Middle East LGBTQ emerges as a litmus test for limits of Saudi reforms
Saudi Arabia has turned LGBTQ rights into a litmus test for the limits of social reforms by sending mixed messages.
In line with broad-based official and popular rejection of gender diversity and fluidity in the kingdom and across the Muslim World, the Saudi General Commission for Audiovisual Media this week announced that a new, highly-acclaimed Spider-Man movie would not be shown in the country’s cinemas.
The United Arab Emirates also removed ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,’ from its release schedule. The decision called into question a UAE announcement in 2021 that it ended cinematic censorship.
Like Saudi Arabia, the UAE banned Lightyear, a Disney and Pixar animated production last year, because of a same-sex kiss scene. It also barred Disney’s Doctor Strange in the Universe of Madness, in which one character refers to her “two mums.”
Also last year, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) accused the US streaming giant Netflix of showing content that “contradicts Islamic values.” The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain.
The Saudi decision to ban the sequel to the 2018 film ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,’ takes on added significance because it follows a startling announcement six weeks earlier by the Saudi Tourism Authority that LGBTQ tourists would be welcome in the kingdom.
“We don’t ask anyone to disclose personal details and never have. Everyone is welcome to visit our country,” the authority said in its tourism website’s Frequently Asked Questions section.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has made tourism a pillar of his Vision 2030 plan to turn Saudi Arabia into a cutting-edge 21st-century state, diversify the kingdom’s economy, and reduce its dependence on oil exports.
A schedule of penalties for violations of public decency published by the tourism website lists fines rather than the far harsher consequences on Saudi legal books for ‘indecent behaviour, including acts of a sexual nature” and the wearing of “improper clothing,“ including garb with “obscene images or symbols.”
Saudi Arabia’s Sharia-based code criminalises same-sex sexual activity and transgender expression. Although not applied recently, the law provides maximum death penalties.
Saudi authorities last year conducted “rainbow raids” on shops selling children’s toys and accessories…
