"Gay Travels in the Muslim World" is a series of essays and memoirs written by gay men from the west of their experiences and encounters in countries where Islam is the dominant cultural paradigm. The stories run the gamut from tame observations to more explicit sexual liaisons. They are poignant, humorous, sobering. And what they illustrate is the myth that homosexuality is not a part of Islamic societies.
My dear friend K., did a stint with the Peace Corps in Morocco in 2000-2001. He has lots of stories and was never without an opportunity for a "play date". And what the tales in this collection confirm is that for men in the Muslim world, sex with other men is just that, a play date. And as long as they marry and maintain their obligations to family and tribe, it's quite possible to live an unencumbered duplicitous life.
And so when Muslim leaders assert that there are no homosexuals in this country or that, what they are actually saying is that men don't leave their tribes to live exclusively with other men in a manner that expects let alone would ever demand respectability. Those men are at best ostracized and relegated to live in urban shadows as lepers, or are simply eliminated as in the resent spate of hangings in Iran or the lashings and long prison sentences in Egypt.
And what is there to fear? The book is interesting and because of the nature of its contents, very easy to pick up and put down having read a piece or two without worrying about getting back to it quickly.
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