Pakistan

Fakhir works at an IT company in Islamabad. For security reasons, he only wants to reveal his first name. He’s part of the team behind Pakistan’s first website for LGBT people.

“We’ve been through a lot. We know how it is growing up in a society like Pakistan with practically no support whatsoever. The main idea is to create a website to provide a platform for people like us... to show them they’re not alone. And within a couple of days we got a good response from different parts of the country.”

The website “Queer Pakistan” was launched last month and already has 8,000 registered members.

They can write blogs, share ideas or sign up for private counselling with an expert.

More than half of the members are gay men, between the ages of 19 to 40.

“They’re all people living in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Some are Muslims, some are Christians and some even Atheists. Yet we come together for the same cause, to begin the movement to take what’s ours,” says Fakhir.

In a conservative society like Pakistan, LGBT people are seen as a “curse” on society.

Religious leaders, like Mufti Munibur Rehman, say the government must ban the website.

“It’s the government’s duty to control them. The government should ban this sinful website and society must boycott it.”

In Pakistan, homosexuality is seen as going against Islam and therefore outlawed. 

Under the country’s Penal Code, engaging in what it refers to as “intercourse against the order of nature” could result in a jail sentence of up to 10 years or even the death penalty.

And the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has the power to shut down “offensive” websites.

Despite all this, the LGBT community does exist in Pakistan.

Last year, the Pakistani ambassador to the UN wrote to the UN Human Rights Council saying that LGBT rights have “nothing to do with basic human rights”.

So there’s a long way to go before sexuality can be discussed openly, says human rights activist Farzana Bari.

“If some people want to create a space for LGBT, we should let them do that. But it’s not easy. It’s still a taboo especially in a society like Pakistan.”

28-year-old Ali was fired from his job at a bank when his employers found out he was gay.

But he’s happy now that he can find new friends through the website.

“It’s great that we have a place to meet like-minded people. It doesn’t matter that it’s only virtually. We can make plans for parties, meeting... at least we know that we’re not alone.”

And Fakhir has big dreams for the website.

“We’re looking forward to pushing into a cyber world and causing ripples that will engage others and bring about a big change.”