2011
will be known in large part for the Arab Spring. From my LA home, I felt such
camaraderie with those brave, ordinary people who, as if on cue, came together
to oust dictators and call for democracy. In Egypt, the word "Tahrir," which
once meant only the busy downtown square of cell phone shops, restaurants, tony
hotels and the grand Egyptian Museum, now refers to the revolutionary fire that
brought down Mubarek and continues to burn into a profoundly uncertain
future.
I’m
fortunate I actually got to see Tahrir last month – both the place and the
expression in Egyptian faces as they hotly debate, over bubbling Sheesha pipes
and sweet, thick black coffee, what comes next. Egyptians are impassioned and
opinionated about most things and their new democracy is definitely not coming
quietly. I am hopeful, but like everyone
I spoke to, very worried.
Tahrir
is definitely inspiring. How can I not compare it to our American origin story?
We are taught that democracy is synonymous with freedom and progress. Now that
anything is possible in Egypt, LGBT rights must be part of the discussion,
right?
They’re
not.
As
I traveled discretely with my partner, calling her "my friend" through clenched
teeth and looking vainly for subtle signs anywhere that we weren’t the only
gays in town, I felt like I’d time-traveled to the 50s.
Egypt
rightly prides itself on its sophistication and comfortable coexistence of
different ideas. Homosexuality is not per se illegal. But Egypt is a Muslim
country as a matter of law. Subjective notions of what is indecent or offensive
to Islam have been used to randomly imprison LGBT people.You might remember the
"Cairo 52," half of whom were sentenced to hard labor in 2001 for partying on a
boat while gay. Dozens have since been arrested and brutally sentenced for crimes
as innocuous as posting on dating sites.
There are worse places to be gay (Uganda springs to mind), but few
countries match Egypt for its total suppression of mere conversation about LGBT
rights.
But
everything that came before January 2011 could change tomorrow. While the
military retains a tenuous grip on things for now, elections have begun for the
country’s new parliament and who will best represent the needs of the people in
drafting the new constitution.
Democracy
is not magic, as our high school textbooks suggest. Democracy in a country with
dwindling resources, crushing poverty, 25 percent illiteracy, and a
non-existent government infrastructure (detritus of country-wide corruption)
looks a lot like mob rule. The liberal
party’s talk of secularism and vague freedoms means little when you can’t
afford propane to heat your food and the only people who seem willing to help
are the religious groups canvassing you village and providing discount fuel.
Freedom implies choice. To most Egyptians, there are no real choices.
Except
perhaps the choice between the fundamentalist Salafists, who would remove women
from public life completely, and the much more moderate Muslim Brotherhood who
have, more or less, promised to maintain the civil rights status quo. The
Muslim Brotherhood are in the lead, mostly because they have their act together
and it’s better than alternative. But the Salafists are in 2nd place with a
shocking 30% of the vote. Remember that only a generation ago, few Egyptian
women even covered their heads.
I’ve
always believed that LGBT rights were inextricably connected to women’s rights
and the end of rigid gender roles. As I watch Egypt retreat into more
conservative religiosity for a sense of security, I know a reversal of women’s
rights is inevitable. I am unable to imagine how LGBT rights in this
environment could be anything more than a secret dream for now.
Already
knowing the answer, I asked my Egyptian guide if I was being pessimistic. He
said no. Egyptians just aren’t ready. At home, I’d dismiss such a statement as
mealy-mouthed cowardice. Not so in Egypt, or likely any place where with a
desperate and uneducated populace – I see that democracy can fast-track
regression just as easily as it can bring progress. And how can I not see the same
fact at play right at home? I hope I’m wrong.
_ Inshallah__