A Pakistani man who sought to establish the country’s first gay club, aiming to advocate for the “most neglected community,” has been sent to a mental hospital, according to a report.
The man, whose identity remains undisclosed, initially applied to the deputy commissioner (DC) to open a gay club in Abbottabad, a conservative city where terrorist Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.
In his application, he proposed that the club, provisionally named ‘Lorenzo Gay Club,’ would serve as a “great convenience and resource for many homosexual, bisexual, and even some heterosexual people residing in Abbottabad in particular, and in other parts of the country in general,” as reported by The Telegraph.
Gay sex is illegal in Pakistan and is punishable by up to two years in prison
Gay sex is illegal in Pakistan and is punishable by up to two years in prison. Although these laws are rarely enforced, the conservative religious culture in Pakistan has created significant challenges for those wishing to be openly homosexual, the outlet revealed.
The application also stated that the envisioned gay club would prohibit “gay (or non-gay) sex (other than kissing).” A notice on the wall would caution against “sex on-premises,” the application mentioned.
“This would mean that no legal constraints (even obsolete ones like [anti-sodomy] PPC section 377) would be flouted on the premises,” it added. Before he was sent to a mental hospital in Peshawar, the man told the news outlet, “I talk about human rights and I want everyone’s human rights to be defended.” He insisted that he would demand a written response from officials if his petition was rejected. He claimed to have initiated the “struggle for the rights of the most neglected community in Pakistan” and vowed to continue advocating in every forum available.
“If the authorities refuse, then I will approach the court, and I hope that like the Indian court, the Pakistani court will rule in favor of gay people,” The Telegraph quoted him as saying. The DC office in Abbottabad confirmed receipt of the application and stated that it was being reviewed like any other proposal. However, the man’s efforts were thwarted after his application leaked on social media, inciting outrage among local residents and politicians in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.