NOTE TO JJ: Is there more space in the closet?

Dear JJ:

I am from the Maldives and thus your South Asian compatriot in the Indian Subcontinent.

Maldives officially proclaims itself as a 100% Islamic nation which is kinda silly because no two humans think alike. Yet this dubious policy persists in the law in the form of the 2008 constitution that states that only Sunni Muslims can claim citizenship. Therefore there is that silly question of the fate of Shia and Sufi Muslims in my so-called paradise. If they lose citizenship automatically, where do they fit in? To which country do they belong to? Is the US willing to accommodate them as refugees?

Needless to say this results in everything stacked against all the minorities such as the LGBTQIA+ community. However, oddly enough, because it's a small population (only 382,000 like Iceland), there's a sense of kinship in the community which could fit a small town in the US and therefore everyone knows what everyone else is doing. There are no private secrets, only public ones.

However, homosexuality still remains a taboo subject that's only discussed among close friends and relatives. It won't make national news unless anyone is caught in the act and indicted and sentenced - like this poor Bangladesh expatriate (https://avas.mv/en/122941) who was convicted of alleged blackmail using "porn" he created by filming himself in homosexual acts with more than 250 high profile Maldivian gay men. Needless to say homosexuality is both a “sin” and a “criminal” act as far as Maldives’ laws are concerned.

There do emerge from time to time the iconoclasts who dare to openly discuss on social media minority rights such as secularism and gay rights. But the mainstream media are unable to break the mold as they fear a backlash from the right wing Conservative Islamic lobby. So they largely practice self-censorship and stick to safe, harmless, and acceptable subjects such as making fun of politicians.

I have a friend who was hounded so much because he openly blogged about Evolution and Big Bang that he was forced to shut down his blog in order to save his sanity.

Another friend had to refrain himself from discussing such sensitive subjects following unrelenting bullying on cyberspace.

And worse, a blogger was brutally stabbed to death and a journalist sympathetic towards Sufi ideals beheaded.

So the issue of minority rights has disappeared from Maldives' social media platforms which is tragic but understandable. Those who openly did fight for such rights have gone silent. Because of the emergence of terror groups, they realized that it's not worth the fight even if left wing Liberal Maldivians support such rights. It's not worth it to face insurmountable odds that are stacked against us.

This is why I feel that secularism is a key factor that will unchain people from the shackles they are in. Without freedom of belief, people will not have the right to demand information of the kind they want.

What is now happening is that the younger generation now do not feel the need to make the non-mainstream the mainstream. They don't feel the need to make Maldives secular because they feel there is more space in the closet.

My younger days were at a time when there was no internet and therefore no information. Hence, I was traumatized by the belief that my homosexuality was unnatural and some kind of test or punishment God made me suffer for reasons not clear to me. I prayed to Him fervently, practically imploring to Him to transform me to a heterosexual but years passed and He practically ignored my prayers which led me to ignore Him in return and embrace my sexual orientation. This was not a difficult transition by then because I already had internet access and was enlightened that homosexuality is not an unforgivable sin but a natural human condition.

Fortunately now, the internet has made our younger generation realize that there's nothing to worry about in their physiology and psychology. So they are happy and do have support networks among their peers. Their friends support their characteristics, such as homosexuality, and they therefore don't feel alienated. They are happy among their friends who accept them just as they are. So for them there's no need to fight anymore because their closet has more room than that exist in the mainstream society.

What little acceptance the queer Maldivians of old had is now been erased with the emergence of the threats from active terror groups. I remember the time when campy and effeminate and cross dressing men openly went on with their lives without a worry and without a fear of backlash. Not any more though. They have been forced back into the closet and I wonder how they are dealing with that now.

Even if there's more room in the closet, there are gay friends who tell me they want to be open about it such as being able to hold hands with their boyfriends while walking on the capital island Male's thoroughfare. Perhaps this is something like the need to share and express themselves.

I publicized my homosexuality sometime back on my social media platforms but that might have been a mistake although it might have something to do with my being feeling alienated because I didn't understand what was going on as far as my sexual orientation was concerned. I wish the internet had come to me earlier, during my formative years.

So things have come a long way and I don't have any issues with youngsters either choosing to remain in the closet or not although if they decide to come out of the closet there's a real danger they could be targeted by terror groups.

Warm regards,
XX Ali