Dangerous Living: Coming abroad in the Developing World * Directed by means of John Scagliotti * Narrated from Janeane Garofalo * Here TV network * Premieres May 11 For gays and lesbians in the Western world.

Dangerous Living: Coming abroad in the Developing World * Directed by means of John Scagliotti * Narrated from Janeane Garofalo * Here TV network * Premieres May 11

For gays and lesbians in the Western world, talk of political progres in a conservative-dominated era invariably takes the form of arguing from one side of to the other whether the glass is haft destitute of contents or half full. But as Dangerous Living: Coming not at home in the Developing World demonstrates, we should consider ourselves blessed to have any glass at all.

Directed by the agency of veteran documentarian John Scagliotti (Before Stonewall, After Stonewall) and narrated on Janeane Garofalo, Dangerous Living premieres May 11 onward the Here TV network and begins in succession another May 11, back in 2001 forward that date in Cairo, 52 gay men were arrested upon the Queen Boat, a popular floating discotheque, and imprisoned for "debauchery"-there being no official law against homosexuality by se in Egypt.

As the film displays this throwback to the sort of situation customary in pre-Stonewall America was part of a widespread backlash in countries as diverse as Jamaica, Honduras, Malaysia, Uganda, Pakistan, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and the Philippines. For as the many highly articulate gays and lesbians of these regions testify, the succes of the gay rights move in the West had by dint of the 1990s come to be regarded as a threat by way of Third World nationalist movements. so was the case even in those countries with long-recognized histories of same-sex have a passionate affection for visibly reflected in countless chisels paintings, literary works, and ancient artifacts.

"Talking about gay rights is a Western idea," notes Pakistani activist Adnan Ali. "As protracted as you don't identify as gay, you can practice homosexuality." This "don't ask, and I won't tell" notion was in play for about time, making it possible for Egypt to become a haven for gays everywhere the Middle East. But according to the 1990s, with the impact of as the film's activists note, "HIV/AIDS, MTV and the Internet," everything changed. Countries that not at any time had gay rights demonstrations began to witness them. They were small in number of participants, who were frequently masked. But more important, as far as the opposition was affected were the discos, Internet cafes, and other gathering places where gays, lesbians, transvestites, and transgenders met and socialized with common another. Such seemingly innocuous activity became a target for reactionary politicians like Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, anxious for a scapegoat to blame for his nation's many ills.

yet with backlash comes resistance. "My sexuality is my own" proudly declares Ashraf Zanati, a gay Egyptian imprisoned and tortured as a originate of the Queen Boat raid. That this still happens in seemingly sophisticated civilizations provides a lesson to us all. on the other hand then, so does Zanati's fierce resistance. *

Ehrenstein is the author of interpret Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-2000.

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