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fredag 26. september 2008 16:16 |
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 Some families of foreign muslim origin in Norway still believe homosexuality is a disease, and that this "disease" is curable. Others have the idea that homosexuality is a western phenomenon only. In many of the cases, when sons or daughters show sign of having a homosexual orientation, they are sent back to the family´s countries of origin. There, they are put through tortuous treatments that are believed to change their sexual orientation into a heterosexual one. Some of these young people are told by their families that they are going on short holidays, in some cases to a completly different destination that their country of origin. Once abroad, far away from any contact with their norwegian networks or the norwegian system, their identification documents are taken away from them to prevent escape.
Methods such as complete physical isolation, unvolunteer exposure to prolonged religious preaching, obliged religious reading, doubtful "medical" treatments which involve physical and psycological tortuor, and forced marriage are known to be used. Forced heterosexual marrige followed by children procreation is both believed and told to be a "cure" for homosexual orientation. It is also known that young homosexual men, for instance, are sent to military camps and put through hard physical training and muscle building. Ironically, this is believed to help bring heterosexuality "back".
In the worst of the cases, as these methods do not give any of the expected results, some families choose to kill their sons and daughters in order to preserve or win back the family´s honour. This practice is tolerated in many places. Having a homosexual son or daughter is one of the worst social stigmas a family may carry. In addition, and as it is generally known, some islamic states punish homosexuality with death penalty, a practice often justified with theological arguments.
These beliefs and practices are not justifiable neither from a contemporary scientific perspective nor from a Human Rights perspective. Scientifically, it is completly wrong to state that homosexuality is a disease. These practices, in addition to being scientifically unethical, are a complete and serious violation of basic individual human rights.
In Norway, organizations such as the Red Cross, Self Help for inmigrants and refugies (SEIF) and us in Skeiv Verden are aware of these practices and the negative consecuences that they imply and cause queer people. We have followed a few of these cases and there are reasons to believe that these few are just the top of the iceberg. The hermetism, tabu and secrecy around homosexuality and homosexual practices in some inmigrant comunities make the identification, the prevention and the action towards these type of cases extremelly difficult. This problem reprents a huge challenge for both the authorities and the norwegian society in general.
Unfortunatelly this is a reality that some queer people of foreign background in Norway still have to fear and experience today, year 2007.
To follow the media coverage regarding the issue, link to the following articles (in norwegian):
Dagsavisen 17.11.2007: møtes i hemmelighet
Dagsavisen 17.11.2007: Trenger innsikt
Dagsavisen 18.11.2007: Homofile sendes til utlandet til å bli hetero
Dagbladet 18.11.2007: Sendes til utlandet til å bli hetero
Dagsavisen 20.11.2007: UDI jobber med flere homofile ungdommer
iOslo.no 28.11.2007: Vil ikke si nei til dødstraff |
