Although the law isn’t generally enforced, it is still used to persecute LGBTQ people.
The Kataeb Party, a right-wing Christian Democratic party, has vowed to decriminalise gay sex should they win the country’s next general election in May. The party announced the plan during a televised broadcast.
During the broadcast, the party set out a 131-step plan they’d put in place, which included scrapping the current laws. As it stands, article 354 of the Lebanese penal code prohibits sexual relations that are “contradicting the laws of nature.” The law in punishable by up to a year in jail.
Although numerous courts across the country have said that gay sex doesn’t violate the law, some police forces still use it as an excuse to persecute LGBTQ people.
Speaking to Gay Star News, Georges Azzi, the executive director of the Arab Foundation for Freedom and Equality said that the broadcast was “big.”
“We have been pushing for parties to publicly support the LGBTI community for a long time.
“We have had closed door promises. But this is the first time politicians have publicly supported us.”
Azzi continued, saying: “If it’s not ordered from the government to arrest people based on sexuality, police still have the right to arrest people.
“It’s the law. And the police can use it however they like it.
“We need the highest judiciary to send a message to not use the Penal Code to attack the LGBTI community,” he finished.
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However, even if the Kataeb Party don’t win the next election, there is another route to take to decriminalise gay sex in the country. Last year, Judge Rabih Maalouf said that “homosexuality is a personal choice and not a punishable offence.”
Support for the LGBTQ community in Lebanon among the citizens is middling. A 2015 report titled “As Long As They Stay Away: Exploring Lebanese Attitudes Towards Sexuality and Gender Identities” examined the attitudes of 1,200 people.
It found that just over 75% of respondents didn’t think it’d be beneficial to society to regard homosexuality as normal, and only a third thought that homosexuality was a normal part of society. It also found that over half of the respondents thought that homosexuality should be illegal. However, only 30% thought that it should be punishable by a jail term. The full report can be read here.
In response to other reports around the issue, Azzi said: “We’re going in the right direction.
“We’re hopeful something positive will happen. We need politicians to say this law is not relevant to the LGBTI community or remove it completely.
“This election is where we have a chance. We’re very hopeful.”
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