Homosexuality: Is it Really a Crime?

Eight men were each sentenced to three years in prison recently on charges of “debauchery”, and an additional three years of probation after their release.

This ruling followed the public disclosure of a video of what appeared to be their wedding on a felucca; the video went viral on social media.

The thing is, there isn’t a law that deems homosexuality illegal in Egypt, so how did prosecutors even manage to take them to court?

The Egyptian court uses other laws such as “shameless public acts” to prosecute homosexuals.

Talking specifically about this case, according to CNN, seven of the arrested men were “physically inspected” and were determined to be heterosexual, although the eighth suspect did not show up for the physical test.

So why are they going to prison?

I believe that Egypt is facing huge problems right now and that there are definitely more critical and dangerous crimes happening throughout the country that the court should be concerned with other than “homosexuality”, especially since no law criminalizes it.

Some of these critical crimes are sexual harassment and kidnapping that have dramatically increased since the revolution.

Unfortunately, taboos such as homosexuality are prominent in the Middle East and more specifically in Egypt.

This scares me not only as a journalist, but also as a regular citizen in society.

Honestly, one of the reasons I was hesitant to write my opinion this week was because I knew for a fact I would be criticized. However, this in itself was the driving force that made me write it.

I’m aware that homosexuality is a sin in Islam and Christianity (monotheistic religions), and since those are the dominant faiths in Egypt, I understand fully that it is culturally unaccepted.

This is to say that by writing this, I’m definitely not criticizing society; I am just trying to find a way to convince the readers that homosexuality can be seen differently.

Here is a true story: I was sitting somewhere on campus at the beginning of the semester chatting with friends.

A guy walked in front of us carrying what looked like a purse. My guy friends started making fun of him and verbally harassing him, assuming, of course, he was gay.

He did not hear them; nevertheless I felt very uncomfortable.

My mantra in life is ‘live and let live’. Basically, people can do whatever they want and I can do whatever I want, as long as no one is bothering the other.

People should have the liberty to pursue whatever makes them happy.

That is the definition of freedom.

They should be free to pursue whatever job they want, live in any country they choose, and marry whomever they please.

So, why can’t we treat the gay community the same way? Think about it.

Given the fact that a discussion of these subjects is in and of itself challenging, it is no surprise that we face even greater obstacles in changing our misconceptions.

We, as the educated in society, need to broaden our horizons and try to look at things in a different way.