Closure of Ancient Baths Angers Gays
The Washington
Blade, February 23, 2001
World Briefs
By Will O’Bryan
EGYPT — An order from the ministries of culture and
tourism to close 13 public baths in Cairo has sparked criticism from the city’s
Gay male community, the London Daily Telegraph reported. While the ministries
maintain that the baths some of which are more than 500 years old must be
closed in order to renovate them, the Gay community is charging that the
closures are a crackdown on Gays gathering.
"The government knows these are the only places we have to meet and so
they are trying to restrict us further," the Daily Telegraph quoted a Gay
activist as saying. The report added that government officials have also shut
down Gay-related Egyptian Web sites.
Rather than meeting in bars, Gay men in Cairo traditionally have used the
ancient bath houses, or hamams, as meeting places. While Cairo remains one of
the more socially tolerant cities of the Middle East, Gays are generally not
open about their sexual orientation. Last year, Egyptian police arrested two
men after discovering they had signed a confidential marriage contract
together.
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