poulet », raconte Mohammad, arrêté pour détention de drogues, dans son témoignage. « J’ai été suspendu par les pieds, mes mains liées à une barre de fer qu’ils m’ont fixée sous les genoux. Ils ont cassé toutes mes dents et mon nez, et m’ont frappé au moyen d’une arme à feu jusqu’à ce que l’os de mon épaule se disloque », a-t-il affirmé.
Ce genre de traitement n’est pas exclusif à un seul poste de police au Liban. Selon le rapport, les postes de Hobeiche, de Gemmayzé, de Baabda, de Mousseitbé, de Zahlé, d’Ouzaï, de Saïda, ainsi que le bureau de renseignements de Jdeidé et le local de prédétention de la prison de Baabda pour les femmes ont tous témoigné d’incidents similaires. Les formes de torture rapportées les plus communes sont les coups de poing, les coups de bâton ou des coups au moyen d’outils de fortune. Cannes, règles et bottes peuvent faire l’affaire. Sur les 52 personnes ayant témoigné, 17 affirment que les policiers ont refusé de leur donner à manger ou à boire, ou les ont privées de leurs médicaments. Neuf d’entre elles ont rapporté avoir été menottées aux cuves des toilettes. Onze ont été contraintes d’entendre les cris de souffrance d’autres détenus, et 21 des 25 femmes interviewées ont subi une certaine forme de violence sexuelle, allant du viol au harcèlement. Certaines se sont même vu proposer un rapport de police plus allégé si elles consentaient à coucher avec les policiers.
« L’abus au sein des stations de police est chose courante au Liban, mais il est pire quand il s’agit d’individus appartenant aux catégories vulnérables de la société, explique Nadim Houri, directeur adjoint de Human Rights Watch au Moyen-Orient. Et ce genre d’abus se poursuivra jusqu’à ce que le Liban mette un terme à la culture de l’impunité au sein de la police, qui se croit devoir donner une leçon aux détenus. » M. Houri a affirmé en outre que le rapport révèle que le statut socio-économique des détenus peut jouer en leur faveur. Parmi les témoignages, celui d’un professeur de l’AUB, accusé d’homosexualité et qui a été traité différemment par les policiers quand ils ont su sa profession. M. Houri a cité aussi le test anal comme l’une des pratiques violatrices des droits de l’homme et qui continue d’être utilisé dans certains postes malgré les recommandations de l’ordre des médecins. Il a enfin affirmé que les lois libanaises sont souvent violées, comme celle fixant la durée maximale de détention à 48 heures, ou celle permettant au détenu d’être assisté par un avocat.

L’absence de mécanismes de surveillance Pour sa part, Lama Fakih, chercheuse au sein de l’association, a noté, lors de la conférence organisée hier pour rendre public le rapport, que ce genre de traitement est dû à des législations inadéquates, à l’absence de structures efficaces pour porter plainte et à un système juridique basé sur les aveux. Cela pousse par exemple les policiers à exercer la torture pour obtenir les confessions des détenus. « Un officier de la police de Mousseitbé nous a déclaré que la torture est chose normale et qu’elle fait partie du métier », a affirmé Lama Fakih, qui a souligné que six personnes seulement parmi celles qui ont témoigné à l’association ont porté plainte à cause d’« un manque de confiance ». « C’est là qu’il faut appeler l’ordre des avocats à agir, a indiqué Nadim Houri, car la plupart des avocats ne conseillent pas vraiment aux détenus de porter plainte, d’autant que ces derniers prennent peur pour avoir commis une entrave à la loi, en étant homosexuels par exemple. La vulnérabilité de ces gens-là est donc sociale, mais aussi constitutionnelle. »
Human Rights Watch, déplorant un manque de mécanismes de surveillance et l’inefficacité de ceux déjà en place (comme le comité des droits de l’homme au sein des FSI), a appelé les autorités à créer des mécanismes transparents pour recevoir les plaintes des citoyens et à obliger les policiers à arborer des badges portant leurs noms afin que les détenus sachent avec qui ils traitent. L’association a aussi revendiqué à l’adresse des autorités judiciaires plus de fermeté, des directives claires à ce sujet, et a demandé la création d’un organisme indépendant pour les investigations et la surveillance des crimes de torture. « Les pays donateurs doivent aussi s’assurer que les fonds octroyés sont usés à bon escient et demander des comptes », a souligné Lama Fakih. De son côté, Nadim Houri a enfin estimé que la réponse des institutions concernées au rapport présenté « n’est pas suffisante ». « Elles reconnaissent l’existence du problème, mais il n’y a pas de vraie volonté de réforme, précise-t-il. Il est pourtant plus important aujourd’hui d’améliorer l’attitude des membres des FSI que la qualité de leur équipement. »

Ghostly Ambiguity

Not a day goes by lately without gay matters making headlines on the global news channels.

The same can be said about the newsstreams coming out of Lebanon, except in our case it’s not about another country opening up marriage rights to same-sex couples or the world’s first official coming out of a major sport’s professional athlete.

On the contrary. As the world progresses steadily on same-sex issues, Lebanon keeps on regressing, one little step after the other.

The top gay-related headline these last few days is about the violent police raid of the Ghost Bar nightclub (the little brother of belated Acid nightclub) that took place last week.

The short-term arrests of 3 people and the humiliating treatments that followed have spurred all kinds of reactions in the media – a mixed bag nicely covered in G-Azzi’s post “With or Against Us”.

