When considering places to vacation, to be honest, visiting a predominantly Muslim nation makes me think twice. Are we safe there, will we be safe, is our love illegal? It was the same thought I had before I went to the Bahamas and why I do not consider traveling to Jamaica. Safety should be a variable that is considered when planning travel.
A recent post on IslamandHomosexuality.com shares with us five Muslim countries where being LGBT is not a crime. The common thread with these nations is that they were never part of the British Colonies. Are the writers pointing a finger at the Queen of all queens for altering the other Muslim nations? Maybe. They state that colonial laws are more harmful than the updated penal codes, post European control.
Even if a nation does not outlaw LGBT love, we do recommend studying up on the amount of hate that may exist in the nation without legal backing. Here are the 5 Muslim Nations Where Gay is Legal
1. MALI
Gays in this African nation might face local homophobia, but the law is on their side. In 2010, a Malian volunteer for the Peace Corps wrote that she looked up the laws dealing with sexuality, and saw that Article 179 of the Malian penal code did not specify heterosexual or homosexual sexual activities, but instead decried public indecency. She said that she was relieved because most “countries in Africa, 38 to be exact, have laws against homosexuality and some with the death penalty.”
2. JORDAN
Jordan was under the Ottoman Empire, where homosexuality was decriminalized 75 years earlier, but between 1922 and 1945 the country was a subject mandated by the League of Nations. However, in 1951 the new nation made homosexuality legal. “Jordan is considered an open minded country, and when coming to cities, the tolerance is even higher,” said the editor of My.Kali, a gay magazine that is based in the capital, talking to the Italian-based e-Zine Il Grande Colibri. “And considering the fact that it’s an Islamic country, the morality of the culture could be a huge pressure to many people to remain discreet, but it never stopped many of my friends and other LGBTQ people to come out and show who they are,” he added.
3. INDONESIA
In Indonesia being gay has been legal since, well, forever. No, really, the country never had any legal prohibitions against homosexuality, at least since its founding as a nation. Further, the country has the longest running LGBT organizations in Asia. Despite having the largest Muslim population, Indonesia has remained a great example of the importance of the separation of religion and state. On the other hand, Singapore (non-Muslim) and Malaysia (Muslim), who are neighbors to Indonesia, have laws that make it illegal to be gay. The later two have both been colonized by the British Empire.
4. TURKEY
In 1858, the Ottoman Caliph decriminalized homosexuality. This affected many countries in three continents. When Turkey became a solo nation in 1920, it didn’t see a need to change this law. Omer Akpinar, who is with KAOS LG, which is one of the largest LGBT organizations in Turkey, told Mashable that their organization was never censored. Jack Scott, a British writer who moved to Turkey with his partner and who is the author of Perking the Pansies: Jack and Liam Move to Turkey, said his “obvious union with Liam has never attracted bad publicity from any Turk,” talking to the real estate company Quest Turkey.
5. ALBANIA
Being gay has been legal in Albania since 1995. This pre-dominantly Muslim nation has been in the forefront of gay rights in the Balkans. In 2013, ILGA Europe said that the country was the friendliest nation to the gays in the area, as it has a welcoming government and an anti-discrimination law. Kristi Pinderi, who is with the LGBT organization Pink Embassy, says that the anti-discrimination law is “important because in theory a teacher, for example, who is transgender, and decides to go and teach wearing a dress, I can’t imagine what the reaction would be, but the law protects that need, if there is a need like that,” talking to the organization International Day Against Homophobia. – islamand homosexuality.com
There are more nations than the five mentioned above that do not criminalize homosexuality and have a large Mislim population "Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Niger, Northern Cyprus, Palestine, and Tajikistan" are also mentioned.
No matter where we travel, even in the most inviting cities may it be in US, UK, Canada, Spain, Italy, where ever, we always need to be cautious, but it is good to know where we are legally okay to love one another.
This article is incredibly
This article is incredibly inaccurate. Several of these countries are VERY dangerous for openly gay people. What a ludicrous an FALSE article.
Thanks Greg for your opinion.
Thanks Greg for your opinion.
It's dangerous to be gay in most of the world.
What was stated about these countries were the fact that being gay in was NOT ILLEGAL in those predominantly Muslim nations.
Your claims of ludicrous and false seem a little strong and misguided.
Y’all are welcome to Jordan :
Y'all are welcome to Jordan 🙂 we know how to be a great host regardless to your sexual orientation
Hey there,
Hey there,
I look forward for that, can you please send me your email.
still waiting
still waiting
Correct me if I’m wrong.
Correct me if I'm wrong. Before European intervention in the Middle East many of those countries while having Islam as their religion they weren't really that religious. Iran before the revolution wasn't that religious and was more westernised. Women and LGBThad had it better in those days. Those countries radicalised later, partly European intervetion's responsability.
Visit ISRAEL instead. much
Visit ISRAEL instead. much more beautiful & interesting country; with lots of history and perfect beaches (& hot guys). And of course, very gay-freidnly.
Sorry. I don’t visit nations
Sorry. I don't visit nations with apartheid-like governments.
I could not agree more.Â
I could not agree more.
Allen:
Allen:
Sorry, but there is no "apartheid" in Israel. How can Israel be even close to apartheid when Arab Palestinians service as members of Parliament, supreme court justices, military officers, leaders in big business ,etc? In South Africa, the majority of the population could not vote. In Israel, all citizens may vote – whether Jewish, Arab or whatever…. Israel is a DEMOCRATIC state of all of its citizens. You obviously do not think about what you read.
JJ
There is apartheid in Israel. Although there are Israeli Arabs in Parliament, they have far fewer rights than Israeli Jews. Palestinians do not have Israeli citizenship and are forced off the land on which they have lived for centuries. Israel uses water from Palestinian’s homes to irrigate their farms.
Homosexuality is legal in the Muslim majority countries mentioned here. I wish the Media would mention that. Homosexuality is legal in Israel but would be illegal there if Ultra Orthodox Jews ruled the country and women would have fewer rights than men and would have to sit at the back of public buses and wear dresses below knee-length.