How vulnerable are gay men in Afghanistan right now?
Anyone who reads the news at present often inevitably comes across harrowing reports from Afghanistan. Again and again, there is talk that especially enemies of the Taliban, women and children have to fear for their lives. However, one population group is always forgotten in the context of these enumerations: homosexual men also seem to be extremely endangered at the moment.
What is the situation like for queers in Afghanistan?
The situation for members of the queer community in Afghanistan is anything but good. Even before the Taliban took power, it was a problem in the country to be homosexual and to live one's sexual orientation freely.
For example, those who were "guilty"ofhomosexual acts could be punished with imprisonment for a period of 15 years.
Now the rules could become even stricter under the Taliban. Because: according to Sharia, homosexuals may even be killed. Even if this possibility has not been used for a long time, this could change now. Because: many people who are currently still in Afghanistan are of the opinion that the rules will be much stricter in many respects in the future.
Reports of Taliban judge's testimony shake not only LGBTQ scene
It is sentences like these that send a cold shiver down the spine of many. In an interview with the BILD newspaper, a Taliban judge is said to have said that homosexual men could only be punished in two ways. Either by stoning or by a falling wall about two and a half to three meters high.
If this type of punishment were enforced, it would be tantamount to a death sentence for many people. In this country, too, many LGBTQ organizations are concerned about how the situation in Afghanistan will develop in the coming days and weeks.
Apparently, the Taliban are still trying to keep up appearances.
The Taliban's own portrayal and the images in the media, including the statements from the above interview, do not seem to match at present.
Many experts believe that the Taliban are just trying to keep up appearances to the outside world so as not to isolate themselves completely. Behind the doors, however, they are murdering and using death lists to search for those who have opposed them over the past two decades and supported the Taliban's enemies accordingly.
However, in the event that the strict regulations of Sharia law are used to the extreme, this means that people may soon die in Afghanistan because they are gay. A simply unbearable thought that, among other things, reminds us of one of the darkest chapters of humanity.
Afghanistan and LGBTQ - a long history
How great the fear of queers must be of being persecuted in Afghanistan because of their sexual orientation was shown, among other things, by an incident from 2018 that made it into the media. At that time, a gay man asked for asylum in Austria because he feared being persecuted in Afghanistan.
The officer in charge explained that he would have to send him back because he was not "homosexual enough". He therefore need not worry about getting into trouble in Afghanistan.
This story alone underlines how multifaceted the problems of queers - not only in a country like Afghanistan - can be. Having to leave one's home country because of one's sexual orientation is one thing. But then to have it insinuated that the reaction to the threats was exaggerated and to be given the justification of not being "gay enough" is likely to have been perceived as discrimination on the most diverse levels and to have reverberated in a terrible way.
The seriousness of the situation in the meantime and the extent to which the situation in Afghanistan has changed within a few days show that action is needed now at the latest and that people's fears are well-founded.
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