Lebanese Group Begins Campaign for Gay Rights
Khaleej
Times, October 21, 2004
United Arab Emirates, Head Office, Dubai, P.O. Box 11243
Tel: 04-3383535/3384545, Fax: 04-3383345/04-3383356
Email: [email protected]
BEIRUT�A rights group has
launched a campaign in Lebanon to overturn the country�s ban on
homosexuality, in the first publicity offensive of its kind to take place in
the Arab world.
The group, Hurriyyat Khassa (Private Liberties), started
the campaign with a screening at the American University in Beirut of the
British movie Victim which helped change the law banning homosexuality in
Britain in the 1960s.
Pointing to recognition for the UN�s Universal
Declaration of Human Rights in the constitution, Hurriyyat Khassa is seeking
to abolish Article 534 of Lebanon�s penal code, which stipulates a one-year
jail sentence for �sexual intercourse against nature�. The screening of
Victim was followed by a heated debate between activists fighting for gay
rights and others who believe homosexuality flies in the face of public
morality and religious beliefs.
�We chose Victim because this 1961 movie helped change
the law in Britain,� explained a member of Hurriyyat Khassa, who did not
wish to be identified.
�It had the same impact for homosexuals that the film
In the Heat of the Night had for the battle against racism in the United
States,� he said.
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