The rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBTQT+ community. (Credit: AFP/File)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi issued a letter Friday evening to General Security and Internal Security Forces (ISF) ordering them to ban an LGBTQ+ event scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at the Royal Tulip Hotel in Achrafieh.
The order came "after news about a group in Achrafieh planning to 'stop' the event."
The Minister cited in this context a risk of "security incidents," but underlined that the decision comes in accordance with a previous decision to stop events that "advocate homosexuality."
In the letter issued Friday, Mawlawi also ordered the ISF to "take the necessary security measures to prevent gatherings on the streets that are linked to homosexuality in order to avoid any security conflicts."
This past June, Mawlawi asked the ISF "to take the necessary measures to prevent the holding of any celebration, meeting or gathering whose purpose is to promote" LGBTQ+ awareness.
That same month, a pro-queer rights demonstration scheduled to take place in front of the headquarters of the Interior Ministry in Beirut was postponed due to "threats," according to its organizers.
Prior to that protest, an Achrafieh-based Christian group calling itself the "Soldiers of God" posted a video of its members tearing apart a billboard in which the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag was formed with flowers in Achrafieh.
June is the LGBTQ+’s community’s pride month, during which the community typically organizes a variety of events aimed at celebrating and promoting its place in society.
Earlier this week, the State Council temporarily suspended the ban on LGBTQ+ gatherings called for by Mawlawi.