Don't Tempt Yemen With Lesbian Love Scenes

by Michael Jones · 2010-04-29 13:59:00 UTC
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YemenWho ever said a movie couldn't impact global politics? Certainly not the folks behind Heena Maysara, a 2008 Egyptian movie that broke a few paths when it was released. Heena Maysara, after all, turns out to be one of the few films in the Middle East that features a discussion about homosexuality. Two women, played by Ghada Abdel Razek and Somaya El Khashab, even share a bit of an erotic scene together.

Though the film is two years old now, it's proving relevant yet again in the Middle East. Yemen, specifically, where a newspaper column talking about the film has provoked a whole heaping pile of outrage.

Earlier this month, Hamid Aqbi, a Yemeni filmmaker living in France, wrote a column for one of Yemen's official state publications reviewing Heena Maysara. Aqbi suggested that in the wake of the film, countries throughout the Middle East ought to start having conversations about homosexuality, instead of pretending like it doesn't exist.

In the review, Aqbi allegedly said that homosexuality was "part and parcel" of society, and that parliament ought to consider laws that expand some social freedoms. That, in turn, has earned him numerous death threats from fundamentalist religious groups and politicians inside Yemen. Things are apparently getting so bad that threats are now being made against Aqbi's family.

"The campaign has taken on another shape, with publications (against me) being distributed. It is a major topic of discussion in mosques, where people pray for the death of Hamid Aqbi, who is considered an apostate, and his murderer is understood not to deserve punishment, but rather praise," Aqbi said, doling out a third person reference ala Bob Dole.

It's pretty hard not to believe Aqbi. Since the article was published, the government of Yemen has suspended the publication of its cultural magazine, and one politician, Mohamed bin Nasser al-Hazmi, suggested that Aqbi be put on trial. All for just suggesting that maybe it's time for folks inside Yemen to have a discussion about homosexuality.

Ironically, the English subtitle of Heena Maysara is "Till Things Get Better." Sounds like an adequate hope to send to people in Yemen who are LGBT. Yemen, after all, has a law on the books calling for LGBT people to be flogged or killed, and along with the Vatican refused to sign a UN statement last year calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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