Kuwait: Government to consider screening tests to block gays from entering country

Proposal to be discussed in November, report says

A Gulf News report says Kuwait will look into a proposal to use tests, already employed to screen expatriates entering Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, to identify gay people in a bid to bar them from entry.

According to a health ministry official, a committee will meet in November to discuss the proposal aimed at adopting more stringent protocols to “detect gays,” who will be prevented from entering Kuwait and the five other GCC countries (Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia).

The report notes that Kuwait’s censors blocked the screening of an Egyptian film in 2010 because it featured a lesbian storyline among other taboo themes.

Gulf News also notes that in 2011, Bahraini authorities arrested more than 100 people from other Gulf states, the majority of whom were reportedly gay, for holding a party that was described as “depraved and decadent.”

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

Keep Reading

The new generation of gay Conservative sellouts

OPINION: Melissa Lantsman’s and Eric Duncan’s refusals to call out their party’s transphobia is a betrayal of the LGBTQ2S+ community

Over 300 anti-LGBTQ2S+ bills have been introduced this year. This doesn’t mean we should panic

OPINION: While it’s important to watch out for threats, not all threats are created equally. Some of these bills will die a natural death

Xtra’s top LGBTQ2S+ stories of the year

The best and brightest—even most bewildering—stories from a back catalogue brimming with insight

Elon Musk and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton are suing Media Matters. Here’s why queer and trans people should care

OPINION: When politicians and the rich leverage the power of the state to quell dissent, we all lose