homosexuality

“Homophobic racist” looks hopeful as new London mayor

Julien — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:07:30 +0200

Image from voteforboris.co.uk (Ken Livingstone, left, Boris Johnson, right)

Londoners decide on a mayor for the capital today in the four-yearly local elections, and leading the polls is Conservative candidate Boris Johnson. This is the man quoted as saying "Out of my way, small car driven by ordinary person on modest income. Make way for the Nissan Murano!"

London residents are fed up with incumbent mayor, Labour MP Ken Livingstone, who has been running the city for eight years now. Opposing candidate and Tory Boris Johnson, however, seems like a dubious contender for the post. Calling Ugandans "picaninnies", George Bush "liberator of Iraq" and that for obese people it's "their own fat fault", London's left-wingers are anxious about seeing the blonde bombshell in charge of a budget of £11.3bn (€14.5bn) and a city of 7.5 million multicultural residents.

"Why are Islamic extremists so sex obsessed"?

Julien — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:49:27 +0200

One of our Observers in Bahrain, blogger Mahmood Al-Youssef, comments on the recent homophobic exclamations coming from a local fundamentalist politician. The least we can say is that he doesn't mash his words...

Gay witch-hunt in Ksar el Kébir

Julien — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 11:45:00 +0100

Rumours of a supposedly gay marriage, reported by the local press, lead to a modern-day witch-hunt in Ksar el Kébir, Morocco. At the heart of the scandal is a private party that took place at the end of last month. The organiser, according to the minister of interior, wanted to ‘act out a fantasy in which a woman asks him to dress like her and offer a present to saint Sayad Al Madloum'. It was the images below, shot at the party and posted on YouTube, that really stirred up the trouble. Thousands of Ksar el Kébir residents took to the streets to protest against the offence, clapping and chanting homophobic slogans. On 10 December, the party organiser was charged for ‘sexual perversion' and the ‘illegal sale of alcohol'. He was sentenced to ten months in jail.

Post your questions to our Observer, Larbi el Hilali and to Khadija Ryadi, president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights.