A Pakistani man who attempted to open the country’s first homosexual club after returning from the UK has been admitted to a mental facility.
The man, who was not recognised, applied to establish the club in Abbottabad, a conservative city in the country’s north that is home to roughly 240 million people, according to the Telegraph.
In an application to city officials, the man stated that the proposed club, which would have balled Lorenzo, would be 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.”
In Pakistan, however, gay s*x is illegal and punishable by up to two years in prison.
Furthermore, living openly gay can be challenging in a strongly traditional country. On May 9, the man was sent to Peshawar’s Sarhad Hospital for Psychiatric Diseases.
He received a lot of criticism for his application from both local inhabitants and lawmakers.
The leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) party, a conservative religious group in the region, stated that the applicant who attempted to establish the club had recently returned from a trip to the United Kingdom.
One local MP from the far-right Pakistan Awami Tehreek party said he would have drenched the club with petrol and set it on fire, while the party’s head, Naseer Khan Nazir, warned of ‘very terrible consequences’ if the club was permitted to be built.
His colleagues, who were not identified, said they were concerned for his well-being and had been barred from visiting him or obtaining any information about him.
“Everyone is afraid that talking about it will put them in danger,” one said.
“I do not know about his well-being for many days’ they said, adding that they had ‘tried to find out about him a couple of times but without success.”
Before he was sent to the mental hospital, he told the paper: “I talk about human rights and I want everyone’s human rights to be defended.”
“I have started the struggle for the rights of the most neglected community in Pakistan and I will raise my voice in every forum,” he said.
“If the authorities refuse, then I will approach the court and I hope that like the Indian court, the Pakistani court will rule in favour of gay people.”
His application indicates that there would have been ‘no gay (or non-gay) intercourse (other than kissing)’ at the club.
The application added: “A clearly visible notice on the wall would warn: no s*x on-premises. This would mean that no legal constraints (even obsolete ones like [anti-sodomy] PPC section 377) would be flouted on the premises.”
A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.