However, the reality of gay “lobbying” is quite the opposite. In France during the PaCS debates, the only meaningful lobby that was hard at work was the conservative, anti-gay/pro-life lobby, a sufficiently powerful and well-financed group with the means to conduct a letter-writing campaign to over 35,000 French mayors seeking their support. The group Avenir de la culture, representing one simple link in the chain, was able to send out a petition to hundreds of thousands of French citizens warning them against the “sodomites” and their pernicious plans. An influential group capable of organizing mass demonstrations premised not on progress but on
discrimination
, the anti-gay lobby also had the means to organize and finance the transportation of hundreds of demonstrators from all over France into Paris. Each demonstrator received a high quality T-shirt with the slogan “PaCS OUT” at an estimated cost of $400,000.
As for the gay lobby, if it truly existed, right-wing MPs would not have succeeded in blocking the French government’s motion for the PaCS proposal on October 9, 1999, nor would left-wing members, who held the majority in the National Assembly, neglect to show up for the vote. Despite all that has been said by conservatives, the gay lobby in France proved its non-existence by this very act. On the other hand, something else came of October 9: PaCS proponents who had not been initially concerned about the motion, believing that the gay lobby had it taken care of, were shocked into mobilization. As a result, a coalition of gay organizations came together to establish the Observatoire du PaCS, dedicated to the resurrection of the civil union proposal. Members dissected the successful methods used by the anti-PaCS lobby, then adapted them for their own use. Thus, the inaction of the gay lobby on that day was a call to arms, permitting a mobilization of political will. Is this how a lobby is born? Only history will tell. Whatever the case, by its pejorative connotations, the term “lobby” is still used in homophobic rhetoric to discredit the legitimacy of the gay and lesbian movement. What remains to be seen is if this presumed lobbying, whose objective is to fight against
violence
and discrimination, will one day be understood for what it is: the noble principle of political action and democracy at work.
—Caroline Fourest
Boutin, Christine.
Le “Mariage” des homosexuels? CUCS, PIC, PACS et autres projets législatifs
. Paris: Critérion, 1998.
Bull, Chris, and John Gallagher.
Perfect Enemies: The Religious Right, the Gay Movement, and the Politics of the 1990s
. New York: Crown Publishers, 1996.
Clamen, Michel.
Le Lobbying et ses secrets: guide des techniques d’influence
. Paris: Dunod, 2000.
Goldstein, Kenneth M.
Interest Groups, Lobbying and Participation in America
. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1999.
Herman, Didi.
The Antigay Agenda
. Chicago/London: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1997.
—Anti-PaCS; Communitarianism; Ghetto; Heterosexism; Peril; Proselytism; Rhetoric; Universalism/Differentialism.
MAGHREB
Law & Politics
The Maghreb, which means “place of sunset” or “western” in Arabic, generally refers to the Northern African region of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Laws governing sexuality represent some of the most extreme manifestations of homophobia there. Sexual relations between persons of the same gender are considered crimes in the same category as “indecent assaults.” In Morocco, homosexuality, defined in Section 489 of the penal code as an “immodest or unnatural act with an individual of one own sex,” is punishable by six months to three years in
prison
or a fine of 120 to 1,200 dirhams (about $15 to $150 US). Sections 333 and 338 of the Algerian penal code provide a penalty of six months to three years in prison and a fine of 1,000 to 10,000 dinar (also $15 to $150 US) “when the public offense to modesty consists of an unnatural act with an individual of the same sex.” In Tunisia, homosexuality as such is not illegal but Section 230 of the penal code stipulates that “sodomy … is punished by a jail term of three years.” These laws compel citizens to heterosexuality and consider any homosexual to be a dangerous delinquent in society. Under these conditions, even talking about one’s same-sex attractions or practices puts one at risk not only of being rejected and stigmatized by society, but also of being reported to the
police
. In the same way, those who frequent known gay meeting places risk being arrested during police raids, whose frequency varies depending on the current political climate—specifically, the will of politicians to “declare war on sexual deviations,” associating the fight against homosexuality with the fight against crime in general; raids are also conducted as a function of the homophobic rhetoric of fundamentalist Muslims in each of these countries. This makes Algeria the country where, beyond legislation, homophobic practices of all types are the most blatant in the region. In fact, many of the foreign-born homosexuals who flee their homeland and claim refugee status in France are Algerian. However, one also notes that in Morocco, in 1988, the publication of an article by Latefa Imane and Hinde Taarji in
Kalima
on male homosexuality and prostitution among the street kids of Marrakech was followed by numerous arrests and the banning of the magazine. Then in the spring of 2001, Casablanca’s police chief organized a whole series of arrests of homosexuals; he later boasted in
Bayane Al Yaoum
about his extraordinary efficiency in the fight against crime, as the number of arrests for “sexual deviancy” had greatly increased “due to” his intervention. As for Tunisia, information is unfortunately nonexistent.