Photo taken from L'orient le Jour's website

But as gay rights defenders counter-attack, and as the issue spills over into the broader gay-friendly and human rights community, it does seem that the officials involved such as Dekwaneh Mayor Antoine Chakhtoura  and minister of interior Marwan Charbel are not getting away without virulent criticism on their homophobic attitude.

One of these media reactions I find particularly interesting: Murr TV. Why so, because (it might just be a rumor but) word has it that its presenter Joe Maalouf JUST GOT FIRED from MTV. 

The irony being that, for once, Maalouf had taken in his latest show “Enta Horr” a relatively moderated, less homophobic stance on the Ghost intervention than he had in the past - a new episode well covered here by the folks at Blog Baladi.

This time again, in what is probably a perfect reflection of the society's reaction in general, MTV has just blown away every possible record of ambiguity. 

A humoristic picture that's been circulating. But what if
it's true the guy just got fired?

Or, perhaps one could argue it's actually the exact contrary of ambiguity: 

That by firing Joe Maalouf, MTV management has decided to get rid of any left ambiguity (remember the “counter-accusations” of Joe Maalouf being gay) on where it stands on gay matters. 

I just wish we, as a people, would get even the slightest opportunity to express ourselves on the Big Gay Question through a national vote or something. 

I know the results would probably be bitter to swallow, but nevertheless sweeter than all this media and political nonsense we're  having to take in.

Vive la France. Mabrouk!

Months and months of long debates and marches have finally paid off - the French Senate Tuesday approved the first article of "Marriage Equality" which opens up complete marriage rights for same-sex couples.

I know we're probably a century away from this here in Lebanon... but can't we just de-criminalize homosexuality for now?

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.
My admiration for France will never cease to grow!

The Pink Choice

It seems that gay-themed photography is driving huge interest lately. And I’m not just talking of the evergrowing mass of naked guys on tumblr. The phenomenon is actually getting over and beyond the many new works by emerging/alternative artists worldwide, including some from Lebanon I blogged about here, here and here.

Well if it was big last year, this year it’s looking huge for homo photography. And who better than World Press Photo to prove it? Come to think of it, of all the major events that took place during 2012, obviously Syria and Gaza should top the list of winners in the 2013 contest – and they did in fact earn all of the awards under the news photography categories.

But as far as social issues, with all the debate frenzy going on in France and the US right now around same-sex marriage legislation – how could the gay issue not make it as a WPP winner?

Well it sure did.

The 1st prize stories winner under Contemporary Issues for 2013 is… THE PINK CHOICE by Maika Elan, a 27-year old girl photographer from Vietnam. It’s a beautiful series worth checking out – and also interesting to know that in 2013, Vietnam is going to have a debate on same-sex marriage, and if it moves forward it could become the first Asian country to recognize marriage equality.

Gosh now even Vietnam sounds like first-world compared to us...

Three from the Pink Choice series.
from the World Press Photo website

All Ears on Professor Faggot

The guys at 2famous.tv just made a very welcome move for gibs.
Adding to the really cool stories they've been sharing about expat life in Beirut, and to their fresh new look at a Lebanon that we Lebanese too often fail to see, the bunch from Europe just got joined by Professor Faggot, the new (gay) kid on the block.
Finally, there's a foreign and openly gay guy blogging from Lebanon, yes, one with a face pic and all, and even a 'mental' dick pic in his first post!
Looks like he's a funny guy who has wit, candor, and appetite, and wants to tell us all about his new gib life.
A warm welcome to our world mate, as the ad says, trim it, tweak it, pin it, OWN IT!

Oh Guys Next Door

Maybe this is considered addicktion but there is not one guy in Rasha Kahil's new photo series that I would mind seeing more of (in my bedroom).
Looks like man flesh is so trendy lately...!
Anyway check for yourself, she's on at the Running Horse til mid March ;)

Mashrou3 Leila Fan Reports from Montreal

I was one of the lucky 800 or so who went to see mashrou' leila’s concert in montreal yesterday. Lucky because it was a fun intimate concert – and a great performance to say the least!!!

A few tweet material from the concert:

The band getting emotional about playing in north america for the first time- huge milestone!

That the concert was in the heart of the gay village here in montreal.

The cool crowd, mostly lebanese expats but with lots of their canadian / lgbt friends in the crowd too – and getting a lot of good local press.

The glimpse at the new album they just finished recording which seems to be a good one (they came specially to montreal to work with a top-notch lebasese producer who’s based here.)

Oreo for everyone and a lot of red bull for a superenergetic and very personal lead singer.

How he talked about how us expats get criticized sometimes when sharing our opinions about lebanon with people back home.

Hamed’s improv mocking Lebanese gossiping in ‘badde latlet’ – quote – “yaaay hayda bya3mel mo2abalet ma3 magazinet bi 2ol fiyyon enno gaaaaayyy”- translate – “yaaay this guy makes interviews in magazine where he says he’s gaaaaayyy”. By the way, loved the last article in tetu!

to the angry part: a lot of us fans were very disappointed about the red hot chili peppers incident last summer and how mashrou' leila canceled their opening set because RHCP were on their way to tel aviv next. We'd hope it was just an incident and not a strong political statement, because mos of us know from living abroad that cultural boycott is not the best solution to use against Israel. Music should unite not divide. And let’s face it, there is no place for extremist ideas like this in north america...

