Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I received this letter from Lebanon: "You can publish this if you want
Hey, i have a story that might interest you: I have recently rented a house in Tripoli near my university. Last Saturday, a police force raided an apartment in my building and arrested some people(around 7 guys). With the wave of terrorist's arrests being made in the area, you'd naturally think that this was the case here. Well, as it turned out, this was not a terrorist cell,
i asked a local shop-owner, and he told me that they've arrest a "gay network"(shabakit loutyeh, he said). Now, over the next three days, I've told this story to numerous people, friends and family members, trying to see what their reaction would be. As I've anticipated, none of them(except one) felt that there's something wrong about this. I've discussed gay rights with
many people in Lebanon and they all had the same reaction to the topic. I mean most people here are willing to accept me being an atheist, and even let me criticize and make fun of their whole believe system, but when it comes to homosexuals, they instantly go into defensive mode, and usually end up accusing me of being gay, cause apparently that's "the only reason that would make me defend them". I remember you talking about that Saudi writer on Elaph branding homosexuals as pedophiles, and i hate to brake it to you, but I've heard that arguments at least three times before. And i should note that this has nothing to do with religious backgrounds, cause you'll get the same answer from both Muslims and Christians in Lebanon. FYI, the only website blocked by the Lebanese government is a website for the gays of Lebanon. And one last thing, i am not gay, but calling me gay will not offend me"