The practice of taking young boys to perform as dancers at private parties is known as bacha bazi (literally, “boy for play”) and is an Afghan tradition with very deep roots. Under Taliban rule, it was banned, but it has crept back and is now widespread, flourishing also in the cities, including the capital, Kabul,
Afghanistan is a crossroads between the East and the West, and has been an ancient focal point of trade and migration. During its long history, the land has seen various invaders and conquerors as well as local tribes invading the surrounding regions to form their own empires. In 1919 it regained full independence from the United Kingdom. Since the late 1970s Afghanistan has suffered continuous and brutal civil war in addition to foreign interventions such as the 1979 Soviet invasion and the recent 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Overt homosexuality and cross-dressing have been serious crimes and became capital crimes in the 1990s. (In secret it’s different.) Regime change has made no difference in the legal status of LGBT people. Also see: Islam and Homosexuality
Name: Afghanistan
Population: 22720000
Capital: Kabul - Pop. 3000000
Area: 652090 sq. km/ sq. miles
Language: Dari (Persian) and Pashto
Religion: Muslim
Status of Homosexuality: Illegal
Telephone Country Code: 93
Afghanistan Atrocity
Gays Are Not the Only Targets of Persecution in Afghanistan. “It was the beginning of an Afghan love story that flouted dominant traditions of arranged marriages and close family scrutiny, a romance between two teenagers of different ethnicities that tested a village’s tolerance for more modern whims of the heart. The results were delivered with
Let the Taliban Have Afghanistan
Westhampton, MA – September 5, 2009 Richard Ammon – GlobalGayz.com Let the Taliban have Afghanistan! They want a place to rule with primitive Sharia law so let them have that poor wretched patch so they can suppress people and move back in time—and in the process destroy the poppy crops and stop the warlords from
Gay Afghanistan, After the Taliban. Homosexuality as Tradition
Introduction: With the fall of the Taliban government and its inhumane restrictions on normal life (including homosexual favoritism), old sexual traditions have re-surfaced as Afghanistan rebuilds its shattered culture.
Gay Afghanistan: Homoeroticism Among Kabul’s Warriors
Afghan men skating along the edges of gay life Last fall (2004) I found myself in Afghanistan, a nation at the center of the upheaval and change roiling the world. There I found Afghan men skating along the edges of gay life. I’ve had a curiosity about Afghanistan since childhood that began with the 1979