Do Egyptian Queers Need A New Harvey Milk?
The Egyptian LGBT community needs someone to stand up for their rights
Click for the Arabic version of the article
In an article by Liz Tracey, it is argued that whenever progress is made for the rights of the LGBT community it is met with a wave of bills opposing this progress.
Excuse me, Mx. (Tracey), but I think that this wave opposing the LGBT community is always there.
In 1977, an ordinance was passed in Dade County, Florida, stipulating that there should be no discrimination in housing, work, or public services based on a person’s sexual orientation.
In response, the singer Anita Bryant, who was involved in politics in the state of Florida at the time, launched the “Save Our Children” campaign aimed at repealing the new law. Indeed the law was repealed, but did the wave of opposition to rights for the LGBT community end there?
A year after this political battle, the politician John Briggs introduced Proposition 6, also known as the Briggs Initiative. The proposition sought the right to dismiss teachers who were suspected of being involved in public homosexual activities from their schools, and it defined these behaviors as:
“The advocating, soliciting, imposing, encouraging or promoting of private or public homosexual activity directed at, or likely to come to the attention of schoolchildren and/or other employees.”
The similarity between what happened 46 years ago and what is currently happening in Egypt got my attention…
How is Egypt similar to America in 77 and 78?
In July 2023 an employee of the Maspero Television Building appealed against the decision to dismiss him from his job in the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court. The dismissal came after his ex-wife accused him of homosexuality, using a video taken from the man’s phone depicting him engaging in ostensibly homosexual acts as proof.
The Disciplinary Court had issued its decision in June 2023 to dismiss the accused from his job, condoning the wife’s violation of her husband’s phone privacy. It justified the ruling with Articles 57 and 58 of Civil Service Law №81 of 2016, which do not prohibit homosexuality: instead, they are about morals and discipline within the workplace. In the end, The Supreme Court decided to approve the dismissal.
There are other similar events reported by the Cairo52 Institute, an Egyptian research institute concerned with queer issues. In 2023, the Egyptian Economic Courts, which are responsible for dealing with cybercrime, found that Article 25 of the Cybercrime Law №178 of 2018 included the criminalization of homosexuality on the Internet.
As a result, a gay man was convicted in November 2023 for using the dating app Grindr. This is one of many laws that criminalize homosexuality via the prohibition of “immorality and debauchery.”
The difference between Egypt now and America in the late 1970s is that, in America, anti-LGBT opposition was met with the emergence of rebellious movements supporting the rights of the LGBT community.
This pro-LGBT rebellion was led by those who strongly opposed the campaigns of Briggs and Bryant, especially the first openly gay politician in California, Harvey Milk.
No such rebellion has occurred against anti-LGBT laws in Egypt.
Harvey Milk vs. Bryant and Briggs
Politician Harvey Milk attempted to enter the political field by running for the California State Assembly three times from 1974 to 1976. After that, he ran for the position of Supervisor of the City of San Francisco in 1977, collecting the votes of members of the LGBT community who had adopted his office in The Castro neighborhood as a community hub.
As Proposition 6 gained attention and the date for a vote approached, Harvey Milk, with popular support from the LGBT community, campaigned in opposition to the proposals. Milk faced Briggs in debates, opposing Briggs’ assertion that students could be influenced by their gay teachers. In one notable speech Milk sarcastically remarks that:
“I was born of heterosexual parents. I was taught by heterosexual teachers in a fiercely heterosexual society. Television ads and newspaper ads — fiercely heterosexual. A society that puts down homosexuality. And why am I a homosexual if I’m affected by role models? I should have been a heterosexual. And no offense meant, but if teachers are going to affect you as role models, there’d be a lot of nuns running around the streets today.”
At the beginning of November 1978, the vote on Proposition 6 was held. With 58.43% voting against and 41.57% voting in favor, Proposition 6 was defeated.
The defeat of Proposition 6 is attributed to the public campaign by Harvey Milk, aided by the support of other politicians such as the then Mayor of San Francisco, George Moscone.
Sadly, Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in their offices at the end of November 1978. Their murderer, Dan White, was sentenced to only 7 years for manslaughter. He was released after 5 years and committed suicide in October 1985.
In an act of tragic prescience, Harvey milk recorded the following speech to be released if he was assassinated:
Returning to Egypt in the 2000s, we find that attacks on the LGBT community have not been greatly opposed by its members in the same way that Milk and others opposed anti-LGBT legislation in the 1970s.
Only a few dare to express their LGBT identity in public, fearing that self-expression may bring more oppressive laws, or gain the negative attention of the police and its ethics department. This is particularly a concern in relation to gay dating apps, which in the past the police have used as a trap to catch their ‘prey’: LGBT people.
However, despite attempts to avoid negative attention from the authorities, further attacks on the LGBT community have taken place. Despite the inconspicuous behavior of the LGBT community before the 2000s, 52 gay men were arrested during what has become known as the “Queen Boat” incident in Egypt in May 2001.
Moreover, another incident in 2015 in Bab Al Bahr, known as the “Ramses Bath Incident”, saw victims being accused of homosexuality and defamed without any actual proof of homosexual activity being provided.
Staying quiet and closeted hasn’t stopped the Egyptian authorities from persecuting the LGBT community. I think the necessary response to this oppression is summed up in another speech given by Harvey Milk:
The Egyptian LGBT community needs to “come out”, in the words of Harvey Milk. Coming out might not mean telling people explicitly about your LGBT identity, but instead not being afraid to express yourself, to publish your articles and ideas without feeling terrified, and to feel calm even if you are in danger so that everyone around you knows that you support the issue.
You must continue to follow and support campaigns and articles from local queer organizations like Bedaya, Cairo52, Atyaf, and others. You must not be afraid of showing your voice and words, as Harvey Milk and his supporters did.
In the end, you must “be educated and know more information because you have a cause to defend” (as my friend Philo says). Today, Egypt needs its own Harvey Milk to defend the cause of the LGBT community.
Designs by/ Philo Alexander II
