[Foundation-l] Reboot on LGBT/Egypt issue (was Re: [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2008 will happen in Alexandria, Egypt)

[Ray Saintonge]

MeMo wrote:
> OK  .. people
>    there is something that i need to clarify
> you r talking like once a gay man enters the an Egyptian airport he will be
> arrested 'for being gay' the imprisoned and tortured .. i must say that this
> is TOTALY wrong.
> the only case that a gay or a straight person might get arrested is for
> doing a direct sexual act in a public place - a street or instance - and
> this apply to both heterosexual and homosexuals a like .. other than that
> there is no problem if you already have a partner.
> as renting a hotel room with you partner or holding his hand is no problem
> at all simply because those acts are common in Egypt ..
> men do hold each others hand and friends do rent rooms together without
> being considered gay or harassing them in any mean .
>   
>> Oldak Quill wrote:
>>     
>>> Four non-Egyptians (read foreigners) were put on trial in Egypt for
>>> homosexuality in 2003. Three were acquitted on appeal and one was sent
>>> to prison for a year (http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=&id=205)
>>> (http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=&id=198).
>>>       
What you express makes sense, and there is a huge difference between 
simply being gay and involving oneself in gay activism, and I suspect 
thay no small amount of activism is involved in the example 
prosecutions.  If you believes that the citizens of a country that you 
are visiting do not have all the rights that they should have it is 
grossly irresponsible to spend a one-week visit there agitating for 
those rights.  After the week you may fly away home without problems, 
and even with the blessing and the thanks of the authorities for whom 
you have exposed someone that they were watching.  The people you wanted 
to help are put in greater danger.  I have no basis for saying that this 
would in fact happen in Egypt; it's one's beliefs that it could happen 
that should guide one's behaviour.

Ec