Sarah Hegazy: A Champion for LGBTQ+ Rights in the Arab World

posted on: Jul 9, 2020

By: Laila Shadid/Arab America Contributing Writer

It is illegal to be gay in 71 countries—12 of them are in the Arab World.

On June 13, Egyptian LGBTQ+ activist Sarah Hegazy committed suicide at 30-years-old. Three years earlier, Hegazy attended a Mashrou’ Leila concert in Cairo, the lead singer of which is openly gay. With a smile on her face, she waved a rainbow flag—a symbol of pride recognized across the world.

Shortly after, Hegazy was arrested by Egyptian officials along with 70 other concertgoers. This crackdown directly targeted LGBTQ+ citizens.

Hegazy was charged with “promoting sexual deviancy and debauchery” and spent three months in jail, where she was sexually assaulted and tortured for her sexual orientation. Hegazy detailed her experience in 2018 through a piece titled, “A year after the rainbow flag controversy.”

“I was tortured with electricity. They threatened to harm my mother if I spoke about it to anyone,” she wrote. “Electrocuting me was not enough. The men of the Sayeda Zeinab police station also incited the women being held there to sexually assault me, physically and verbally.”

Officers placed Hegazy in solitary confinement, and did not once allow her time outside.

“I lost my ability to make eye contact with people,” she added.

Hegazy described her interrogation at State Security Prosecution to be “a demonstration in ignorance.”

“My interrogator asked me to provide evidence that the World Health Organization does not consider homosexuality to be a disease.”

She continued, “My interrogator’s questions were naive—he asked me whether communism was the same as homosexuality. He asked me, sarcastically, what was keeping homosexuals from having sex with children and animals.”

Until her death, Hegazy suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks.

“I became afraid of everyone,” she wrote. “Even after my release, I was still afraid of everyone, of my family and of friends and of the street. Fear took the lead.”

Hegazy spent the rest of her life exiled in Toronto, Canada, and after a long struggle, took her own life.

She spoke of the homophobic culture embedded in Egyptian society, perpetuated by the ideals of Islam.

“The regime uses its tools—such as the media, and mosques—to tell Egyptian society, which is understood to be “religious by nature”: We too protect religion and social morality, so there is no need for Islamists to compete with us!” Hegazy wrote.

CNN reported that soon after her death, messages of condolence were followed by messages of hate. One comment read, “She is not worthy of His Mercy,” referring to God.

Hegazy’s death sheds light on the homophobia that plagues the Arab World. Although countries such as Lebanon provide somewhat of a haven for the LGBTQ+ community, they are alone in their tolerance. Saudi Arabia, for example, can punish homosexuality by death.

We must not let Hegazy die in vain.

We must educate ourselves and our peers on the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community. We must have necessary conversations with our aunts, uncles, parents, cousins, and siblings. And most importantly, we must hold our Arab communities and countries to a higher standard, because that is the greatest act of love.

To Sarah: Thank you for your words, your passion, and your pride.

In her final note, she wrote:

“To my siblings, I tried to survive and I failed. Forgive me. To my friends, experiences have been cruel and I’m too weak to resist. Forgive me.

“To the world, you have been extremely cruel, but I forgive.”

.

Check out our blog here!