The criminalization of homosexuality serves to perpetuate it along the same lines as prostitution or theft, resulting in the situation in which homosexuals who are victims of
violence
are unable to assert their legal rights, and as a result, their perpetrators go unpunished. In 1995, in an internal report of the Morocco Association for the Fight Against
AIDS
, Latefa Imane revealed that “young [male] prostitutes, particularly the most effeminate, are the source of a very lucrative commerce between prison guards and other prisoners,” with victims being unable to complain about their aggressors or pimps. One can also note that in all three countries, the protection of homosexuals’ human rights is nowhere to be found on the government agenda. The necessity for homosexuals to hide in the Maghreb creates an invisibility that leads one to think perhaps that homosexuality does not exist in the region, and that it is perhaps a Western phenomenon. In this way, resisting Western imperialism uses the words of homophobic discourse.
Family
Against Homosexuality
These laws also depict homosexuality as an act of disgrace by men and as an act of rebellion by women; to better understand these notions and their implications, one has to consider the typical family in the Maghreb. Parents and children constitute a small unit within a larger group based on agnatic, or male-descended, lineage. This lineage is synonymous with family and honor, and the family name—the father’s name—is the incarnation of this honor. Loosely, honor is defined in this sense by a set of codes that outline the respective roles of men and women and establish sexual norms. The perpetuation of the family and the family name requires male progeny; male honor is achieved through
marriage
, fathering male children, and, of course, heterosexuality.
Under these conditions, a boy’s homosexuality, when it is claimed publicly as an identity, particularly if it is “feminine” as a result of the “passive” practice of sodomy, constitutes an affront to the familial lineage, a disgrace that cannot be tolerated; it has been said that it is considered a transgression more serious than rape or pedophilia, although this classification thankfully cannot be verified in legislation. The lost honor must be re-established by the men of the family, first by the father and brothers. Such a re-establishment can only be done by the social death of the homosexual subject, who is forced to abandon all sexual practices and face numerous sanctions, humiliations, and, finally, systematic exclusion from the family.
After being beaten, insulted, and sometimes even raped by his brothers as punishment, the homosexual boy is thrown into the street and banished by his family; he is informed that he “will have no inheritance rights” or that he will be “stricken from the family book.” After being designated as a person unworthy of being considered a “real man,” and losing his dignity, pride, and honor, the homosexual boy is effectively treated as a “half-man,” while the homophobes who scorn him are “men of honor” and “real men.”
The treatment of lesbians is slightly different as, on one hand, a girl’s status in the family is not as highly valued as that of boys and, on the other, sexuality is strictly defined by male penetration. This means that since the perpetuation of the family lineage does not depend on the daughters but rather on the sons, lesbianism is not a threat to it. Further, from the perspective of sexuality, the honor of a woman rests on the preservation of her virginity until her wedding day. It follows that lineage is not endangered by lesbian sexuality when it is confined to the premarital period. In fact, the lesbian figure makes people smile, and lesbianism is simply not thought of as an existing or even possible sexuality: the lesbian is thus almost absent from the collective imagination. Of course, when a lesbian openly opposes marriage or presents herself with masculine characteristics, lesbianism becomes an act of insubordination to heterosexual order on the one hand and to the hierarchy of sexes on the other. When viewed in this way, the moral condemnation of lesbianism is no less virulent than that of male homosexuality. Physical violence and forced marriage (in other words perpetual rape) are but two means to punish this ill-advised representation of sexual freedom and autonomy from men. However, avoiding marriage is particularly difficult for women in the Maghreb given that few of them have access to jobs and thus financial autonomy. Further, one of the means to control women in the region is to restrict their freedom of movement, which means that lesbians are more at risk of isolation than their male counterparts.
