Middle East Madness.
Elton John was going to be playing a private concert in Egypt on 18th May, I say, was, he's not now, oh no, the musician's union have seen to that!
Yes, Egypt's musician's union on Sunday rejected plans for our Elton John to do a private concert because of his 'controversial remarks attacking religions.'
"How do we allow a gay, who wants to ban religions, claimed that the prophet Eissa (Jesus) was gay and calls for Middle Eastern countries to allow gays to have sexual freedom" Said the head of the Egyptian Musician Union, Mounir al-Wasimi.
The singer got into a little trouble with the religious right and Arabic countries after making some rather controversial remarks, in US celebrity gossip and news mag Parade back in February, back then he said "Try being a gay woman in the Middle East - you're as good as dead" and that was after saying he believed Jesus was 'gay'.
Al-Wasimi told a German news agency that he'd begun coordinating with security bodies to ban John's concert, saying that the union is the only body 'authorized to allow performances by foreign singers in Egypt.'
Homosexuality is still a taboo subject in parts of Egypt, and whilst it's not technically illegal as such, the authorities have cracked down heavily on gays in recent years. Since 2000 the Egyptian government began raiding private parties, arresting the guests and charging them with various laws, including violating the "Public Order & Public Morals" code. They have also arrested many Egyptian gay men after they accessed gay websites or chat rooms. In 2004 according to Middle Eastern news, a 17 year old university student was arrested after he posted a profile of himself on a gay dating website. He was accused of offences to the public good, the honor of society, and a contempt to moral principles and social tradition, and according to local media was sentence to 17 years imprisonment with two of those to be served doing hard labour!
Jason Shaw
A daily slice of life from Jason at www.seafrontdiary.com
© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw
No comments:
Post a Comment