As for not mentioning Israel, I didn’t understand whether Marc meant that I should have mentioned Israel or he is telling to NOT TO mention Israel in ordering-kinda way. But I think Marc is right for Israel can’t be included in this formula for many reasons. But I would also like to add and clear that I unintentionally assumed the reader would conclude that when I meant Middle East, I meant the Arab world, where Christianity and Islam have the utmost influence. And of course I have very little knowledge of the Jewish community and Israeli reactions to homosexuality. That’s been said, I am sure when the Israeli authors get the time, a post should be published about this issue in Israel for us to have a general true idea on this topic.

Fares, Thank you mate for this feedback, I agree and that’s it why I wanted to shed the light on the Lebanese gays for they do enjoy a great freedom compared to the region. Unfortunately though, during my round up I didn’t find a single post that anyone could have posted regarding the bounces a homosexual get in Lebanon, for they all seem to focus on the negative. I am strongly against posts that consists of ranting without offering a solution or an alternative, and that is why I introduced the piece by praising Lebanon’s way of dealing with homosexuality, well again by comparison.

Clara, thank you for you support and I think this is what all members and readers of GV are trying to do here, spread the message and awareness. I hope by reading my response to Fares you will get the answer to your comment. Again thank you and let me know if any good posts or blogs comes your way that might help our cause.

Yes, the cases and stories listed above are true and harsh. But I would guess that, for the most part, little more happened over the past few years. Yes, you’ll always have the shady neighborhoods with disgustingly ignorant guys who will forever poke fun at the gay community. Those exist everywhere, all the time. Yes, there will be police officers questioning gay people all the time. Either because they want to sleep with them, or because they have doubts about their sobriety.
Gay people in Lebanon – and usually rightly so – are often and normally associated with drugs, sexual indecency, and prostitution. Okay, gay people in the world are often assumed to fit one (or more) of those illegalities. That’s why they get stopped. Acid and X-OM were most probably raided for the same reasons BO18 had been raided. If anything, those two got raided less times than BO and its like, only because of the stigma associated with “they’re raiding a gay club”.

Point is, there are issues, but they sound a lot worse when taken out of context. There are cases of abuse, but there are many more cases of the absence of abuse; cases of tolerance.
In general, you get one sob story for every 10 good stories. And two great successes for every 10 good stories. I would think those should be mentioned as often in articles discussing the universal situation of homosexuality in Lebanon.

Oh and Marc, Israel’s got the cleanest human rights record in the world and especially in the Middle East… NOT!