--text, photo from a friend in Montreal

Meet Lebanon’s Own Depot

Anyone who’s been to Paris has probably heard of, considered going or has actually been to Le Depot.

Flyer off of Facebook

Allegedly the largest cruising club in Europe and certainly in France, there is no way around this landmark on the capital’s sex map. It’s affiliated to another major landmark, this one in the world of gay saunas: the infamous Sun City.

Le Depot is so trashy it makes you feel like a rat crawling in the catacombs of Paris. When you’re there in the maze you know you’re playing side by side with the filthiest and the riskiest of Paris’ gay scene. It’s the ultimate place for be-yourself libertarianism and promiscuous sex. A place that makes you cum four times in two hours and lose count of how many dicks and mouths went into play. And yet I must say I’ve had some of my best sex ever in this place. Some memorably gorgeous guys, some of the hottest dicks, crazy fantasy situations and the most unlikely sex positions.

Now Beirut has a Depot to call its own. The weekly afterhours party by TAG events just moved to a new place in Monot, it’s Fridays and it’s free. The party seems to put forth its rainbow colors, so it should be a good alternative to lame Ghost Bar on late nights. I know it’s not a darkroom because its door would be stamped with red wax by now, but I hope it holds up to the promise of being sexy and hot.

Thank you Mika, You Made Us Proud of You!

He had to spend 5 years under the spotlight, live through the incredible success of Life in Cartoon Motion (2007), a Brit Award and a Grammy Award nomination, through a second album  (The Boy Who Knew Too Much, 2009), – all while being constantly questioned, sometimes even harassed by the media about his sexual orientation.

“Call me bisexual” is the middleground Mika set for for the most part of his early career, in an effort to tame down the growing pressure from the media which remained unsatisfied with the ambiguity. Such was the strategy he seemed to be taking as of 2009 starting with an interview in Netherlands' gay magazine “Gay&Night".

But now things have changed, and Mika is finally OUT. Openly gay.

Only a few weeks before the launch of his third album (The Origin of Love, coming Sept. 2012), he finally said it loud and clear in this interview with America’s Instinct Magazine:

“If you ask me am I gay, I say yeah. Are these songs about my relationship with a man? I say yeah. And it’s only through my music that I’ve found the strength to come to terms with my sexuality beyond the context of just my lyrics. This is my real life.”

What a relief for all his gay fans who secretly knew it all along! and this is particularly true for the Lebanese fans among us, cause we now have an international icon of Lebanese origin who's out and about and that we can be proud of!

      Watch Mika dedicate his song Origin of Love to “the man I love” (@min 01:18)... Touching indeed!

Discrimination v/s Dignity: 0-1

Nothing beats the satisfaction of winning over illegal practices through successful legal action; the pride of fighting humiliation with dignity; the relief of countersriking discrimination with an earned human right.

The sad episode of Cinema Plaza finally allowed just that. By triggering a host of indignation and anger in the civil, legal and medical communities, it accelerated the efforts started two months ago following another scandal from the "morality police".

The campaign that started it (below) and the body
that made it happen (above): a perfect combination!

As of Tuesday, August 7, 2012, the ANAL TEST has become ILLEGAL in LEBANON. This “Examination of Shame” ordered by the torturers of Hbeich and conducted by its corrupt medical examiners can now be subjected to legal proceedings on behalf of the detainees, and the physician can be banned from practicing medicine.

No more excuses can ever be made by anybody including the ministry of Justice, who blamed the delay in passing the Circular over to the concerned parties more than one month ago on an “administrative error”.

This is what keeps the sit-in organized by Helem this coming Saturday August 11 at 10 AM in front of the Ministry of Justice, still very relevant despite the win.

Lebanon’s LGBT and friends cannot but be thankful to the lawyers and doctors at Helem and at the Lebanese Order of Physicians (L’Ordre des Médecins du Liban, currently headed by Dr. Charaf Abou Charaf) for this victory.

Everyone’s now hoping for more to come. With election season coming up mid of next year there seems to be good momentum right now for the logical next step to this latest win: to abolish Article 534 once and for all. Let’s make it happen!

MTV’s Joe Maalouf: A Tribune for Homophobia and Bigotry

This guy must be so happy now that he can handle my spit on his face.

(Photo from Facebook)

It took just one screening of his program ‘Enta Horr’ (“You are free”) on Murr TV to mobilize the whole of Beirut’s dearest morality police around the cause he chose (out of the blue): to put an end to the “prostitution and debauchery” taking place in Beirut’s porn cinemas.

He must feel so damn powerful right now.

Only a few weeks since the airing of the program, one old cinema in Tripoli and another one in Beirut, were raided and shut down by the police. Such a relief for Lebanon’s desperate housewives and macho dads who must be loving Joe-the-morality-savior like their own son!

The guy must feel so damn virtuous.

The 36 guys who were in the Plaza cinema on this busy Saturday afternoon were all arrested. They are still rotting in Hell aka the Hbeich police station. They’re being humiliated, mistreated, outed to their families, and stuck in tiny detention cells with 36 degrees outside and no ventilation.

This self hating gay-in-the-closet must feel so damn straight right now.

Irony has it he’s just been outed by the gay community. Are you happy now, Joe?

Whatever one might think of the places that were raided – shady, filthy, immoral – they exist even in the most conservative Arab cities – Damascus has them, Amman has them. They’re not a sign of “too much freedom” but on the contrary, they are a symptom of a closed and homophobic society. They are a desperate choice for gay guys to have an occasional sexual encounter.

