Gay Guide Tunisia

According to article 230, homosexuality is illegal in Tunisia and can be punished with up to three years of imprisonment. Compared to other Muslim countries, convictions of homosexuals are less frequent, but the figures for recent years are still alarming: while 56 people were convicted in 2016, 126 were convicted in 2018. At the beginning of 2019, one case caused international attention: A young student who reported rape by two men who allegedly robbed him of his possessions was finally sentenced to eight months' imprisonment for homosexual acts. Even tourists are not safe from the law, so be careful, especially when it comes to sex for sale: nasty blackmail attempts could be the consequence. In a TV interview in 2012, the Tunisian Minister of Human Rights rejected the demand for the abolition of article 230 - on the grounds that freedom of expression had its limits and "perverse" homosexuals needed medical treatment. Homosexuals are subject to severe discrimination and physical violence in the country. But there is progress: in 2015 the first official LGBT organisation in the country, Association Shams, was founded, which among other things advocates the legalisation of homosexual acts. Since 2018, the capital Tunis has hosted the annual "Mawjoudi Queer Film Festival". And in June 2018, a commission appointed personally by President Béji Caïd Essebsi called for social reform - including the decriminalisation of homosexual acts. But thousands took to the streets to demonstrate against it. There are special meeting places in every major city where homosexuals can feel relatively safe, but an open LGBT scene is in vain.