activist: moroccan assaulters often gay themselves

Source: Nisnews

July 31, 2007: Moroccan gay activist Chafik Gadir believes that much violence by Moroccans against homosexuals stems from repressed homosexual feelings of the perpetrators.

He has set up a foundation for North African youngsters with homosexual feelings.

Gadir thinks that in a population of around 450,000 North Africans in the Netherlands, there are 20,000 to 45,000 people with homosexual or bisexual feelings.

The hurdle of coming out has become even higher, now that Moroccan youths are increasingly often involved in assaults on homosexuals, particularly in Amsterdam, Gadir stated yesterday in newspaper Trouw.

"These are no incidents any more," claims Gadir. "It no longer has anything to do with alcohol, drugs or macho posing. Something else is going on. These boys often deliberately hang around in gay areas, looking for victims. They are jealous if they see two gays openly and happily walking around together. In my view, this is because they are often themselves wrestling with their homosexual feelings. But they know that if they talk about this at home, they will get a beating from their father, brothers or friends. This fear makes them aggressive."

Gadir wants to break through the violence with the slogan 'You are a sissy if you hit a sissy.' As ultimate weapon, he is considering "informing the inhabitants of Morocco how much these boys misbehave themselves in the Netherlands, that they are criminal, how they earn their money. If their families in their original villages hear this, then they no longer believe in these so-called success stories from the Netherlands. Then they will distance themselves from this behaviour."