The Myth of the Queer Arab Life
EVOLVING 04.02.16 6:01 AM ET The Myth of the Queer Arab Life http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/02/the-myth-of-the-queer-arab-life.html?via=desktop&source=facebook For most people in the West life in the A rab world for gay people is hard to fathom. It is, like many other parts of life in this region, complicated. One of my favorite television shows growing up was a Ramadan special featuring an Egyptian performer called Sherihan. One year she had a Ramadan special called ‘ Sherihan Around the World ’, a twenty-minute singing and dancing extravaganza, which had her dressing in exquisite costumes from around the world and performing elaborate song and dance routines. Sherihan was a woman, but she was the best drag queen I had ever seen: camp, self-aware, and fabulous. She had planted in me, without my knowledge, the first seeds of my own gay identity. Twelve years later, when I was living in Amman, my boyfriend broke up with me. I was becoming too ope
