Spring Break
Rainbow Center hosts expert on homosexuality in the Middle East
Madeline Ward
Issue date: 9/18/08 Section: Focus
Michael Luongo debuted his new controversial book "Gay Travels in the Muslim World," to a lecture audience at the Rainbow Center Wednesday. He touched on a side of the Arab world few have dared seek out in the west.
The Middle Eastern perceptions of homosexuality can very from country to country. Luongo is an Italian-American travel writer who went into the hearts of Afghan cities Kabul and Kandahar seeking a behind the scenes look at what it means to be gay in another culture.
"Men who have sex with men don't often identify with being gay in the western sense," Luongo said.
Though Arab culture is one that is sexually segregated, some are accepting of men who have sex with men, as long as it is not in a public setting, does not interfere with marriage, and is not an identity.
Gay rights movements that mobilize in the western sense are persecuted by the government because they are received as a threat. Any movement that becomes an identity instead of just an activity scares most Middle Eastern governments, even if it is just a movement for greater sexual freedom. Anything that is politicized is suppressed.
In one of the stories he recounted his search for gay soldiers in Afghanistan's military. A soldier invited him and his translator to a house where a party was supposed to be happening. Luongo went anyways, but worried most of the time if it was a trap.
The group of men were eager to talk to him. Most of them wanted to talk about homosexuality but did not view themselves as gay, even though they engaged in having sex with men on a regular basis. Some had wives and small children of their own. At one point they asked if he wanted to see a
The Middle Eastern perceptions of homosexuality can very from country to country. Luongo is an Italian-American travel writer who went into the hearts of Afghan cities Kabul and Kandahar seeking a behind the scenes look at what it means to be gay in another culture.
"Men who have sex with men don't often identify with being gay in the western sense," Luongo said.
Though Arab culture is one that is sexually segregated, some are accepting of men who have sex with men, as long as it is not in a public setting, does not interfere with marriage, and is not an identity.
Gay rights movements that mobilize in the western sense are persecuted by the government because they are received as a threat. Any movement that becomes an identity instead of just an activity scares most Middle Eastern governments, even if it is just a movement for greater sexual freedom. Anything that is politicized is suppressed.
In one of the stories he recounted his search for gay soldiers in Afghanistan's military. A soldier invited him and his translator to a house where a party was supposed to be happening. Luongo went anyways, but worried most of the time if it was a trap.
The group of men were eager to talk to him. Most of them wanted to talk about homosexuality but did not view themselves as gay, even though they engaged in having sex with men on a regular basis. Some had wives and small children of their own. At one point they asked if he wanted to see a
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