And that’s just what Murr TV has become, too: closed minded and homophobic. What started as a celebration of youth and freedom of speech when the station re-opened a few years ago, has turned into a conservative quest that is insulting a big chunk of the public.

Shame on you, MTV, and your lil’ Joe you must feel so proud of. Shame on you, 36 times.

George Awde’s Lens: a Flair for Lebanese Manliness

I had the chance to catch the exhibition “Le Corps Découvert” at the Institut du Monde Arabe last week while in Paris (goes on till July 15).

The selection of paintings, photos and video insallations gives a very important role to Lebanon in the making of the new art waves in the Arab world both in the past and now. Enough to flatter any Lebanese visitor!

Don’t miss George Awde’s photo series  Quiet Crossings and The Calm Before 

at http://georgeawde.com/. Nicely done, George!

The big names from the Old League of Lebanese artists (Khalil Gibran, Khalil Saleeby, Georges Daoud Corm, Moustafa Farroukh…) are positioned as true precursors of emerging trends and ‘nude’ Arabic art, alongside Egyptian and a few Syrian artists.

The expo also sheds a huge spotlight on the comtemporary Lebanese female art scene: Tamara Abdul Hadi (already a GiB favorite!), Huguette Caland, Mona Trad Dabaji, Lamia Ziade…

But perhaps the best part for me was to see how the art selection depicted Arabic men through their bodies. Muscle, scars. Machoism, feminity. Their sensuality, their beauty; their sexiness. It gets quite steamy at times!

--GiB

Hopes Rise for a Post-AIDS Generation

Big month for the fight against HIV/AIDS: Two huge game-changers kicked in last May.

More of that in post-AIDS world.
Stencil from Beirut streets.

On May 5, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - undoubtedly the single most trusted regulatory force in the global pharmaceutical industry - approved Truvada, the first drug ever shown to prevent HIV infection. It’s sort of like a vaccine, that's recommended for sexually active gay men with 5 or more partners a year (easy to beat that!). If taken cautiously on a daily basis, its results are highly promising. The treatment is still quite expensive (10,000$+ a year) but hopefully that won't stay for long an obstacle in the way.

Better news yet: On May 29, researchers announced they had screened the first man in the world to be cured from HIV. You read that right. There is a Californian man whose name is Timothy Brown who was CURED FROM HIV. An innovative treatment based on stem cells allowed this miracle to happen. Check out this moving story of “The Man Who Had HIV and Now Does Not”.

Here’s to a world without HIV. One where modern medicine is back in power. Where these three dreadful letters no longer cross your mind every time you have any kind of sex.

Here’s to the end of us as the AIDS Generation. 

--GiB

Another Call to MP Moukheiber

Wanted to highlight another open letter to MP Ghassan Moukheiber that was published last week in French daily L’orient le Jour. Lines up well with Dr K’s Open Letter from last year. Hoping for a clear RSVP this time.

Beirut Boy said it better than I dare say. You get the picture.
(BB's Sept.3 post)

MP's, it’s 2012 time has come to revise rotting laws like this one.

A law inherited from another age.

A law that impairs individual liberty.

A law sporadically abused for shady reasons.

A law that allows Hbeich staff to act like masters of torture.

A law that continues to make many innocent people’s lives miserable.

--Gib

Abolissez l’article 534, Monsieur MoukheiberPar Nabil FAYED | 31/05/2012 OpinionVous êtes l’élu d’une circonscription précise, mais on peut aussi vous considérer comme représentant tous les Libanais. Vous êtes de plus le rapporteur de la commission parlementaire des Droits de l’homme, et c’est à ces deux titres que je m’adresse à vous pour vous entretenir d’un sujet qui gâche la vie de dizaines de milliers de vos compatriotes : le code pénal libanais qui, dans son article 534, punit d’un an de prison les homosexuels.
Ils se retrouvent donc parqués avec des criminels, des trafiquants, des gens qui ont enfreint la loi, et ce dans des conditions déplorables.
Le dictionnaire dit que l’homosexuel est celui qui éprouve une attirance pour une personne du même sexe. Il n’est question ni de perversion, ni de délit, ni de crime.
Sans aller jusqu’à faire l’historique de l’évolution du regard que la société a jeté sur l’homosexualité, je cite deux dates : en 1974 le DSM4 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), qui est l’ouvrage de référence des psychiatres américains, a supprimé l’homosexualité de la liste des maladies mentales (déjà il n’était plus question de délit ou de crime). L’OMS, en 1991, a emboité le pas. Mais tout cela semble relever de la préhistoire....
On dira que modifier la loi ne changera pas les mentalités. Mais il faut bien commencer quelque part. On commence par modifier la loi, les mentalités suivront avec plus ou moins de retard. Un député courageux (Samy Gemayel) a ainsi réussi à obtenir l’abolition de la loi qui punissait les coupables des « crimes d’honneur » de peines symboliques. Ces glorieux coupables égorgeaient quasi impunément leurs sœurs si elles avaient eu une liaison sexuelle en dehors du mariage, ce qui revient à supprimer une vie pour un acte qui ne porte préjudice a personne !
L’Orient-Le Jour a publié il y a quelques jours l’histoire de trois jeunes gens arrêtés par la police parce que l’un d’eux avait les traits « fins ». Ils ont été livrés au poste de Hobeiche pour subir un examen médical alors que, de l’aveu même des médecins, ce genre d’examen ne prouve rien. Voilà où nous en sommes en 2012 alors que le président des USA a déclaré il y a quelques jours qu’il appuyait le mariage homosexuel et l’adoption d’enfant par ces couples. D’ailleurs, la plupart des pays évolués ont adopté cette politique. Même l’Argentine, réputée machiste, reconnaît maintenant le mariage homosexuel. Oh ! Les homosexuels libanais n’en demandent pas tant, ils souhaitent simplement la dépénalisation de l’homosexualité et la suppression de l’article 534.
Monsieur le député, vous êtes quelqu’un dont la réputation de probité n’est plus à faire. Et rien ne faisait peur à votre oncle, l’indomptable Albert Moukheiber. Prenez donc l’initiative de présenter un projet de loi abolissant l’article 534. Le Liban a tout à gagner de cette initiative. Il est probablement inutile d’énumérer ici toutes les vexations et les humiliations qu’affrontent les homosexuels dans notre pays, de rappeler que leur logement et leur travail sont continuellement précarisés par leur statut d’homosexuel. Il faudrait que cela cesse. Au secours ! Vous irez dans le sens de l’histoire et vous gagnerez la reconnaissance de beaucoup de gens malheureux.
Respectueusement.
Nabil FAYED

