Qatari media periodically publish articles harshly critical of homosexuality and the gay community. On June 21, 2020, Na'ima 'Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Mutawa’a, a Qatari journalist and media advisor at Qatar’s foreign ministry, published an article titled "Keep 'Deviant Ideas Away from Your Children," in the Al-Sharq daily, in which she warned that social media and computer games expose children to content that promotes the "unnatural" and "sinful" phenomenon of homosexuality.
This piece is one of several homophobic articles published in Al-Sharq over the past year. In January 2020, the daily published an article about a children’' book that it said promoted the "moral crime" and "sick phenomenon" of homosexuality, and in July 2019 it published an article by journalist Ahmad Al-Muhannadi that likewise exhorted readers to fight this "perversion." Furthermore, in February 2020, the American Northwestern University in Qatar canceled an event that was scheduled to be held on February 4, 2020 with the participation of Mashrou' Leila, a Lebanese indie rock band whose lead singer is openly gay and some of whose songs deal with homosexuality. According to some reports in the Qatari media, the event was cancelled following the intervention of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, headed by Sheikha Moza bint Nassir, the mother of Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Aal Thani, which oversees the foreign universities in the country.[1]
The following are translated excerpts from Na'ima 'Abd Al-Wahhab Al-Mutawa'a's article:[2]
"A grave issue that can already be described as a phenomenon, and which we can no longer keep silent about, is the warm attitude evident on many social networks, especially on Snapchat, towards homosexuality, [which] deviates from the nature Allah bestowed upon males and females, and towards [the phenomenon] we see in our society of young men looking like women and young women looking like men. This phenomenon characterizes the young generation, which has access to all the electronic media that, unfortunately, spread these deviant trends, encourage them and even publish content that supports them. There isn't a single children's computer game that does not include deviant and perverse images of what God forbade according to every religion and [religious] school and of everything that angers God [but is practiced by] the group among which this abomination has spread. [Remember that] God punished the members [of this group] and destroyed their city in the blink of an eye.[3]
"This is an issue that must not be underestimated and must be opposed, especially [when it comes to] protecting our children from these perversions, which take them away from the correct and normal path. For how terrible it is to see your son deviating from the natural [path] towards grave sin, or your daughter deviating from her path and following those who spread and encourage these perverted sights…
"What hurts us even more and causes us to lose sleep is that the filth of those who spread this phenomenon has reached even [the domain of] toys for girls, such as the famous [Barbie] doll, which we always give to our daughters along with all the toy accessories, everything a girl needs in life, such as a house, a bedroom and clothes. They have manufactured a [gender-neutral] doll that can be changed from a girl into a boy in an instant by changing the hair and body, in order to accustom children to this idea…
Gender-neutral dolls by Mattel, maker of Barbie (Image: alaraby.co.uk, September 25, 2019)
"I hope such toys are banned and that we remain aware of what we import for our children. Furthermore, the Communications [Regulatory] Authority should monitor Snapchat and forbid social media to publish information about this deviant group of young people, as well as [their] YouTube videos. Families should also monitor what their children are watching [on the internet]. It would have been best if families stopped giving their children advanced mobile phones and other electronic devices, or [at least] monitored the apps they use. For they are our children, the most precious thing we have, and these things are more dangerous for them than [all] the diseases of this world."
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 8590 - Homophobia In Qatar: Cancellation Of Event With Rock Band Whose Lead Singer Is Gay; Article Against Children's Book 'Promoting Homosexuality' – February 26, 2020; Special Dispatch No. 8211 - Qatari Journalist: We Must Use Any Means To Fight The 'Moral Perversion' Of Homosexuality That Is Spreading In Our Country – August 5,2019.
[2] Al-Sharq (Qatar), June 21, 2020.
[3] A reference to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Quran [54:33-40].
