LGBT in Afghanistan
| LGBT rights in Afghanistan | |
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| Same-sex sexual activity legal? | Illegal: Islamic Sharia Law is applied (Republic of Afghanistan) |
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Penalty:
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Maximum Penalty of Death (Republic of Afghanistan) |
| Family rights | |
| Recognition of relationships |
No recognition of same-sex relationships (Republic of Afghanistan) |
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Restrictions:
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Same-sex marriage banned since 1971 (Republic of Afghanistan) |
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) persons in Afghanistan face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.
Afghanistan's population is over 99% Muslim, and the country's Constitution stipulates that Islam shall be the official religion. Homosexuality and cross-dressing are widely seen as taboo and indecent activities, owing to traditional Islamic mores concerning appropriate gender roles and sexual conduct.
When publicly discussed, homosexuality is often linked with prostitution and pedophilia and the level of awareness about sexual orientation or gender identity is limited. In 2011, Afghan news reporters interviewed men who had LGBT-pride symbols on their vehicles, to find out that the men were unaware of the meaning of the rainbow flags and stickers, thinking that it was just another western fad, and began quickly removing the rainbows to avoid being seen as a LGBT person or as supporter of LGBT rights.
The US Marine Corps' handbook for Operational Culture for Deploying Personnel (May 2009) states that "homosexual behavior is relatively common, but taboo, in rural Afghanistan, because there no other outlets for normal sexual energies.[sic]"
In 2012, Nemat Sadat, a former professor of political science at American University of Afghanistan, mobilized a LGBT movement and on August 22, 2013, he became the first public figure to come out as gay and campaign for gender freedom and sexual liberation. Sadat is considered to have broken the taboos on crossdressing and homosexuality in Afghanistan.
Despite the negative social attitudes and legal prohibitions, there is an institutionalized form of bisexuality within Afghan culture. This occurs when boys are kidnapped to act as sexual slaves for adult men, typically in a militia, or when an adult man buys sexual favors from young boys with money or gifts. These activities are tolerated within Afghan culture because they are not perceived as being an expression of an LGBT-identity, but rather an expression of male power and dominance; as the boy in these situations is forced to assume the "female" role in the relationship.
Militia members generally do not have access to women, and so boys are sometimes kidnapped to be humiliated and raped by adult men. Other boys become prostitutes for adult men, regardless of their sexual orientation.
These men involved are sometimes called bacha baz in Persian and seem to flourish in the big cities of Afghanistan, possibly due to poverty and the strict social taboos surrounding interaction between men and women. A law has been enacted prohibiting Afghan soldiers from having their "ashna" live with them.
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Wikipedia