After a Big Legal Victory for Tunisia’s LGBTQ Community, the Real Fight Begins

By: Nathan Matsko

Bellefonte —Tunisia’s LGBT community is celebrating after a landmark legal victory. Association Shams, an LGBT advocacy group, was granted legal protection last month by Tunisia’s highest court, the Court of Cassation.

This follows a string of legal battles between the organization and the government of the North African nation. The organization has been suspended in the past after the government argued that Shams did not file for legal registration and is violating the nation’s Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) laws.

“The decision will allow our organization to fund activities and community efforts,” says Mounir Baatour, President of Association Shams. Other than founding Tunisia’s first LGBT advocacy group in Tunisia, Baatour is the leader of the Tunisian Liberal Party and was the country’s first openly gay presidential candidate when he launched his campaign last year. “It will also encourage members of the community to stand up and fight for their rights.”

Homosexuality is a crime in Tunisia, punishable by up to three years in prison. “Our goal is to decriminalize Homosexuality,” says Baatour. “We want LGBT people to be able to live in peace, just like heterosexual people do.”

Though this recent victory is a step towards progress, it is a battle that is unlikely to end in the near future. The struggle for LGBT rights faces many challenges, including those who oppose the decriminalization of homosexuality. Baatour cites leaders of various religions in Tunisia as some of the biggest opponents of the movement.

*Map of Tunisia. Photo by Wikimedia Commons*

“They are always condemning homosexuality. There are some who have said that the coronavirus is a punishment because of those who do not discriminate against them.”

The Tunisian government has a history of subjecting gay men to significant discrimination. Human Rights Watch has detailed several cases of abuse carried out against the LGBT community. Men who are suspected of being gay are sometimes harassed, arrested, and jailed by authorities. Police use a practice known as “anal testing”, in which a rectal examination takes place to determine whether or not a man is homosexual. Though the country promised to end these tests in 2017, it has not made any substantial efforts to halt the practice.

Besides this violating practice, other privacy abuses are commonplace. As mentioned previously, men are arrested for being accused or suspected of being gay, and authorities search homes and personal correspondences without any sort of warrant.

Male victims of sexual assault are particularly vulnerable in Tunisia. There have been several cases in which rape victims are charged with sodomy, and little effort is made to find and charge the assailant.

Screen Shot 2020-03-22 at 10.34.19 AM.png

Anti-gay sentiment can be prevalent amongst the Tunisian population as well. LGBT individuals are regularly targeted for harassment and death threats. After one particular controversy in which the Vice President of Association Shams appeared on a Tunisian talk show and criticized homophobic comments made by Tunisian actor Ahmed Landolsi, several businesses in the country’s capital Tunis posted signs in their windows barring homosexuals from entering.

Association Shams has been quick to criticize most of these attacks, but they are not immune to them either. Shams Rad, an LGBT internet radio project launched by Association Shams, has received a torrent of violent threats since its inception in late 2017. Mounir Baatour himself left Tunisia for France earlier this year after he was informed of credible threats on his life.

These threats, as well as the overarching risk of arrest or harassment, pose a huge problem to LGBT Tunisians. Mounir is confident that this most recent legal win is an important step towards the decriminalization of homosexuality, and the general societal and legal acceptance of LGBT people altogether.

Though some, like actor Ahmed Landolsi, are quick to label homosexuality as an illness that needs to be cured, Mounir doesn’t hesitate to condemn their statements.

Mounir poses a question: “If homosexuality is a sickness, then why are homosexuals being put in jail?”

“I ask the government to look for a cure. If they manage to find one, they deserve a Nobel Peace Prize,” he adds.