They were shocked, and out of fear they told him not to talk about it, Taïa recalls, adding that he understood where they were coming from. In Morocco, Taïa explains, because his family is poor, he believed coming out publicly would put his family at risk. He describes his own experience of coming out as dangerous, not only for him but for his family. For me, the worst part of that is that gay people can’t live safely in Morocco - definitely they can’t.”Īnd even though Youssef represents a younger, more open-minded generation of Morocco, Taïa still wouldn’t advise a young gay man to come out in a country where homosexuality is still considered a crime. But in his smaller, coastal town of Agadir, Youssef says, “You won’t see gay people in the streets…. He described a downtown scene in Marrakech, where gay men whom he says are prostitutes come out at night. Youssef*, a 26-year-old man from Agadir, Morocco, who considers himself progressive after completing his education in Paris, shared his perception of the treatment of the gay community in his home country.
It is learning how to “play with society” that determines whether or not you can get away with bei. Cinema always helped him, specifically Egyptian film.Īccording to Taïa, there is an underground gay community in Morocco, even one that is not so discreet. Taïa says he understood that he needed to become smarter than the world that surrounded him, and he started to lie and to manipulate others in order to get by.
