On 3/12/2009, and in a landmark decision, Judge Mounir Suleiman from the Batroun court district ruled that consensual homosexual relations are not against nature and thus cannot be prosecuted under article 534 of the Penal Code in Lebanon.

Download a copy of the decision (in Arabic)
Article in BEKHSOOS (ENGLISH)

On 21 December, Helem will launch a report on the legal situation of Homosexuals in the Arab world, with case studies about Lebanon and Tunis with the participation of the researchers: Dr. Wahid Farchihi (Professor of Law in Tunisian University) and Nizar Saghieh (Lawyer and independent legal researcher in Lebanon).

Place: Metropolis Cinema, Sofil Center, Beirut
Time: Monday, December 21, at 6:00 PM

No to the Article 534

Article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code states that "sexual intercourse contrary to nature" is punishable for up to 1 year in prison. The article is used by the Lebanese ruling classes to criminalize homosexuality for ordinary people and block democratic debate on sexuality.

Article 534 is a product of French colonialism, in consideration of reactionary religious circles

Article 534 of the Penal code criminalizes "unnatural sexual intercourse" which is interpreted as being anal sex and regarded as a behavior inherent to homosexuality. This clause stipulates the following: "Any sexual intercourse against nature is punished with up to one year of imprisonment."

State agents' behavior with LGBT individuals in Lebanon is also flawed by a string of human rights violations as well as by frequent violations of Lebanese law.

Police records of LGBT citizens

Written By: Madian al Jazerah, co-owner of Books@Cafe

This is about where we stand in hypocrisy and bigotry…and where we will be if we remain quiet.

Books@Cafe and many other establishments have been closed this week. Here is what I witnessed and what happened to us at Books@Cafe:

The night before Ramadan, the police violently stormed into the café and asked us to close down. “This is the holy month of Ramadan!” they barked. Since we are officially licensed and they could provide no official papers, we refused to close.

In July 2005, the Lebanese State presented its first and second periodic reports to the 33rd session of the Committee for the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women in the UN headquarters in New York. Two Lebanese NGOs submitted shadow reports to the committee to cover the gaps of the State report, one of them being Helem.

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates has authorized its first non-governmental organization to begin work to enforce human rights in the Gulf state, said Al-Emirat Al-Yawm newspaper last week. Quoting a licensing decision issued by the Social Affairs Ministry, it said the Emirates Human Rights Association (EHRA) aimed to "respect and enforce human rights according to the state's laws and constitution."

"Raising awareness among individuals and clarifying their rights and duties towards society" are part of the association's aims, the ministry added.