No money, no security… the tax most LGBT people pay – Ain
This article is part of “Spektra 22”, a project dedicated to highlighting sexual, gender and physical differences and differences in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, in which journalists, activists and individuals from the LGBT community or their supporters participate, in order to be a space for the free expression of various topics related to sexual and gender orientations and sexual health, with the aim of breaking taboos and objectively discussing these tricky topics.
At this moment in our world, especially in the Middle East and North Africa region, it is a privilege to have a stable, secure job, with a good salary or even an average salary.
In a world ruled by the price of the dollar and its growth in relation to other currencies of some countries in this region, a person has to work at one or more jobs just to meet their basic needs, but what about the weaker groups, marginalized under this capitalist system?
We deal with the journey of people who belong to the LGBT community, and the burden of their belonging to that community, which prevented them from realizing the most basic economic and practical rights, just because they are queer in a world ruled by sympathizers and heterosexuals.
First flight: King
Malak is a young transgender woman, born in Egypt, she did not complete a university education because she is transgender, and this is the first tax she pays because of her gender identity, in addition to the many jobs she has missed, and she was previously refused even to meet her when employers know that is trans, but the tax on queerness was paid in advance here: denial of education.
The following question arises here: What is the relationship of external appearance or gender identity to the ability to obtain equal opportunities in education that qualifies an individual to join a job that secures his future? Doesn’t this mind in a trans woman’s body deserve a chance just because it’s not a mind in a stereotypical body?
Malak didn’t stop when she was rejected by several educational institutions and turned to practical life, and there again came a collision with the ugly face of the working environment.
In a world ruled by the price of the dollar and its growth in relation to other currencies of some countries in this region, a person has to work at one or more jobs just to meet their basic needs, but what about the weaker groups, marginalized under this capitalist system?
Commenting on this point, Malak told Raseef22: “In 2014, a year after I left the family home, I found an ad for a plastic arts academy announcing the need for a cleaner. About the reasons for my desire to work, I answered him that I need money first, and the place deals with artists, male and female, and I like to draw.” Malak believed that a place like this respects the rights of workers because it deals with art and artists.
And she continued her speech: “Hearing my answer, the director of the Academy stood up and asked me to stand up, so he said: (You have no business with us, dry off a bit, be a man, and take off the crap you carry on your brain), referring to the hat I was wearing.” .
Malak pays the price of coming out as a transgender girl cumulatively, starting with her leaving her family home and announcing her identity as a transgender woman to society at the age of 15, to not getting a college degree, which forced her to work in places that don’t require degrees or allow those under 18. to work, which is not allowed by law in a country like Egypt.
Malak’s atypical appearance was enough to turn her away from any job, and even if she was accepted. Not many weeks passed without her colleagues or supervisor at work discovering her identity, only to be kicked out of the job after verbal abuse.
Malak also said that she was exposed to verbal harassment while doing her job as a worker who transported cartons in the printing house, and when the supervisor of the works heard about the incident, he asked her colleagues to return to finish the job, and called her, saying: ” To-morrow, if you are going to come in these clothes, don’t come, I want men here, no m* * Don’t have a daily diary today,” noting that her daily diary then amounted to only £60, representing her whole day’s food.
Although Malak now works as a freelance writer for some websites that deal with transgender and sexual topics, she has never gotten a job in the private or public sector because of her non-stereotypical identity that poses a security and social threat to those companies, as she described it.
Second trip: fair
Adel is the pseudonym of a gay young man in his early twenties, who struggled with not finding a suitable job after graduating from a prestigious university, and the reason is very simple: “It’s not rough enough”, as one of the employers in the marketing company described him.
Adel writes comic ads that usually don’t see the light outside his room, and never leave it except during his conversations with friends and girlfriends, due to his turning down several jobs during the initial interview, when employers see him, they notice the hole in his ear – even without any earrings – He’s told it’s against company policy, according to what Raseef22 said: “I’m not a confrontational person and I don’t talk about my identity or my preferences clearly, but my appearance has always caused sensitivity, and that’s obviously changed when I was hired, because I started the second series.” from different encounters.
What is the relationship of physical appearance or gender identity to the ability to obtain equal opportunities in education that qualifies an individual to join a job that secures his future? Doesn’t this mind in a trans woman’s body deserve a chance just because it’s not a mind in a stereotypical body?
He added: “I started working quietly, but one day my boss told me that he saw my Twitter account and saw that I was liking (liking) certain posts. I was terrified and I felt like I was frozen in my place and I didn’t know what he was going to tell me.” But the manager did not threaten Adela with expulsion, but started. Sexually blackmailing him, knowing that he is a religious and married man, she starts making sexual offers to Adel: “He showed his admiration for me even before he discovered my Twitter account, but in a discreet way.”
Adel could not leave work because he supported himself, after his father hit him when he told him about his sexual orientation, so he was thrown out of the house.
The manager’s harassment lasted for months, during which Adel delayed agreeing to sex with him with numerous excuses, until the pressures of threats and dismissal from work began, so Adel decided to leave the job without thinking about the consequences of that decision, but that did not prevent the manager from follows him on social networks, which forced Adel to close his Twitter account and open a new account under a pseudonym. He also changed his name on Facebook to escape from the same manager.
Adel is currently looking for an opportunity to emigrate, after he completely lost his ability to work forever due to depression and fear of repeating the mistreatment he was exposed to, and his self-employment relied only on rent insurance.
That’s the price of getting your ears pierced, a few colorful t-shirts, smiling at strangers, an online account and a few likes on a picture of sexy men.
Third journey: Maria
Maryam, a young woman in her thirties, comes from a well-to-do family, graduated from a foreign university abroad, and lived in a place that allowed her to declare herself as a young lesbian. At first, Maryam’s story was one that any lesbian her age would want to experience: a stable job and a prestigious academic degree.
The problem started when Maryam returned to Cairo due to her father’s illness. She was not close enough to her family, but she thought it would be easy for her to get a job in her home country, especially with her experience and studies.
For the first time, Maryam clearly recognized the truth about her family: they forced her to remove the rings she wore on her nose and eyebrows, under pressure from her mother, who told her: “The extra earrings that make you like these devils.”
Being queer, having a non-stereotypical body, with unidentified body parts, even having an undisclosed sexual orientation, can cost you a career in an economy that does not allow you to live in financial security without a job.
After the death of her father, Maryam tried to return to work, but her mother saw no reason to do so because the family was financially well off, so a chain of prohibitions began that led to a complete ban on going out and bargaining for a small expense, due to Maryam’s mother’s suspicions about her behavior , and her dissatisfaction with “shaving her hair and clothes”. Masculinity, I told her.
Maryam tried to apply for a part-time job from home, but was rejected: “I didn’t understand why I wasn’t rejected by email? The call was strange, and the man on the other end told me: (You, our Lord, will curse you until the end of my life), I didn’t understand why? And what does he mean?” Then I found myself posting pictures with the rainbow flag… If I lived in Europe, I would have recorded the call and exposed it, but I was thinking of my family and their reaction.”
Maryam knew she could no longer share her social media accounts and tried again to convince her mother to work as a part-time kindergarten teacher near home, but the kindergarten deemed her unfit to teach.
Maryam was frustrated, since returning from abroad she has no money, no friends, no social life, only a virtual world in which she can express herself and fight against society that does not recognize her abilities and does not want to employ her.
Being queer, having a non-stereotypical body, with unidentified body parts, having even undisclosed preferences can cost you a career in an economy that does not allow you to live in financial security without a job.
This project is in collaboration with Outright Action International.