The Gay Gift of Blood

Twice in the last few months I had to go to a hospital’s blood bank to donate blood, once for a friend and once for a relative. As I was doing some googling on the topic I stumbled on one, then more and more articles talking about a “Gay Blood Donation Ban” existing in many countries. "wtf?!", I thought.

Turns out this ban has been, and remains an active area of debate today: latest case in point, a few months ago the British government decided to lift the ban on gay men who have not had sex for ten years prior to donating blood, calling the ban discriminatory and considering it a possible breach of the “Equality Act”.

From what I can tell Lebanon seems miles away from this level of debate around discrimination or equality, and for that matter from this kind of health policies. The Lebanese version of the blood donation questionnaire may be intense and exist only in Arabic, but it does not seem to touch explicitly on the gay issue.

The closest it actually gets to the topic, amidst many yes/no questions about current and past medications and conditions, was this one:

إقامة علاقة أو علاقات جنسية متعددة و مشبوهة؟  (Translate: “Did you have numerous and suspicious sexual interaction(s)?”)

As I was filling out the questionnaire I kind of froze on that one…

Were all my recent sexual interactions considered as “suspicious” because as a sexually active gay guy, they were with other men? In fact, what counts as “numerous” interactions? Or, is the question geared more towards safe / protected sex?

Well then, since this all seemed so subjective I ended up going with my own assessment for “numerous” and my own definition of “suspicious”, and candidly checked the “No” box.

I knew that the first thing they’d do before using my blood is to test it for things like HIV and HPV, but I still felt a little bad about lying because I know these diseases have a latency period, that they are more frequent among gay men, and that they are probably the reason behind the gay ban to begin with. Even though I'd tested myself about 6 months earlier, I know I'm never too far away from the “risk zone”.

Digging a little more in the issue I found on their Website that Donner Sang Compter Lebanon is more explicit and more discriminating about the gay issue. It states clearly that you should not give blood if “You have had an unprotected sexual activity with multiple partners” or if “you are a man who has had sex with another man (even if protected)"… some food for thought.

The 24 hours after donating blood are always a bit stressful. Not so much for its physical impact, but because any unknown number appearing on your cell phone could mean bad news from the blood bank’s test results… thank god and my guardian angel the damn phone never rang.

Yorgui Teyrouz’s story at Beirut TED Talks 2011 of how he

came to found Donner Sang Compter in Lebanon was so touching 

it brought tears into my eyes and the whole audience’s.

But it seems that as much as a gay guy would want to be a “hero”, his adherence to the cause cannot go a long way

for the mere fact of being gay. I thought it important to shed light on this issue

when I saw that Donner Sang Compter was doing a fundraiser at the

next C U NXT SAT party at Art Lounge.

-- pic, post by Gib#2

Tamara’s Semi-Nude Arab Men

She’ll probably hate it if/when she reads this, but there is something über sexy about Tamara Abdul Hadi’s photos for her "Picture an Arab Man" project.

Beyond waking up my gay man’s wildest fantasies, it also does a good job at what it aims to do: “Breaking down stereotypes” and “highlighting the sensual beauty of the Arab man”.

But if I may ask, why does it have to be the choice of Lebanese models that most challenges the “out-dated form of hyper-masculinity”, with the long hair and the soft eyes?


 
Akhhh…what I wouldn’t do for Mohamed the Palestinian! I feel like pledging some money just for him :)

Arte Spotlights Beirut

French-German TV channel Arte is one of the best out there if you ask me – the perfect mix between culture and entertainment, between mainstream and alternative, between conventional and eccentric, between European and rest-of-world.

In your face, Big Brother: Try stopping it now!

And it’s about to get even better for the Lebanese public:

Next Friday January 20th at 9:35 PM Beirut time, Arte will air “Beyrouth Hotel”, Danielle Arbid’s most recent film that was banned in Lebanon for allegedly being “dangerous for Lebanon’s Security”.

Better than waiting for the movie to appear in the back drawers of pirated DVD shops, Arte gives us the chance to see it in all legality on TV. I wonder how our dear censorship bureau feels about that.

