Four gay men,
some of them transvestites, were arrested on October 23 in
a park of the Jordanian capital city of Amman, the gay
French magazine Tetu recently reported.
The military
governor of Amman, Saad Manasir is waging a campaign
against the LGBT community, according to the magazine. On
several occasions he has expressed his desire to put
an end to the "propagation of
depravation" by using tactics of repression.
According to
Al-Ghad, a daily Jordanian paper that keeps strong
ties with the monarchic power, the four men had been placed
in solitary confinement in order to avoid the
"spread of contagious sexual diseases"
within its penitentiary institution. Al-Ghad also suggests
that the four be submitted to a psychiatric exam in
order to find out what might have caused their
"sexual anomaly." The paper supports the
repression campaign until "morale" is
reestablished.
Homosexuality has
been legal in the Jordanian kingdom since 1951, but the
mainly Muslim population usually shows virulent opposition
against it. No civil rights legislation exists to
protect LGBTs in the country, and the local LGBT
associations are weak when they even exist. (Thibault
Chareton, The Advocate)
