Mideast Piece

Mideast Piece has been nominated for a Jewish and Israeli Blog Award (I guess b/c Matt’s Jewish and we blog from Israel.). I haven’t kept track with how those awards work because I really don’t care. But it’s nice to be recognized nonetheless. We received two highly-coveted nominations, one for “Best New Blog” and the other for “Best Left-Wing Political Blog.”

As far as I am concerned the 1000s of folks that visit this blog every week is proof that we’re doing something right. If you love Mideast Piece, what we’d really love for you to do is volunteer and link to us from your own website.

And of course, you can vote for us in the Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards. We all know that winning is so much better than just being nominated, right?

Seven years ago today, the Millennium March on Washington was held. Thousands of demonstrators gathered on the National Mall in Washington to march for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.

“The message I took away from the rally was that the best way to create change is to demonstrate to others that being yourself is a viable option,” said participant Mark Robinson.

A 27-year old Iranian gay rights activist has been jailed and tortured for his activities with Cheraq, the Iranian Queer Organization’s (IRQO) on-line monthly magazine. Like John and I, “Babak” is a gay blogger seeking to build community and increased support of GLBT human rights around the world.

In Iran, these activities can lead to death. Babak is currently awaiting a trail, one that could lead to execution or many years in prison. As such, the IRQO is collecting funds to smuggle him out of the country and help other Iranian queer refugees, many of them residing in Turkey.

Iran is believed to have executed more than 100 gay men in recent years, including teenagers (see photo). Countries such as Sweden and Turkey have deported gay Iranians who fled their homeland in fear for their lives. To read more about this case and the plight of gays in Iran, click here.

These two beach boys have written “Hot Winter” in the sand.

Wanna cool off, my pretties?

I came across a great (and fascinating) resource for people working toward GLBT human rights around the world. The “Louder We Sing” handbook was put out by Amnesty International a few years ago. I highly recommend even a quick skim. Here’s a couple of quotes that caught my eye:

”We’ve always been part of a larger movement and added our voice to the demands of women and indigenous people. It’s been very obvious to us that if we don’t want to be discriminated against, we have to fight against other kinds of discrimination.”

-Patria Jiménez, member of the Mexican Congress, quoted in New York Blade News

”If rights of sexual orientation appear revolutionary, that is due not to the ”revolutionary” concept of sexual diversity (for divergent and transmutable sexual norms have been with us throughout time) but rather to the revolutionary character of human rights law itself.”

- Eric Heinze, Sexual Orientation: A Human Right

According to this article for CNN by Aneesh Raman, Dr. Heba Kotb is breaking barriers and talking about sex openly on a talk show broadcast across the Middle East. According to Kotb,

We talk about masturbation … sex over the Internet. We talk about sex and Ramadan. We talk about the wedding night.

It took her three years of hard work to get her show on the air. She limits herself though. She only talks about sex allowed in the Quran - sex between husband and wife. The promo for the show starts with Kotb saying, “Sex. Don’t be afraid. Join me to talk about sex without shame.”

Her main advice is something I can get, um, behind: Have more sex.

Today we’re introducing Simon, a new Mideast Piece partner living in Bahrain originally from the Philipines. According to Simon, the show TV show “Ally McBeal” changed his life and set him on the road to post-closet life (am I the only one who stayed in the closet because of that show?). True to Ally form, Simon describes himself as “poetic, cynical, paranoid, psychotic, a dreamer, depressed, and a wishful thinker.”

From time to time we will run his content about life (including gay life) in Bahrain. For starters, I liked his friend’s insight on those first few minutes after waking up, published in an entry called “Reboot:”

I could not resist running this picture because (a) the model, Kfir Moyal, is hotter than the Grand Canyon in August and (b) the translation of the Hebrew text relates to a recent comment we had about our alleged preference for men with no body hair.

“I removed hair and fulfilled my dream,” says the text of this apparent ad for body hair removal.

Is that all it takes?

The other day I was flipping through Time Out Tel Aviv and ran across this CUTE guy in an ad for “Healing treatments, Massage, Relaxation and Spirituality” The ad lists such treatments as: deep tissue massage, warm stones, foot massage, vacuum cups, acupuncture, shiatsu, reiki, tantra, and nutritional advice.

Then ze boy lists his website. I looked it up of course. That’s where these loverly pics came from. Go check it out. He’s got this interesting star zippy thing going on on the site that’s kind of weird but he’s so cute you’ll forgive him. Anyhoo, Moshe (the guy’s name) writes,

I am physiotherapist and tantra practitioner.I invite you to the best experience you’ve ever tried, the experience of TANTRA. Tantra is a spiritual flow from the ancient India. With Tantra you could take care your body through the sexual energy and to experience a great orgasm through it. The main prespective of this session based on the sexual energy, what will bring you to an ecstasy. the being of it is spiritual and physical bodywork that will reflect your body energy flow.

Anyway, it’s been all I could do NOT to call this guy. I mean, I don’t need to pay for sex. But I have to tell you that the idea of an afternoon of a therapeutic tantric “rub down” with this guy makes me want to pullout my, um, wallet.

Today is Independence Day in Israel and the country is celebrating 59 years. For Israelis, independence came at the highest of prices, following the murder of one-third of world Jewry by the Nazis and the loss of 1% of the Israeli population during the prolonged war following the state’s declaration.

For the Palestinians, Independence Day is known as “al-Naqba,” or “the catastrophe.” Thousands lost their homes for a variety of reasons, including Arab leaders’ warnings to clear the way so their armies could “push the Jews into the sea” and forced evacuation by Israeli forces during the war. What’s clear is that neither side has a monopoly on suffering, regardless of who you think deserves most of the blame.

If there is ever to be peace west of the Jordan River, I believe that all children must grow up hearing the narratives of “the other.” In Palestinian-controlled terroritory, the Holocaust is either not taught or it’s taught as a “Jewish lie.” Similarly, most Jewish Israeli students grow up hardly ever interacting with their counterparts amongst Israel’s 20% Arab minority, much less hearing their stories.

I recently visited the Hand in Hand school in Jerusalem and the morning proved to be the most inspirational few hours I’ve ever spent in Israel. At Hand in Hand’s three pioneering schools, Jewish and Arab youth learn together, hear the stories of “the other,” speak each other’s languages, and set a model for the future.

Today for Independence Day, two ceremonies will be conducted - one for “Independence Day” and one for “al-naqba.” Students will then come together to hear each others’ stories and affirm the importance (indeed, necessity) of co-existence. Teachers and parents say Hand in Hand’s model does the impossible - students gain a better understanding of themselves and their identities, while simultaneously building respect for and friendships with “the other.”

It’s unlikely that the voices of extremists will be silenced anytime soon; if anything, they are growing. In the meantime, what we can do is promote dialogue and understanding amongst the vast “silent majority” of people on both sides whose top priority is to live in peace and security. I urge you to visit the Hand in Hand website to see how this quiet miracle has functioned for the past decade and consider the many ways people can work toward peace.