Demokratie und LGBT in Tunesien

Aus Tunis berichtet Taylor Luck für den CSM und klingt, was die Entwicklung der LGBT Bewegung in dem nordafrikanischen Land anbelangt, durchaus optimistisch. Und das ist keine Selbstverständlichkeit:

Less than a decade after its popular revolution transformed Tunisia from a closed dictatorship to a hub of democracy and political activism, the country is emerging as a center for LGBTQ rights activism in North Africa and the Arab world.

Yet as remarkable as it is to see public LGBTQ activism in this socially conservative region, the country’s arcane legal code and police tactics make it fall short of an actual haven.

Same-sex relations are still illegal in Tunisia, and members of the LGBTQ community who are utilizing Tunisians’ hard-fought freedoms of association, speech, and assembly to abolish these laws still risk arrest.

With Tunisia’s modern, liberal constitution at odds with entrenched conservative social norms and century-old laws, the country’s LGBTQ advocates are pinning their hopes on a central strategy: vigorous activism.

“These LGBT associations have crafted for themselves a space for action, raising awareness, and advocacy in Tunisia, which is very important,” says Amna Guellali, senior Tunisia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“They have created a vibrant space for the discussion of these issues and [to] normalize the existence of the LGBT community in the country.”