In the news

Hope the bull is OK 😑

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/26/collapse-of-bullfight-stands-in-colombia-leave-4-dead-dozens-wounded

Last paragraph is encouraging… but I don’t imagine that bull got off lightly.

You’d hope she’s being quoted out of context

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You’d hope she’s being quoted out of context

The quotation is totally consistent with how they have pitched the policy. It is a bit sick that they are using migrants' lives / safety as a "gotcha" for the media. Puerile stuff like "what's wrong with Rwanda? Some of my best friends are Rwandan"

I think it rather misses the point (unless I've missed the UK HO giving asylum to Swedish, Australian and American refugees?)

This is about the location of the "processing centre" rather than the origin of the refugees, no?

Its about deporting somebody who is usually coming to the UK to follow family or friends or to use their language skills to a country on another continent with a questionable human rights record and a recent history of murdering political opponents where they have no ties or way back to their home or other suitable location for settlement..

Qatar spokesperson:

"whoever lift the LGBTQ flag in the world cup, will be arrested for 7
or 11 years, we're here in an Islamic country you should respect our
religion, beliefs and culture."

https://twitter.com/kunafa_says/status/1540734650867322880

Never read the replies....uuurgh twitter is just a toxic shitpipe.

Is this legit?
What would it take for fans and pro footballers to boycott the games?

Is this legit?

Apparently it's 2 days old, and we've heard nothing about it - I'm suggesting no.

This is about the location of the "processing centre" rather than the origin of the refugees, no?

The Rwandan processing centre is also where the refugees are granted asylum/refuge.

We (the UK) have granted asylum (in recent years) to 100% of applicants from Rwanda.

This is in contrast to e.g. Stockholm.

Is this legit?

I don't think it is. This is the closest I managed to find, from the Egyptian press.

Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Chairman of the National Counter-Terrorism Committee of the Ministry of Interior and the supervisor of the security of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Abdul Aziz Abdullah al-Ansari, spoke earlier about homosexuals who plan to attend the World Cup matches in Qatar.

Ansari said in press statements that everyone was welcome in Qatar and to attend the World Cup matches.

Ansari said homosexuals should not raise their flag or promote for homosexuality for their protection.

Ansari insisted that gay football fans in Qatar would be welcome to attend the World Cup, but refused to provide protection to them, saying that people on the street could attack a fan if they showed homosexual manifestations.

This basically aligns with what I understand Qatar's general position is. I.e Gay people are welcome to visit as long as they they keep their sexuality completely under wraps and obey the blanket no signs of affection in public policy. I.e no hand holding, kissing etc.

Although weirdly, while a man and a woman would not usually hug in public in Qatar, there is nothing to stop two men hugging. Just as long as its not a gay hug I guess. :D

And come to think of it, whenever I'm in the UAE I noticed a lot of hand holding between men. Its just not seen as a remotely sexual thing.

We (the UK) have granted asylum (in recent years) to 100% of applicants from Rwanda. This is in contrast to e.g. Stockholm.

I didn't know that - it's interesting but I think I am missing the relevance to what @jaw posted. What I was trying to say is that I didn't think Priti had been particularly taken out of context and the quote lines up with her thinking on the issue (which is the "no you're the racist" gotcha).

I.e no hand holding, kissing etc.

Isn't hand holding of men quite common in the Arabic world, and actually affection in general? That's been my experience. It's nice. Weirdly the west has the connotation that two men kissing or holding hands would make them homosexual rather than just expressing friendship or platonic love.

Old but relevant: https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/01/weekinreview/why-arab-men-hold-hands.html

Isn't hand holding of men quite common in the Arabic world, and actually affection in general? That's been my experience. It's nice. Weirdly the west has the connotation that two men kissing or holding hands would make them homosexual rather than just expressing friendship or platonic love.

Thats definitely what I've seen but had never looked it up. Interesting isn't it? Something really nice about men being able to express their affection for each other physically without feeling self conscious. Unless they're gay of course, in which case, off to prison you go it seems.

It's more complicated than that. Some cultures have a similar hypocritical homophobia/misogyny/women-as-chattels culture to Ancient Greece (which was absolutely not a haven for gay men). With women a restricted "commodity", with an almost exclusively male public social culture, with platonic male relationships lionised and unspoken but widely understood rules about what is permissible, what isn't, in the less platonic relationships.

Back when the Taleban were conquering Afghanistan the first time, there were some interesting articles to read about relationships between Taleban fighters. One detail I remember is that there was a fashion for wearing plastic sandals that were slightly too small for the feet, because the way the straps dug into the flesh was considered attractive. And they weren't wearing them to attract women.

There’s a vice documentary about this iirc

This article is also worth a read about the topic.
https://thediplomat.com/2016/06/afghanistans-love-hate-relationship-with-homosexuality/

Interesting read, thanks for posting

No Good Men Among The Living by Anand Gopal is an excellent book about the various Afghan wars and the normalised sexual abuse and exploitation of boys by powerful men crops up quite a bit.

Theres also a yputube docu from 2005 on bacha boys
https://youtu.be/B7eMUwkKiFY

Met Police placed in "Special Measures"

https://twitter.com/theousherwood/status/1541793100057792513

I saw that in Kabul...men holding hands in the cinema queue.