I come from Yemen, one of the most conservative and traditional muslim countries in the world. People there have a very negative view of homosexuals and do not really understand what homosexuality is, how it arises, what it entails, and how it differs from other gender and sexual orientations. Homosexuality is seen there as an illness, a curse, and a very wicked sin (notice i said homosexuality and not homosexual acts). Generally though, since there are no openly gay people in Yemen, the topic of gay rights (including the right to exist) is ignored- something that is not discussed and does not cross people’s minds.
My personal experience:
As I was growing up, I noticed that I was more attracted to guys but I had no idea what that meant. I continued that way until the age of 15 when I left Yemen for Canada and, enlightened there, I realized what my feeling meant; if I continued my life in Yemen, I doubt that I would have realized that my feelings were “deviant” from the norm because these things are simply not discussed. Few years later, I came out to my mom. she is the first and only person I’ve come out to. She took it pretty well at the time considering the nature of the revelation.couple nights later I woke up around 3am to drink some water and as I passed by my mother’s bedroom door and I heard her crying. she was devastated. I could tell days later that she hadn’t slept at all since I came out to her and had not been eating as well -she ended up in the hospital. I experienced a myriad of conflicting emotions I was shocked, scared, enraged, depressed and completely lost. fast forward a few months and my relation with my mother started to go back to normal so I decided to confront her about what exactly upset here and declared my willingness to take a wife if that is what she wants (I’m 22 years old btw). She explained that the reasons for her sadness were:
1) the image she had built in her head about my future was shattered and she could not handle that- I am quite intelligent and handsome, if i say so myself, and so she had great hopes for me and now the future is clouded with uncertainty.
2) the prospects of having grandchildren was something she lived for and now it seemed to disappear (since a very young age, my mother would tell me that she could not love any other person more than me except for my future child and would pray that her life lasts long enough to see that child).
3) Homosexuality is a social curse and even if my family accepted me and if miraculously my life was spared (had people found out), my whole extended family, not just myself, would be outcasted by the society. they would be branded by my homosexuality and it would be an identifying character of those related to me (kinda like “this guy is the gay man’s neighbour” or “ turn left right after the gay man’s house to get to that address” etc.)
Anyway, it seems that people are in denial about gays in general. a few years back a Yemeni man came to Canada as a refugee claiming that he feared for his life because he was gay. Nobody I met in Yemen (and we are a very social society) actually believed the story and nobody was able to accept that a person from yemen might actually be gay. they all thought that the refugee lied in order to get his refugee status and migrate to canada. people actually praised the guy for coming up with such a clever “lie” and rediculed the Canadians for being so gullible.
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