Ameen Rhayem could face up to a year in jail if he is charged with violating Lebanon’s Article 534 “simply for loving another man.â€
The activist makes that point in a video produced by Beirut-based sexual-rights group the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality (AFE) in advance of the country’s
elections on Sunday, the first vote in nine years.
The difference this time around: For the first time in Lebanese history, electoral candidates are promoting gay rights, marking the most high-level endorsement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender protection in the Arab world.
Nearly 100 candidates have publicly called for the decriminalization of homosexuality.
“Before now, there was no politician that was able to publicly endorse the removal of article 534,†said AFE’s executive director Georges Azzi in an interview with CNN.
The phenomenon has driven LGBT activists to urge supporters to take part in the elections.
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Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between members of the same gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to people of the same sex. It also refers to a person's sense of identity
based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions.
Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus is west across the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland
facilitated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km2 (4,036 sq. mi.), it is the smallest recognized sovereign state on the mainland Asian continent.
LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the term is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which was used to replace the term gay in reference to the LGBT community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s. Activists believed that the term gay community did not
accurately represent all those to whom it referred. The initialism has become adopted into the mainstream media as an umbrella term for use when labeling topics pertaining to sexuality and gender identity.