On 10/10/07, Mark Williamson node.ue@gmail.com wrote:
LGBT people are normal people. We are not a special interest group. We form between 5 and 20% of the population, depending who you ask.
That is like saying:
"I regret the concerns of the black people, but..." "I regret the concerns of the women..." "I regret the concerns of the senior citizens..."
These are not special interest groups. These are wide sections of the human population. This is not as trivial as you are trying to make it sound. We will not accept such subhuman treatment.
I'm sorry, I just don't believe there's any evidence on the table that Egyptian authorities care, or bother about, western tourists or visitors who happen to be LGBT. A single documented incident, in which the arrested party was released without trial, and no claims of abuse in prison or during arrest have been presented?
I don't want to subject LGBT Wikipedians to an abusive foreign government either... but I don't believe Egypt falls in that category. No evidence has been presented of any abuse of visitors. Gay magazines publish articles on travelling to Egypt (see for example http://www.advocate.com/travel_detail_ektid02481.asp online). People I know have gone there.
There is much unhappy murmuring and a tiny wisp of smoke. Crying "fire" in the theater and claiming that we must evacuate the site selection is unjustified by the evidence presented.
If you believe Egypt truly is significantly bad for visiting LGBT tourists, there should be ample evidence thereof available. In spite of my friends' and aquaintences personal ancedotal safe trips, I went looking for some evidence of risk when this thread started. I have not found anything of the sort. There's more documented foreign tourist gay bashing in San Francisco (fairly low actual rate, and abhored by the local population as a whole, but there's a persistent low-rate problem from homophobic fringeists) than I can find for Egypt.
Where is the actual evidence of any documented credible risk to LGBT tourists? Where are documentations of rumors of actual risk?
Put your cards on the table. Show us what's making you think that you have legitimate fears or risks.