For those who miss it then there are two late night re-runs the following week: January 26th at 01:15 AM and January 30th at 03:55 AM.

Another Arte show of interest is the sequence “Prochain arrêt : Beyrouth” made by Pierre Aboujaoude. The five chapter series (~25 minutes each) airs every day this week (started yesterday January 16th) at 7:05 PM Beirut time, and again every weekday next week (Jan 23rd) at 9:00 AM.

Also worth noting is Arte’s service Arte+7, which allows to view all programs online for the whole week following their airtime.

Enjoy the show!

Paradise Lost

Up until not too long ago, the beach in Jbeil now exploited by Eddé Sands was called Tam Tam Beach. It stretched south to a smaller beach that was still public, called Paradise Beach. 

some things are better kept hush hush... says this building in Paris

A narrow stretch of white sand trapped between the cliffs and the sea, Paradise was just as nice as any other private beach, with the only difference that it was free and unattended.

After reading online about rumors of GiBbyish activity going on in Paradise Beach, one hot summer day I felt like trying it out to check for myself.

So I went off with a friend, settled on the sand, had a little swim then started to explore the beach. Pretty typical beach except for one natural characteristic: The rock formations at the tip of the beach shaped something of a grotto, like a little maze that still got some sunlight inside but that was completely isolated from sight. The water was about knee level throughout the grotto.

When I entered the grotto and observed the people from inside, the cruising scheme became quite obvious. It would start as eye contact on the beach, then the guys would swim around each other, perhaps get a little touchy in between a wave and the next. Then, they would start to drift slowly toward the cavern, and finally they would get to serious business once inside...

Soon enough, there I was fooling around with an anonymous hunk I had noticed on the beach... in a sea cavern… some crazy shit!

It’s only later that I realized that Paradise Beach was long known as “the gay beach” in the GiB community, but it was so hush-hush that no one had ever mentioned it to me. Like a dirty little secret.

The thing is it had a pretty bad reputation outside as well as within the community – The kind of places people would describe with something like “if you go there you’re likely to step on a needle left there at night by a junkie and you’ll be sure to catch AIDS”.

But whatever Paradise Beach was – a nice public beach or a decadent Gomorrah – it can only be better than what it has become today: yet another reserved-access beach for the lucky property owners of the new Byblos Sud complex.

Watch out new owners, for the gay spirits still haunt that grotto!

Post title is a tribute to Robert Fisk’s superb article where he dubs 2006 Beirut a Paradise Lost.

Summer Highlight III: The New Places

V-lovers come out! A new stencil's in town

Part of having a dynamic nightlife like Beirut’s, is having to live through even your favorite spot closing down. But then there’s also the new places, the new discoveries, the places that make you want to go out again just for the sake of trying something new, just to say you tried to wipe out some of that Beirut boredom routine.

Getting the chance to party in a place like the Linda Sursock Palace – even if this going to sound like the radio ad for a MixFM event – was no less than epic and memorable. Big kudos to Behind the Green Door, even if part of the credit has to go to Cotton Candy who were the first to do it a couple years ago. That would be my number one highlight of a ‘new place’, which naturally had to come from one of the players in the underground scene.

My number two would be the new clubs that focus on live music performances, that give more meat than Music Hall and more flavor than the live entertainment of the likes of Pier7: One is the Democratic Republic of Music (DRM) in Hamra, and the other one is the recently opened Angry Monkey in Gemmayze, both of which we should be thankful to for bringing back the LIVE.

Another highlight – or should I say coup-de-coeur – is the Coop d’Etat / Em Nazih complex on Pasteur street , which also houses rental rooms and spoken Lebanese Arabic classes for visiting foreigners. A cosy spot that shows you can still get a pretty crowd and a 5,000L beer.

Number four would be this cute new pubs area near the Samir Kassir memorial fountain at the Northern edge of downtown. It hosts a burger joint, a tapas bar, and a bunch of friendly little bars, all in a perfectly landscape-designed (and pedestrian!) area that gives it so much of a European feel that it makes you forget this is actually Beirut. They’re all unpretentious, and best of all they make me feel like downtown is a place for us again! (no offense to the tourists and the nouveaux riches of the solidere-town).

And then there’s the somewhat lowkey activity on the GiB scene, that barely makes it to number 5. Ghost Bar opened in Jdeide in the beginning of summer; it was dubbed “the new Acid” but it is actually more like a caricature of Acid in my mind – so not so much a summer highlight.

Finally most recently there was the opening of Le BOY in Saifi/Harbor area…It held the promise to be hot and happening (to me), until I found out it actually opened at the same location as former Milk – Le BIG disappointment! Even Barcelona’s Salvation didn’t get me to come! Vivian Shallop crowd if you read this, I promise to try it at some point to make up a fair opinion.

Summer Highlight II: Sweet Sour Getaway

There are plenty of options to spend a day at the beach not too far from Beirut, whether you go North or South – it’s a coastal country after all… Just have to pick a mood from GiBbyish at St Georges to partyish at Oceana to super-Bobo at Lazy-B, or pick a place from laid-back Pierre and Friends to 5-star pampering at Orchid (beware some of these sun tanning days might end up costing over 50$).

Yeah we can watch the world go by...up on Cloud Fifty Nine!

