Association Shams

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Association Shams ( Arabic جمعية شمس, DMG Ǧamʿiyyat Šams  'Vereinigung ›Sonne‹') is a Tunisian LGBT civil rights organization. The association campaigns for the rights of sexual minorities in Tunisia and against homophobia . The main demand of the organization is the decriminalization of homosexuality through the abolition of article 230.

activities

The association started as an initiative on Facebook and has been the first LGBT civil rights organization to be registered in the Tunisian register of associations since May 18, 2015. The name of the association is an allusion to Shams-e Tabrizi , who is said to have had a love affair with the well-known poet Jalāl ad-Dīn ar-Rūmī .

Since December 2017, the association has been running the Shams Rad internet radio station to bring LGBT issues to the public discourse in Tunisia. In addition to members of the association's board of directors, other activists in Tunisia such as the feminist Amina Tyler have their say.

controversy

The inclusion of the association in the association register sparked a controversy. Another NGO, Association Progression des Jeunes Tunisiens, filed a complaint that the Association Shams' aims were contrary to the penal code. The Mufti of Tunisia , Hamda Saïd , spoke out in favor of the dissolution of the association and condemned homosexuality as an anomaly. When the media and public figures continued to speak out against the association and Shams held a first conference in Tunis in October 2015 , a scandal broke out and a court ruled in December 2015 in the first instance to terminate the association. After the association had been suspended for a month, the complaint that the association submitted was successful and the association has been active again since February 2016.

Members of the board of the association received death threats in the course of the founding of the association and in the course of appearances on Tunisian television or had to flee into exile outside the country. Within the first week of the establishment of the internet radio, 4,000 hate messages and death threats were received by the club.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Roua Khlifi: Controversy in Tunisia over new gay association. In: The Arab Weekly. Retrieved March 22, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b Tunisia's First Queer Radio Station Plays On, Despite Mounting Death Threats. In: Huffington Post. January 4, 2018, accessed March 22, 2019 .
  3. ^ A b Tunisia: Court annuls the suspension of LGBTI organization Shams. In: Front Line Defenders. February 25, 2016, accessed March 22, 2019 .