2Bmag online

Related Posts

• Iran to execute 4 men accused of homosexual acts
• New online magazine for LGBT culture & politics in the Sudan
• Embattled Gayday editor on Tunisia’s resurgent homophobia

Soon after 9/11, the Bush doctrine consisted of using the oppression of the women of Afghanistan by the Taliban as a reason for military intervention. That logic has now been extended towards gays in Pakistan, Iran, and the Palestine. The supposition within this statement is that it is the Americans who will introduce the concept of Gay Pride to Pakistan: as a statement, it fits into the entire “rescue” mentality of the West towards gays (amongst others) in the East. Additionally, it implies that Americans have the right to go to, and be in, another sovereign nation and throw these types of events. Furthermore, it assumes that there are not queer people in Pakistan that may want to negotiate holding events like the “first ever” Pride celebration on their own terms, in their own language, with their own flavour.

The reaction to the American Embassy’s Pride celebration took urban areas in Pakistan by storm.  As activist Hadi Hussain puts it, “Religious zealots and student organizations started marching down the streets [...] in protest against homosexuals and against US supporting this issue [...] This act not only damaged the underground queer rights movement in Pakistan but also marginalized it further,” he told 2Bmag via e-mail. In short, the American Embassy’s “Pride” gave conservatives in Pakistan fodder to conflate US imperialism with homosexuality, further endangering the lives of queer Pakistani activists.

In addition to the exacerbating presence of the US in Pakistan, queer activists have faced colossal obstacles to building a movement for sexual liberation: everything from an inefficient judicial system, to dealing with a theocracy, to severe natural disasters. In spite of these hindrances, queer activists in Pakistan have been organising, writing, making art, and providing individual support for their fellow queer Pakistanis.

Founded in 2008, Chay Magazine is an online resource which openly talks about sex and sexuality. Kyla Pasha, one of the founders of Chay and author of High Noon and the Body, describes the endeavour: “We started, initially with the idea that there should be an actual physical space which could be a forum where actual conversations could happen in a cafe. We ended up with Chay because if we start to talk about sex both in the pleasure and politics at the same time, people would not necessary feel bold enough to have those conversations in person, but may feel comfortable writing.”

Kyla explains that in the Pakistani context, “any public conversation about sex is incredibly dangerous.” This is elaborated in the mission statement of Chay, “Having observed in Pakistani society a disturbing tendency towards fear and shame around issues of sex and sexuality – that is to say, around a normal human interaction – the founders of Chay Magazine feel that sex and sexuality should enter the public discourse.” Thus they were attempting to bridge, “a gap in the general feminist conversation in Pakistan about sexuality, actually even before sexuality, about sex, anybody having sex with anybody.”

Organisation for the Protection and Propagation of Sexuality Minorities (known simply as O) was founded in the Punjabi provincial capital of Lahore in 2009 by activists dedicated to dissemination of information about queer people to further the health and well-being of sexual minorities. Hadi, an activist with O describes some aspects their work, “We started off with translating terms and concepts regarding LGBTQI, as either no words exist in Urdu language or the ones which were present had negative connotation[s]. Then we contacted a few liberal Muslim scholars and initiated discussions with them regarding queer issues.”

“Working in Pakistan on any issue, you just can’t get away from religion; somehow, from somewhere it will come and will create problems. Birth control, women empowerment, domestic violence, polio vaccination or queer rights issues, it’s just everywhere. As far as LGBTQI work is concerned, yes the question does come up most of the times. A lot of queers are living lives of self hatred for being gay and Muslim at the same time and they are unable to reconcile with that. In the end, either they opt for religion or for their sexual orientation.”  Fellow O member Summer Khan concurs, “The struggle that we have found is that is before anything people come with the question am I or am I not a sinner?, so it becomes a religious counselling on a personal level. Except that it is not personal because in an Islamic system, it’s very difficult to imagine personal religion. Any negotiation, any kind of counselling you give on this is what God says, this what the Qur’an says, that attempt at reinterpreting Islam or the Qur’an in a liberative way is necessarily this weird dialogue with the same person who has not only self-hatred on an Islamic basis, but in a sense hatred towards you as the counsellor, so it’s this constant fight. So the Islam question is constantly refreshed. People have come to terms with it, but in different ways, there is no uniformity in dealing with Islam.”

Interestingly, transpeople in Pakistan have been able to access rights through legal and media activism by arguing that trans and intersex people have a special place within Islam. Throughout South Asia they have occupied a unique position since Mughal Empire, when they were given special roles in the royal court. Additionally, transpeople were given the role of guarding the Prophet Muhammad’s tomb, as they were seen as exemplary devotees with no family ties. Thus, there has been little opposition to the decision by Pakistan’s Supreme Court to allow a third gender category, apart from male or female, on the national identity card.

Rarely is Pakistan, with all of its diversity in history, language, culture, and geography understood or acknowledged. Without thought to how ordinary people in Pakistan live their daily lives, western governments and media dominate discourse on the country by depicting it as a hotbed for terrorists, militants, insurgents, islamists, or whatever is the jargon du jour for “backward”or “bad” people. One hopes for a time when Pakistanis will have the chance to articulate a vision for their future in their own terms.

Check out Pakistani queer magazine Chay here: chaymagazine.org