… But by far the most pristine, the largest, the prettiest – and generally one of the cleaner ones – , is the public sand beach of Sour (Tyre), about 80 minutes’ drive south of Beirut just next to the Tyre Rest House. It was my number one beach option this summer, whenever I was willing to push the car ride an hour further.

The beach often has cristal blue water (thanks to Israel and the Northbound currents) and stretches several kilometers for your jogging pleasure. It has about 50 identical wooden cabins housing small restaurants that the locals call “the Tents” (“el Khiyam”), and it’s the very last one, called Cloud 59, that has more of a Beirut-ish atmosphere. It’s run by cool hippy looking guys and their girl boss, it serves alcohol even during Ramadan (daring!), it''s super relaxed yet with good music, it has different areas both crowded and secluded, and most of all… it is unbelievably GiB-friendly!

And to top the Europe-style beachgoing experience, the city of Sour packs a lot of features, too: the charm of its old harbor, its excellent and reasonably priced fish restaurants, the narrow pedestrian streets of the Old City and its street markets, a couple lovely boutique hotels and owners’ room for rent ideal for a one night stay-over, the surrounding Archeological sites (and Palestinian camps!), and the list goes on…

Despite its run-down infrastructure and rampant poverty, Tyre is in my mind THE up-and-coming beachtown of Lebanon: definitely more sweet than sour!

Summer Highlight I: The Sporting Parties

Yesterday Sept.21 was the official end of the summer. As I pick up the first autumn leaves on my balcony I look back at these past months and I can say that for me, they were a sequence of quiet and busy times (and blogging inactivity!), with a couple highlights.

Sure Summer 2011 Beirut Nightlife had a lot of highlights way overground: The new White, the new Pier 7, the revamped Sky Bar – and the list goes on –, the terrace parties were booming!

But for those of us who like it more underground, if there is one place that embodied best the alternative scene this summer, it has to be Sporting Club.

Coincidentally or not, many main actors in the scene threw at least 2 or 3 parties there sometimes at one week intervals - whether it be P.C., Behind the Green Door or Basement.

I obviously had to miss some of them but those I made it to were great for the most part, the outdoor location by the sea really helps make for a cool party when the crowd is fun, the music’s good, and the GiBs are putting it on.

It might not be too late yet, Basement is throwing “the last one” this coming Saturday! Will the weather permit one last crazy night?

Roy’s Got Toys for Boys

When I wrote Eurotrip Goodie Bag about a year ago and raised the question “Will they ever open a real sex shop in Lebanon?”, I didn’t see it that one coming so soon.



If you ever need of a “G-spot massage wand for men”,

an “Electric Little Ass” or a why not a “Handsome

up penis pump” – you now know where to go!

Enter Roy’s Toys, a new online sex shop serving (discretely) the Lebanese marketplace. With a bunch of dildos and fleshjacks, the product portfolio is still a bit limited for gay guys (where’s the cock rings, the poppers, the porn, the underwear?), but the staff tells me that it’s continually expanding and will soon include BDSM and roleplaying costumes.

Personally I probably won't be a top customer but I consider that this shop is filling an underserved niche that has the right to exist and certainly a lot of opportunity, so I was really glad to find out about it!

Roy’s Toys staff tells me the market is already picking up for them, although they can’t advetize aggressively given the nature of the business...

Oh and another piece of insider info: currently the best-selling product for gay guys is the “G-Spot Stimulator for Men” which “Stimulates the male G-Spot to give you an explosive orgasm”! Sounds exciting (litterally) doesn’t it?

Keep Your Dirty Hands Off Of Me!

Can the gay community in Lebanon be anything but sensitive to the new ad campaign against torture launched recently by ALEF (Act For Human Rights)?

The campaign's billboard: "Their Suffering is Not Comfort"
- inspired by an Arabic saying.

According to the first-hand experience of GiL, whose 7-post series on GiB re-counts his seven day-long arrest and detention (and future indictment?) under gay related accusations, it would seem that it is no longer customary to torture gay guys who are arrested in Lebanon’s detention centers.

Well he might have been just lucky.

Apart from the living conditions and the length of his detention, GiL was not treated through physical violence, although he certainly did undergo psychological pressure and humiliation.

But what if GiL had been less cooperative with his persecutors, when he signed without resistance their own – and inaccurate – version of his deposition?

What if GiL had used more of a defensive strategy, if he had been more aware of his civil rights?

What if GiL had been more aggressive if he had realized in time the injustice he was a victim of?

And most importantly, what about the physical violence he witnessed with some of his cell mates, who were charged with various drug and sex related crimes? They probably weren’t the sophisticated torture practices that you hear about in horror stories, but many of his co-detainees did receive that huge slap in the face.

For some, their bruises, their muteness spoke for themselves.

As for those detainees that did not go back to their cell after their interview, whatever happened with them remains a big question mark…

Now if that’s the standard of care at the Hbeich police station, the bête noire that has been under high scrutiny by the NGOs, one can only imagine what the standard practices look like in the less visible vaults of our prisons and detention centers.

With that in mind, we GiBs cannot but adhere to the cause. The problem is blatant and it’s big, it’s barbarian and it’s bad. For if even just one person gets tortured in Lebanon because of his or her sexual orientation, then it’s in our duty to show all our support to ALEF, Restart, Human Rights Watch and many others who are putting their best efforts to...

MAKE IT STOP.

by GiB#2, with comments from GiL

And Then We’ll Call it POSH

Let’s rent a place the size of your living room. Paint it in dark.

