LGBTQ rights in Tunisia

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Tunisia face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are illegal in the country. According to the United States Department of State's 2018 report on human rights in Tunisia, "authorities occasionally use the anti-sodomy law to detain and question persons about their sexual activities and orientation."

LGBTQ Tunisians face both legal and social discrimination. Reports of family rejection, violence in public spaces, violence within families and suicides are quite common.

History

Background

From the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century, despite facing ongoing stigmatization, gay men managed to have social roles in Tunisia similar to those in the rest of the Arab Muslim world. Specifically, they served as intermediaries between masculine and feminine spaces in wedding celebrations, were invited to men's homes in the presence of their wives, and were permitted to enter women's private spaces in a similar manner to blind people. Homosexual relationships were common in the Tunisian royal court and among the aristocratic families, particularly during the reign of the Hafsid dynasty (1229–1574) when, according to documentation, large numbers of "effeminate" men offered their companionship to court men, presenting themselves as singers and dancers. During the rule of the Husainid dynasty, Bey Muhammad III as-Sadiq was open about his intimate relationship with his vizier Mustapha Ben Ismaïl.

For the middle and poor classes, meetings took place in all possible private and public places, such as bathhouses, barber shops, zawiyas, but especially places accessible to travelers such as fondouks, hammams, and pensions. The traveler Jacques Philippe Laugier de Tassy described in his diary in 1725 that "sodomy is widely practiced among the Turks of Algiers, the Deys, the Beys and the principals give the example".