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Jayden Stevens

Phillips AP Eng

6 Dec 2017

Anti-LGBT Crackdown Effects in Egypt

In the year of 2017, many people of all ages know someone or know of someone who can

identify to be apart of the LGBT Community. Whether they are bisexual, gay, lesbian,

transgender, nonbinary, asexual, pansexual, or any other self-identifying title they claim for

themselves, everyone knows at least one person who belongs to the LGBT Community.

Typically, all over the world people in said community are threatened, beaten, murdered, and

overall disheartened everyday for being themselves. The people of Egypt can’t seem to

comprehend that everyone’s different, and that yes, people can like whoever they please! This

point becomes evident with the LGBT Crackdown happening in Egypt currently (Stack, 2017).

The egyptian crackdown on lgbt citizens is inhumane and infringes on their basic human rights.

Due to this ‘LGBT Crackdown’, it’s risen arrest rates, campaign focuses, political attention, and

Egyptian citizens communities.

The LGBT Crackdown has sparked the interest of campaigns like Amnesty International

and the creation of a smear campaign. According to International Business Times UK. “The

Egyptian media has launched a “smear campaign” against LGBT people.” in an attempt to

dishearten the community and “cleanse”/”cure” gay and trans people (Michaelson, 2017).

Whereas Amnesty International says “These sentences strike at the very heart of being human

and are another example of the ongoing persecution of LGBT people and the wider crackdown

on human rights by Egyptian authorities. This prosecution violates the rights of these men to be
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treated equally regardless of their perceived sexual orientation.”(Gerretsen, 2017). These two

separate campaign groups aim to either dishearten the LGBT community or strengthen it.

In the past, Egypt’s LGBT history has been less than ideal for the situation of those in the

community. Egypt has had issues like anal examinations and Cairo 52, where there was a major

arrest of 52 gay men on a boat in May 2001(Asher-Schapiro, 2017). This was one of the largest

events to occur in Egypt at the time. People have even been tracked and hunted via their dating

profiles and arrested . Since then, citizens have been discreet about their relationships and after

years of living in fear and hiding they were a bit more comfortable being themselves in 2017

until the event of the Mashrou’ Leila concert.

The Mashrou’ Leila concert in Cairo has caused an uproar in the country, which has

Egyptian LGBT citizens going into hiding. Mashrou’ Leila is a progressive Lebanese rock band

with an openly gay lead singer and is a band of members who are strong believers of human

rights (Mahtani, 2017). During the concert in Cairo, one of the audience members raised a

rainbow flag. The rainbow flag symbolizes LGBT support and progressivity within the

community; it’s a symbol meaning “one love”. This caused an immediate response from the

police who then proceeds to arrest multiple people and charged them with debauchery,

immorality, and/or blasphemy for three or more years (Aboulenein, 2017). In addition, the band

Mashrou’ Leila were banned from performing in Egypt (Mahtani, 2017). This form of censorship

is just another way the egyptian government is attempting to oppress the human rights of LGBT

community.

The people in the LGBT community have grown fearful due to the spark of the

“Crackdown targeting gay men and transgendered women” (Michaelson, 2017); which has the

police targeting this bright community of people. Egyptian politicians opinions have affected the
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Crackdown in many ways as well. People like the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who

have a high position in politics, advocate against the LGBT Community as “part of a political

and civil societal crackdown to appease Islamic sensibilities and maintain religious legitimacy”

(Issa, 2017). There have even been attempts to “draft [a] bill in the Egyptian Parliament that

would criminalise homosexuality.” Due to this mindset, the police actively go out of their way to

arrest LGBT citizens.

The amount of arrests aimed toward gay men and transgender women has increased

rapidly in the recent months. NY Times says “At least 250 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and

transgender people have been arrested in a quiet crackdown…” (Stack, 2017) which has

shattered a vibrant community. Due to the biased actions of police, these citizens are being

attacked unjustly through actions that go against the basic human rights of the citizens of Egypt.

Although, those who support this anti-lgbt movement have strong thoughts and opinions

in regards to the LGBT community. Egypt is a muslim majority country and their beliefs indicate

that same sex relations are immoral and sick. These supporters find the LGBT community

disrespectful to their practices and beliefs. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi aims to “appease Islamic

sensibilities and maintain religious legitimacy.” (Issa, 2017) by shutting down any LGBT

activity with the assistance of the police.

Some countries are making progress in regards to LGBT rights like Australia, who just

recently passed marriage equality laws, whereas countries like Egypt are backtracking on

progress that could’ve been made. This LGBT Crackdown is the opposite of progress and is

stripping people of their rights as citizens of Egypt to live freely and it’s disrespecting the

individuality of a person. The country of Egypt should work towards a more open and accepting
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government and religion instead of destruction; which shouldn’t be used against the very people

that they’re meant to live side by side with in peace.

Works Cited

“14 Egyptian Men Get Three Years in Jail for Homosexuality.” Daily Nation.
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Nation.co.ke, 27Nov.2017. Web. 8Dec.2017.

“16 Men Jailed Amidst Unprecedented Homophobic Crackdown.” Amnesty International.

Amnesty.Ca, 28Nov.2017. Web. 8Dec.2017.

Abdoulenein, Ahmed. “Egypt Arrests Dozens in Crackdown on Gays.” Reuters.

Reuters.com, 2Oct 2017. Web. 8Dec.2017.

Asher-Schapiro, Avi. “As Egypt Arrests and Tortures Gay People, It Enlists the Help of Pro

LGBTQ P.R. Firm in Washington.” The Intercept. TheIntercept.com, 6Dec.2017. Web.

8Dec.2017.

Gerretsen, Isabelle. “Anal Examinations are being used to persecute Gay Men in Egypt.”

International Business Times. IBTimes.co.uk, 28 Nov. 2017. Web. 8 Dec. 2017.

Issa, Antoun. “The Politics behind Egypt’s LGBT Crackdown.” Huffington Post.

HuffingtonPost.com, 6Nov.2017. Web. 8Dec.2017.

Mahtani, Melissa and Benslimane, Ghita.

“Lebanese Band Mashrou’ Leila say they won’t stop singing for Human Rights.” CNN.

CNN.com, n.d. Web. 8Dec.2017.

Michaelson, Ruth. Commented [1]: Why split here?

“LGBT People in Egypt targeted in wave of Arrests and Violence.” The Guardian.

TheGuardian.com, 8Oct.2017. Web. 8Dec.2017.

Stack, Liam. Commented [2]: And here?

“Gay and Transgender Egyptians, Harassed and Entrapped, are Driven Underground.”

The New York Times. NYTimes.com, 10Aug.2017. Web. 8Dec.2017

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