How about this to illustrate this post?
"my ass" wandering in Paris.

Now get some bar sponsors. Cheap brands will do the trick.

Ok now let’s get a couple bouncers and a cheesy pop DJ. Oh and remember to ask him to plan for a long stretch of Arabic.

We'll pack a whole lot of gay guys. The crème of GiBs. Five per square meter will work. Nevermind capacity. 20 dollar open bar should do it. Works well elsewhere.

… And then we’ll call it POSH.

Antelias is so happening right now I tell you. This place’s gonna be hot. Acid meets Milk meets my garage, how could it be otherwise?

But NO. Turns out the place’s NOT hot, NOT cool, NOT sexy, NOT Posh. Turns out the place... sucks.

A new gay spot opening up never fails to raise curiosity. People want to try it and often have high expectations, because a new place is supposed to raise the bar, not lower it and just profit from a vacuum in the gay clubbing scene.

… but POSH?! Oh Please.

-- Post, pic by GiB#2.

« Les Préservatifs Sont Trop Chers ! » Ten Years Later

I walked out of the pharmacy that day with the eyes buried into my bill. The item I was staring at read: “Durex condoms – Pack of 3: 8,000 lira” (~5$).

“That’s nearly 2 bucks a piece”, I thought. And then a song popped up in my head. An old song from SoapKills, I remember the last one on their album Bater and their only one in French.

« Frères ! les préservatifs sont trop chers !

Moi j’suis jeune et j’ veux baiser »

(Translate : « Brothers ! The condoms are too expensive! Me I’m young, and I want to fcuk”)

The cover of unforgettable album Bater.
(Source: Amazon)

I froze for a minute as the song gave me quite an intense emotional flashback. It had marked me since the first time I'd heard it, with its daring lyrics and incredible composition. I was still under twenty back then. Always horny, often broke, and the condoms did seem too expensive at times.

It was 2001, a decade ago today – Damn!

That was the year when then hyperactive local electro pop band SoapKills released its third and highly acclaimed album, Bater. A memorable album named after a lovely village in the Chouf. SoapKills is no longer alive now, it was dismantled in 2005, but somehow it still lives on. It has become no less than a myth for many of us in the war generation…

Fortunately for Lebanon’s music scene, SoapKills co-founders Zeid Hamdan and Yasmine Hamdan both remain highly active on-stage as well as off- stage, each doing his own thing... but I can't help but think that gosh, weren’t they good together!

--by GiB#2

Frères - SoapKills (Bater, 2001)


Frères ! les préservatifs sont trop chers
Moi j’suis jeune et j’ veux baiser
Ma mère, ma sœur, mon frère, me disent de faire
Attention, clair
Mais moi j’veux pas m’laisser faire
Par la politique du cancer
Qui hausse les prix partout
« Des actes théâtraux dans une salle d’attente » *
L’attente, bruyante, fuyante
« Musique classique un hymne à la collectivité à 18h précises »

Frère, ne rate pas les combats
Qui auront lieu ici-bas
Dans les centres commerciaux
Pour adoucir les mœurs a scient *
Mais frères, La publicité réclame
Des actes théâtraux dans ma chambre
Des pièces de monnaie trainent flemme harem *

« Musique classique un hymne à la collectivité à 18h précises »

S’il pleut, couvre-toi.
Les préservatifs sont trop chers

P.S: couldn’t find the lyrics online but since I always thought they're so powerful and poetic, I thought I’d take a stab at them myself. The lines marked with a * are those where I’m still not too sure - if any fan out there can help perfect them, it would be greatly appreciated!

More From Big Brother

Since writing Go Censor This, Big Brother I became more and more aware of the severity of the state of censorship and intolerance that we live in here in Lebanon. On one afternoon that week I wanted to go see the World Press Photo 2011 exhibit taking place downtown, but as I was looking for the address I found out it had been closed ahead of schedule because it featured work from an Israeli photographer…

Then a couple days later I was reading about the last movie from Lebanon-based production house ..né.à Beyrouth, an Iranian film called Circumstance that talks about modern day Iranian youth and that was shot in Beirut. It obtained the Film Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival last February, but believe it or not we won’t be able to watch it in Lebanon. At least not in all legality.

Good thing sometimes the media are on ‘our side’ and live up to their role as agents of free speech: I could still get a sneak peak at the World Press Photo exhibit thanks to l’Orient le Jour. And I probably will get myself a copy of Circumstance one way or another.

Check out the roundup of top current issues like these compiled by BeirutBoy... All this really calls for more mobilization!

--GiB#2

Beirut Warms Up

You know Beirut summer has started when there’s one too many parties to choose from on any given weekend. That was already my feeling last Saturday when P…C… threw its Pirates de Cannes and Basement its last reunion party on the same night. But then again like many times I ended up choosing… neither.


Just like churches and mosques get fully booked come wedding season, which stretches all the way to September, so do the indoor and outdoor venues on summer weekends. All the major festivals - Byblos (and Off-Byblos), Baalbeck, Beiteddine, Beirut Music and Art Festival, Batroun) have already announced their concerts programs, but we can certainly expect some last minute surprises!

… As for BiG GiB parties, it seems the official summer kick-off will be coming from Matinée's Circuit Festival, with their June 18th Beirut Official Preparty – location still tbd.

Can you feel the heat approaching?

--by GiB#2. Flyer from Facebook