Kuwait's gay community wants official recognition for LGBT rights

Al-Hurriya will submit a request with the Kuwaiti authorities to become an official organisation that stands up for the rights of LGBT Kuwaitis.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab

01 August, 2019

A 2007 request by Kuwaiti LGBT organisation al-Huriya for an official permit was rejected [Getty]

Kuwaiti LGBT organisation al-Hurriya has announced it intends to apply for a permit to become an official association this month.

The organisation will submit an official request with the Kuwaiti Ministry of Social Affairs, a representative of al-Hurriya told Kuwaiti newspaper al-Ray.

"Gay people are no different from anyone else and deserve the same rights," the representative said, adding that Kuwait has a sizeable LGBT population.

"We have known figures from various political, artistic and other fields among us."

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The representative called for "the necessary legislative amendments to decriminalise the imitation of the opposite sex, and to enable transsexuals to change their sex in their official papers".

The organisation had previously requested to set up an official LGBT organisation in 2007 but was rejected.

It was their hope at the time to obtain legal protection against prosecution.

Kuwait, along with the United Arab Emirates, is among the few countries in the world that explicitly criminalises gender non-conformity.

Homosexuality is not specifically outlawed in the Gulf country but gay people can be prosecuted under the "debauchery" law.