Lesbophobia
is then manifested not by the exclusion of lesbians from their families or their incarceration, but by the negation of lesbian sexuality and deprivation of their freedom through forced marriage.
Homophobia in the Maghreb also associates homosexuality with an illness that must be treated by either a psychiatrist, an
imam
(whose wise counsel will bring back the “lost” being to God’s way), or a
fquih
(a learned man acquainted with the
suras
of the Qur’an and how to prepare amulets to exorcize the “possessed”), who will eventually rid the homosexual of the
djnoun
(invisible and sometimes harmful beings) that possess him and drive him “crazy.” Homophobia is also expressed in pejorative terms referring to homosexuality and homosexuals, which are frequently used as insults.
Homophobia Legitimized by Religion
Homophobia appears in Qur’anic texts and in the
ahadith
(compilations of acts and words attributed to the prophet Muhammad). The Qur’an does not mention female homosexuality at all, but quite clearly condemns male homosexuality. In
sura
7, verses 80–81, there is a reference to the prophet Lot who said to his people: “Are you partaking of this abomination which none before you in the world has committed? You approach men in preference to women to spend your passions. You are a people of perverts.” (See also
sura
27:54–55 and
sura
26:165–66.) Those among Lot’s people who did not want to listen to the prophet’s warning were exterminated by God’s action, which leaves no doubt as to
Islam
’s view of male homosexuality. The a
hadith
are, for their part, more explicit about the punishment which must be inflicted on those guilty of sodomy between men: both the “active” and the “passive” must suffer the penalty reserved for all who are guilty of
zina
(sexuality outside marriage), i.e. death by stoning. Lesbianism for its part is almost not mentioned in the
ahadith,
though one of them also assimilates it to
zina
.
While Muslim orthodoxy very explicitly condemns homosexuality, one nevertheless observes that homosexuality is widely popular and “tolerated” as long as it remains confined to silence. Further, the interpretation of the Qur’an and the
ahadith
gives rise to divergent legislation among countries that apply the
sharia
(Islamic law based on the Qur’an and the
ahadith
). While the countries of the Maghreb do not apply the
sharia,
they nonetheless give tacit support to heinous rhetoric, even assassinations committed by fundamentalist Muslims. This seems to prevail mostly in Algeria, but in May 2001, the online publication
Kelmaghreb
featured an interview with Egyptian sheikh Al Mitaani, professor at the Al-Azhar University in Cairo originally published by the internationally distributed Arab newspaper
Al-Majalla
, which demonstrated that these arguments are popular beyond any border despite legislation specific to each country. Al Mitaani presents female homosexuality as a “rebellion against divine law” and a “negation of human nature created by God” that must be punished by locking up “these women … until their death.” On the subject of male homosexuality, he affirms that “if it is proven that a man is really a homosexual pervert … one has to purify life by getting rid of him, in killing him by applying religious principles.” The assassination and blackmail of homosexuals, as testified by Algerian refugees in France, show that homosexuals are a prime target of the Armed Islamic Group, even though it is impossible to determine the identity of those responsible or the extent of these crimes and persecutions (which would imply revealing the identities of victims and expose their families and investigators to too great a danger). There is nonetheless some information on the methods used to persecute homosexuals. The French association ARDHIS, an association working for the rights of foreign homosexuals and transsexuals to immigrate and stay in the country, was tracked by fundamentalist Muslims in Algeria, who visited the association’s website and then proceeded to harass and threaten those whom the agency were helping. ARDHIS also reported that many Algerians for whom it had obtained immigrant status were reported by their own families to the Armed Islamic Group because they had refused to marry. An Algerian lesbian, supported by the French section of Amnesty International, obtained asylum on the basis that she had been physically attacked in Algeria by a Muslim fundamentalist who had deemed her clothing to be too masculine. For my part, in 1999 I met a gay Kabyle (an ethnic group in Algeria) who revealed that he knew young gays who had been massacred in Algeria during a masquerade party, most likely by members of the Armed Islamic Group. Finally, it should be noted that the first person to obtain political asylum in France based on his sexual orientation was an Algerian transsexual who had been persecuted by the Algerian army and threatened with death by fundamentalist Muslims.
—Christelle Hamel