The unholy consensus: The Taliban and some civil rights activists share the same worldview toward LGBTQ+ rights in Afghanistan
Like all humans, I had no role in determining my place of birth, sexual orientation, or gender. Since the day I openly declared my identity and orientation as LGBTQ+, I have endured hatred from my family and society. In the traditional view of many societies around the world, there are only two genders: male and female. Members of the LGBTQ+ community are persecuted for their identity in many nations, although the intensity of this oppression seems much higher in Afghanistan, where LGBTQ+ people are not seen as equal human beings to the rest of society. They are viewed as “sick,” “sinful,” “prostitutes,” or even as pedophiles. Those beliefs lead to dehumanization and, ultimately, the suppression and elimination of Afghanistan’s LGBTQ+ community. The roots of this hatred and bigotry can be found in traditional culture and religious beliefs regarding gender and sexual orientation.
However, the subject of this article is not the social-historical suppression of the LGBTQ+ community but rather an examination of the anti-progressive attitudes of intellectuals and those who present themselves as human rights defenders in their respective international platforms and speak of equality. Yet, when it comes to discussing the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, many of them are not even willing to sit at the same table with members of this community. I have a question for them: Why? Aren’t they human beings?
Many of these activists do not consider themselves religious and claim to be intellectuals. However, when it comes to issues related to gender, particularly the LGBTQ+ community, those same activists either remain silent in the face of Taliban’s exclusionary policies and behaviours toward this community or align themselves with clerics and the Taliban who deem the suppression and elimination of members of this community desirable. Unfortunately, it appears that most of these so-called intellectuals and human rights defenders do not know of the research conducted in the field of gender. Talking about LGBTQ+ rights in Afghanistan is not a lesser taboo than discussing sex or gender-related issues. For this reason, it is rare to find intellectuals and human rights defenders who are willing to set aside their misconceptions and become true defenders of human rights with awareness and commitment.
This ignorance and inclination towards suppressing those deemed to be “others” lead them to openly commit verbal or physical violence against LGBTQ+ individuals and activists. Here, I recount two of my own encounters with civil activists and women’s rights defenders from Afghanistan.
A few months ago, I was invited to a conference on Afghanistan in Germany. I thought it was an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with some women’s rights activists from Afghanistan. Although I knew some of them from afar, I followed them via their social media activities. When I entered the conference venue, I immediately noticed that my presence was met with sneering smiles and condemning looks by those women’s rights activists. None of those activists from Afghanistan wanted to talk to me. At first, I thought they didn’t know me, so I decided to approach them and introduce myself. Then, a women’s rights activists, whom I highly respected, looked at me and said, “Now even the fagots, izaks [a derogatory term for LGBTI members in Afghanistan] and queers have become bold.” Others followed her mocking and angry tone: “Now izaks also want rights in Afghanistan! We don’t have such humans in our country, and we don’t accept them as one of us.” Their insulting and aggressive words felt like a whip on my body and mind. My smile dried up, and I felt sorry and embarrassed for them; I had never expected such words and behaviour from them. I remembered one night when the Taliban stopped me at a checkpoint and lashed me for wearing Western trousers. I eventually forgot the burning pain of Taliban lashes, but the words of this women’s rights activist still haunt me months later.
I tried to control myself after receiving such insulting behaviour and remarks. However, my mental state was such that one of the foreign hosts noticed what had occurred and asked the activist from Afghanistan to leave the hall. Yet, no other of the women’s rights activists showed any discomfort at her insults. Indeed, some just watched with smirks and approving glances.
I couldn’t bear the situation and left the conference. I realized that people like me still have no place among those who shamelessly present themselves as human rights and women’s rights activists.
The second experience occurred during my participation in a protest organized by activists against the Taliban in Germany. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community from Afghanistan who had been persecuted and silenced for years and whose identity and orientation are considered crimes in Afghanistan, I eagerly participated in these protests. Unfortunately, as soon as some protesters saw the LGBTQ+ pride flag on my clothes, they violently expelled me from the protest, saying, “Fagots and izaks have no place among us.”
We know that hatred and prejudice against the LGBTQ+ community are deeply rooted in the minds of many of our compatriots and our general culture. But the most basic expectation of human and women rights activists is that they elevate their awareness and knowledge, think beyond the Taliban’s narrow perspective on human rights and citizenship, and speak and act accordingly.
If a women’s rights defender who herself is subject to Taliban oppression due to her identity cannot see me as a deserving human with rights of my own, can we hope to build a society based on any semblance of equality? I don’t think a culture that seeks human rights for one or two specific social groups can ever progress toward development, peace, and prosperity.
My expectation from human rights defenders, especially women’s rights defenders, is that we stand together and fight for our human rights and citizenship. At a time when the Taliban seeks to suppress and eliminate us, we must unite in a strong fortress to fight for our common rights and interests and demand human rights and citizenship for all.
In summary, as an LGBTQ+ individual and an activist, I am not only oppressed by the Taliban and other religious fundamentalists, but I am also threatened, mistreated, subjected to violence, and suppressed by other civil activists and human rights activists. They include activists who talk about gender apartheid in Afghanistan and demand the world’s solidarity with women, yet do not speak up for LGBTQ+ rights. In practice, they accept or even actively pursue the suppression, expulsion, and elimination of our community.
Just like the Taliban, they do not accept that there is no community called LGBTQ+; if individuals claim different sexual orientations from the two official genders of male and female, they are considered “sick” or “sinful,” and therefore they need treatment, correction, or punishment. They only advocate for human rights for two genders, male and female, and because LGBTQ+ individuals are condemned to ostracism and erasure because they do not fit into this categorization.
To be clear, my point is that if a women’s rights defender cannot accept my identity and does not see me as deserving of human rights, how can we expect the Taliban to recognize and respect the human rights of our LGBTQ+ community? In the same vein, if human rights defenders and women’s rights activists cannot recognize the human rights of everyone in the rainbow community and fight alongside us for equality, how can we expect the Taliban to recognize and respect the human rights of the rainbow community?
I emphasize that LGBTQ+ rights are human rights, and speaking up for and defending the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and its members is an honour, not a shame. Despite all the pain and suffering I have endured due to my sexual identity and belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, I am proud of my identity. I will continue my struggle to achieve equal rights for all humans in Afghanistan, even if some of those same individuals continue to deny our existence and act aggressively toward me and us.
Ali Tawakoli is a LGBTQ+ rights activist who is the founder of the Rainbow Organization in Afghanistan.
