Anissa Helie talks about LGBTI agenda, organising, and challenges  

In a cozy patio one afternoon with fellow feminists, author and activist Anissa Helie bravely engaged the politically charged terrain of LGBTQI relationships and struggles with state actors, fundamentalist forces, and even themselves and other social movements.

Born in Algeria and raised in the United States, Helie is among the more prominent members of Women Living Under Muslim Laws Network. She is the author of the prize winning essay, “Holy Hatred” and the book, Documenting Women's Rights Violations by Non-State Actors: Activist Strategies from Muslim Communities. Helie has spent more than two decades organising LGBTQI and supporting such groups in countries which ostracise and criminalise homosexuality.

The beginnings of organising
In both writing and practice, Helie constantly emphasises homosexuality as a sexual identity and debunks the notion of it as a Western import. Helie's exposure to LGBTQI began with the organising activities of mostly South Asian men, some of them in the diaspora contexts. She also saw the emergence of lesbian groups from those which were originally meant to bring together LGBTQI. The advent of the internet has been crucial as she supports the budding groups in countries where homosexuality is highly considered a taboo. Among the recent developments in the LGBTQI movements include the formation of Israeli lesbian women who are also asserting the rights of Muslim women in the work place and the greater visibility of LGBTQI in the Lebanese media.

Muslim LGBTQI
Homosexuality is traditionally forbidden in Islam. At present, there are seven countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Nigeria where homosexuality carries the death penalty. But there are also countries with Muslim-dominated populations which have a more liberalised stance on homosexuality.

Nonetheless LGBTQI organising continues in places where homosexuality is criminalised. Helie shared, “Some are organising around HIV-AIDS but actually do sexual orientation. So people can find a way to go around that.” Helie, for one, is working “more on the human rights level” in articulating and asserting sexual rights.

Alternative histories
Aside from organising, the articulation of a sexual identity that is considered culturally strange and malignant also draws impetus from retrospective analysis of culture itself. During the afternoon conversation, Helie read an excerpt from a medical treaty in pre-industrial Iraq, describing lesbians: “They are also women who are more intelligent than the others, and have difficulty submitting to men.”

Alternative histories and empowering narratives on homosexuality are also being explored in the Qu'ran and other referential texts which document ancient perspectives and practices. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is among that interests LGBTQI scholars. Anecdotes culled from the histories of Muslim countries also have the potential in re-narrativisation. One of these speaks of the execution of a Khalif who is said to be the first homosexual.

“There is an Indonesian feminist who made a public statement that 'God created homosexuality and therefore there should not be any repression. There are also accounts saying that homosexuals are recognised in the main kingdom. So people go back to culture to also debunk that homosexuality is a cultural import,” Helie explained.

Critical conjectures and disjunctures
While LGBTQI movements are defining their terrain of struggles, the movements' disjuncture from the larger social movements including feminism has been widely noted and felt. Helie agreed that LGBTQI movements have been seen as a threat that can potentially dilute the agenda of other social movements. “There are a lot of feminists who don't want to have anything to do with homosexuals. People are having difficulty in taking a stand on sexuality. It is really a negotiated alliance,” she said.

But for Helie, these theoretical and practical disjunctures are a matter of history redux. She recalled the uncertainty of the human rights movements in relation to the feminist movements 30 years ago.

Towards sexual rights
The fear of other movements in actively joining LGBTQI struggles and carrying LGBTQI agenda is indeed a challenge. While there is no “blanket strategy” in consolidating social movements, Helie has found sexual rights potentially unifying. A myriad of organisations and networks have been working on reproductive rights, HIV-AIDS, VAW including female genital mutilation and other issues. There are also scholars and activists who are immersed in the study of identity. For Helie, these activities boil down to sexual rights which can be a basis of building stronger alliances.

“People are working on sexual rights all this time but they have not identified [them] as sexual rights. This is a way of bringing together different takes on sexuality.” Helie expressed.

Held on 24 May 2008 at Bahay ni Isis, “Salivate or Celibate: An Afternoon Conversation with Anissa Helie” was jointly organised by Isis International and the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights.