Removing Apps in the Morning Is Like Brushing Your Teeth for Gay People
Why in some countries in the Middle East, gay people can’t take selfies.
I woke up like this.
You must have seen it a million times, followed by #nofilter, #feelingblessed, and some random hashtags.
Selfie is the new way to express ourselves on social media ever since our phones had cameras. Instagram is filled with selfies, and it was supposed to be for everyone unless you are from Egypt, Tunisia, or Lebanon.
Meet Omar
Though, Omar isn’t his real name. It is a name to protect his real identity. Omar is from Egypt and in an interview with Reuters, he said every day he had to delete the mobile apps on his phones, specifically Whatsapp, Grindr, and Facebook.
To him it is like brushing his teeth, deleting apps is part of his ‘daily hygiene.’ The same reason we brush our teeth is to cleanse, and as a gay man, he has to cleanse his phone from apps that can lead to harm, or worse, death.
You see in Egypt, Tunisia, and Lebanon, gay people are targeted and most of the time it is the authorities who would confiscate someone’s phone and check if they have ‘selfies’ enough to incriminate a gay person and be…
