Nada Al-Ahdal: The people dying of hunger, disease and war is taken for granted, but a person declaring his homosexuality or exercising his freedom… is a crime
a young Yemeni man #Gay (opens in a new tab) who spent his youth hiding his orientation and then, in Cairo, declared his homosexuality with great courage and began to appear openly with it in public and on Facebook pages. He was a musician with songs sung in his beautiful voice, then worked in theatre performances and artistic works, and has lately been working in make-up, very beautifully.
I would like to explain something to the Yemeni public in particular: homosexuality is something new to a conservative society in Yemen, a society that does not even know the female herself, who is a man's mother, sister and aunts, because of customs and traditions that have confined society to hiding a woman's identity even within the home. She has become invisible to the naked eye, so thoroughly are her features and her personality hidden by the hijab, the face veil and the long coat, and she is regarded as something shameful and a disgrace in whom every evil quality is embodied, because she is female.
And suddenly there appears before them #MohanadAlRudaini (opens in a new tab) with courage and with all his orientation, and then explains to society that he was created this way, at a time when society has not accepted the existence of the female as a legal person with a social standing who is considered half of society, and has not accepted her hair or her opinions being seen, as happens to me personally or to Tujan Al-Bukhaiti (opens in a new tab) or even to women human rights activists outside Yemen,
But I would like to explain something important to society: they need to open their minds a little and take note that science has proven that homosexuals do not suffer from any disease; they were simply created this way, and homosexuality exists in various other animals,
and that not accepting homosexuals means objecting to God in His creation and insulting Him by saying that He creates things that do not please you, as if you were disputing with God over His choices and His creatures so that He would create human beings according to your own wishes, your own whims and your own opinions; exalted is God, glory be to Him, far above that.
And let me remind you of heads of state who were, and still are to this moment, homosexual
denotes heads of government currently in office
denotes sub-national heads of government currently in office (opens in a new tab)
Others
It should be borne in mind that this list includes only politicians who were openly gay during part or all of their time in office. It does not include politicians who were not open about their homosexuality while in office, those who came out after retiring from office, or those whose homosexuality was revealed against their will only after their death, among them:
- William II (opens in a new tab): King of the Netherlands (opens in a new tab) between 1840 and 1849, who headed the government between 1848 and 1849 under the 1848 revisions of the Dutch constitution. Archives and books indicate that he was either gay (opens in a new tab) or bisexual (opens in a new tab), and that he was blackmailed because of it.[6] (opens in a new tab)[7] (opens in a new tab)[8] (opens in a new tab)[9] (opens in a new tab)
- Don Dunstan (opens in a new tab): Premier of South Australia (opens in a new tab) twice: first between 1967 and 1968, and second between 1970 and 1979. Although Dunstan did not comment publicly on his sexual orientation, it was said that he “lived as a sexually liberated bisexual”.[10] (opens in a new tab)
- Richard Hatfield (opens in a new tab): Premier of the province of New Brunswick (opens in a new tab) in Canada between 1970 and 1987. He did not disclose his homosexuality publicly during his lifetime, but it was revealed against his will after his death.[11] (opens in a new tab)[12] (opens in a new tab)[13] (opens in a new tab)
- Jerónimo Saavedra (opens in a new tab): President of the Canary Islands (opens in a new tab) in Spain twice: first from 1982 to 1987, and second from 1991 to 1993. He came out as gay in 2000. [14] (opens in a new tab)[15] (opens in a new tab)[16] (opens in a new tab)[17] (opens in a new tab)[18] (opens in a new tab)
- Canaan Banana (opens in a new tab): President of Zimbabwe (opens in a new tab) between 1980 and 1987. Despite his denial, it was revealed against his will that he was either gay (opens in a new tab) or bisexual (opens in a new tab) in 1997. Despite his denial, and after a trial that received wide media coverage, he was convicted in 1998 of 11 charges of sodomy and “unnatural acts”, for which he was imprisoned for 6 months.
