A Queer Film Festival in Tunisia — Where Being Gay Is Illegal

 | 
05/14/2019

For four days in March, a sanctuary for queer and trans people sprung up in Tunisia — a country where being gay is illegal. Mawjoudin Queer Film Festival, in its second year, differs significantly from other film festivals: some participants wear badges that read “No Photos;” attendees were invited through a private Facebook page and were told not to geo-tag locations on social media; venues were revealed only in the final days before the festival. The event, put on by the nongovernmental organization Mawjoudin — “we exist” in Arabic — included film screenings, workshops, a photo exhibit, lectures and, of course, an after-party. The festival is just one element of the organization’s mission, which includes advocating for the repeal of Article 230 (a law created during the French colonial period that criminalized homosexuality and still stands), and defending the rights of the “marginalized, stigmatized and criminalized,” in the words of Cyrine Hammemi, 24, the festival’s regional coordinator. To complicate things further, in Tunisia, trans people are not addressed at all in legal terms, and are lumped together in the otherness that is considered gayness.

Regions: ,

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 11/05/2024
11/04/2024
As anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and hate crimes continue to rise, GLAAD CEO and president Sarah Kate Ellis talks with NBC News’ Savannah Sellers about the …
Added on: 11/04/2024
11/03/2024
The West African nation of Mali, which has been ruled by a military junta for more than three years, has voted for a new …
Added on: 11/04/2024
11/03/2024
On 22 October, Chinese host and dancer Jin Xing sparked an online uproar with a lengthy post on Weibo charging that her performance application …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Other News from ,

Added on: 11/04/2024
The West African nation of Mali, which has been ruled by a military junta for more than three years, has voted for a new …
Added on: 11/02/2024
Mali’s de facto parliament has passed a law criminalising same-sex acts in the junta-led country, the latest in Africa to adopt legislation targeting LGBTQ …
Added on: 11/02/2024
A landslide election victory has set the stage for LGBTQ rights supporter Duma Boko to become the next president of Botswana, where homosexuality was …