Saudi Arabia Seeks Death Penalty for" Coming Out"

Saudi executions

As heinous as North Carolina's new anti-LGBT law is, it pales in comparison to the utterly vile efforts going on in putative American ally, Saudi Arabia, a consistent violator of human rights.  North Carolina Republicans seek to strip LGBT citizens of their civil rights.  In Saudi Arabia, the royal family and their sycophants want to deprive LGBT individuals of their very lies if they admit reality and "come out."  It goes without saying that, in my view, if anyone deserves execution, it is the Saudi royals and the Islamic fundamentalist clerics that they help fund.  The Washington Blade looks at this disturbing situation which is yet further proof that America needs to seriously rethink its support for such a foul regime and the religious extremists that it nurtures.  Here are highlights:

A published report indicates that people who come out online in Saudi Arabia could face the death penalty.

Oraz, a Saudi newspaper, reported on Saturday that prosecutors in the city of Jiddah have proposed the penalty in response to dozens of cases they have prosecuted over the last six months. These include 35 people who received prison sentences for sodomy.

Okaz reported that Jiddah authorities have prosecuted 50 cases in which men allegedly dressed as women. A doctor who lives in the port city on the Red Sea has been released on bail after officials arrested him for allegedly raising an LGBT Pride flag over his home.

A gay Saudi man who lives outside the kingdom told the Washington Blade on Monday during a telephone interview the enhanced penalties that Jiddah prosecutors have proposed would apply to the entire country. The man, who operates a Twitter account that publishes LGBT-specific news and other information from Saudi Arabia, said the proposal has caused fear among LGBT people in the country.

Social media users in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere have begun to use the hashtag “You will not terrorize me. I’m gay” on Twitter to express their opposition to the proposed penalty.

Saudi Arabia is among the countries in which consensual same-sex sexual activity remains punishable by death.

 The source, who asked the Blade not to publish their name because of safety concerns, said reports that Jiddah authorities are seeking the death penalty against those who come out online highlights “the horrific reality of the situation” in the country.

“We can’t do a thing about it, but try to make some noise so activists from other countries would hear about it and talk to their politicians to pressure Saudi to change its policies,” said the source. “The Internet is the only safe haven to LGBT individuals in the Middle East. If this is taken from us, we won’t have anywhere else to go.”

Write you Senator and Congressman and tell them you want America's relationship with Saudi Arabia re-evaluated and American aid to cease.