The Scapegoats of Lebanon, Daily Brief September 5, 2023

Lebanon is suffering a devastating economic crisis that’s pushed more than 80 percent of the population into poverty. So, of course, Lebanese authorities are prioritizing… (checks notes, looks up, checks notes again) …attacking LGBTI folks. (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex)

Even for Lebanon’s notoriously responsibility-dodging political “leadership,” this is jaw-dropping.

In August, two officials introduced bills that would explicitly criminalize same-sex relations between consenting adults and punish anyone “promoting homosexuality” with up to three years in prison. They don’t even define “promoting homosexuality,” which tells you just how desperate politicians are to create scapegoats to distract from their own long-running incompetence.

These bills are not the start of this witch hunt in Lebanon. It’s been running for some time and kicked into a higher gear in late June with an illegal ministerial ban on LGBTI-related events. And it’s all happening in the context of rising anti-LGBTI violence over the past year – rising because authorities keep giving it a pass.

Just one recent example: on August 23, men from the openly LGBTI-hating “Soldiers of God” group (note: God has never given them permission to use this name) attacked people at drag show in a Beirut bar. They beat up some of the attendees and threatened further violence against LGBTI people.

Agents of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces arrived while the attack was under way, but they did not intervene. Instead, they apparently interrogated the bar owner and guests about the performance. No one has been arrested for the attack.

In the words of my colleague and expert researcher Rasha Younes, the authorities are “allowing unchecked violence against” LGBTI people.

The whole movement – the bills, the ban, the green light to violence – it’s all another clear case of the oft-used politicians’ trick: don’t blame us, the people with power who should be managing the country wisely. No, blame a vulnerable minority with little or no power instead.

You may think our disastrous mismanagement is at the root of your problems, like not having enough money to live. But look, over there, gay people! There’s your real problem!

As elsewhere, for example with Uganda’s new anti-LGBT law, no one should be fooled by this shell-game distraction of unscrupulous politicians.

The question citizens of Lebanon should be asking is clear: Why aren’t our rulers working to make everyone’s life better, rather than spending so much time and effort to make some people’s lives worse?