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Kuwait overturns law criminalising ‘imitation of opposite sex’

Kuwait is in the news again but for the first time in a long time, it’s actually for good news. Yesterday the constitutional court overturned a law that criminalized “imitation of the opposite sex” which was used to prosecute transgender people.

Back in 2007, the National Assembly voted to amend Article 198 of the law to criminalize “indecent” gestures in public and imitation of the opposite sex. Other than the fact the law was deeply discriminatory, it was also overly vague and should never have been accepted into law in the first place according to Amnesty International.

With the way things have been going recently, I’m personally surprised the law was overturned so I guess there is hope.

Update: Commenting has been closed

53 replies on “Kuwait overturns law criminalising ‘imitation of opposite sex’”

The reasoning behind it is because ‘Imitation of the opposite sex’ is considered a “disorder” here and you cannot punish people due to their “disorder”

https://www.alqabas.com/article/5876080-المحكمة-الدستورية-تقضي-بعدم-دستورية-المادة-التي-تجرم-التشبه-بالجنس-الآخر-في-قانون-الجزاء

This could set a dangerous precedent where people commit indecent acts or crimes even and get away with it by feigning a mental disorder.
Something that we’ve already been seeing too

why not? What’s it to you if someone wants to wear a t-shirt today, or a pair of jeans, a jacket, a dress, or whatever? Do you also want to tell me what I should wear every morning? Just mind your own business and let everyone live their life the way they want and you just focus on yours.

By Post Author

Well I really don’t care to debate you, because I don’t really care to change your mind. However, the most important aspect that you are missing about the ruling is that it is in no way legalizing transsexuality. The high court ruling stated that the law was too vague. It will be rewritten (already in the process) to avoid any ambiguity on the matter. There won’t be transvestites walking around the Avenues as the OP stated.

No one mentioned anything about legalizing transsexuality but at least now you’re not gonna be arrested just because the cop thinks a girl looks too boyish or a guy looks too femmanine which is what was happening.

By Post Author

If only more people understood this concept, the world would be a better place. Mind your own business if they’re not causing you harm.

Certain actions are forbidden and some of those forbidden actions require countermeasures set up by society. An example in the west would be public nudity, and obviously you didn’t object to western governments ban of nudity.

Even if you define it doesn’t mean everyone will just be like ok and agree to it. Even in the US they’re still figuring shit out and they’re decades ahead of us in this subject.

By Post Author

Moral and ethical standards which the US nations espouses aren’t necessarily the same set of standards by which all nations need to govern themselves by.

What even defines which moral code makes the most sense for humanity to follow? The level of economic development? In order of priorities, I think poorer countries have bigger fish to fry (e.g. the hunger problem, malnourishment) than worrying about freedom of gender expression or adopting gender pronouns in order to be polite or “politically correct”.

That’s the problem when rules (aka right from wrong) is extracted from thin air (aka subjective morality) and the USA will never figure it out.

In Kuwait the religion of this country is Islam as stated in the constitution, which is objective and and defined. Where God says what’s right from wrong.

And ofcourse some people may disagree with me and don’t want Islam, but would next ask them why.

Because as Kuwait is an Islamic country as stated in the constitution. Such country with defined moral values ,Such as public modesty, must inforce its laws in its lands

Most of our laws are secular in nature aside from family law where islam is a major source of the legislation. So yes, sure enforce the constitution including the article below.

So no, Kuwait is not an “islamic country” it is a “muslim” country yes, but these words differ drastically.

Article 29 “The people are peers in human dignity and have, in the eyes of the Law, equal public
rights and obligations. There shall be made no differentiation among them because
of gender, origin, language or religion”

Also, the argument that secular morality is derived from “the air” is uninformed at best. For instance, the “golden rule” existed thousands of years ago. Secular morality is what outlawed slavery; I wonder what you have to say about that? Would it have been outlawed without secularism?

Also – the objectivity of scripture differs from one sect to another, even one group within the same sect to another. So that isn’t true, it is not objective, or else we wouldn’t have different courts and laws applied on different sects in family courts. Neither would we have different political organizations from the same sect representing different understanding of the scripture.

The year is 2047, pedos, incests, public sex – is all legalized! What line indeed my friend, what line. Let’s all be animals (which we are anyways!) and celebrate and bask in the glory of a hypersexed world where sexual orientations and identity is the pavement to a new world order! Hell, you wouldn’t be asked your name anymore, you’d be asked what kind of thing do you like to fuck?

Seriously tho, why does anything matter more than my egotistical self? As long as my identity is respected and celebrated, I can finally live 0.001% better. Because you know, I’m a nobody who craves for attention and the only way to achieve that is by looking queer and gay! Why just to things behind closed doors? Let the public all know it and love it! In secret, I’m just a nazi in a different regime 😉

(if this comment doesn’t make it, Mark, then I’m sure there’s a line to be drawn)

It’s 2022 and cousin marriages are still allowed in some countries and in other countries, the age a person can get married in can be as low as 15, what do you say to these things?

Well, there are things that are clearly wrong like child marriages because we can all agree that kids at age 18 or below aren’t mentally fit to decide who they want to live with and be legally tied to, for life. Cousin marriages are fine if both are fully grown adults and there’s mutual consent involved. Why care about what two grown ups want to do together? These issues are very different from letting people wear what they want. Where I would draw the line is if people show up completely nude in public places (with the exception of beaches) because that’s unhygienic.

“Clearly wrong” is your opinion and not necessarily “all”. Do not decide for others.

Also, why would you want to draw a line for people who wishes to show up completely nude in public spaces for some absurd reasoning ? How exactly are you different from those who wishes to draw a line on how men/women should dress ? Now it isn’t as simple as you thought it was, huh.

“Love everyone and everything”; Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic philosophical world is taking the world by storm. A world where vice becomes virtue, and vice versa. Because “do what thou wilt” is the whole of the law. The elite powers are extending this fallacious ideology to the masses and indoctrinating the sheep while the world looks on with eyes wide shut.

Let people wear what they want to wear.

I get it we live in a conservative Islamic country that has rules concerning decency and we must all abide by them and accept them. So as long as what a person is wearing in public does not cross those lines of public decency in the country that they live in; let him or her wear what they want !!

Cmon people, let’s get real here; When Harry Stiles wears a dress he gets on the front page of Vogue but If a regular guy does it they get labeled either a Bisexual, Homosexual, or a Transexual?? really ??

This actually surprised me. Literally the first good “news” that I’ve seen in Kuwait in a while!

Also to everyone who’s so concerned about seeing cross dressers in malls, what is it to you? I find your clothes inappropriate. Do you see how relative that is from person to person?

No expert here, but I’m sure the Quran doesn’t say ” Wearing clothes of the opposite gender is haram”

When was the last time you read a Quran ?

you are one of those guys who takes selfies in bikinis, and ADMIRE yourself !

Good job Kuwait! Way to go… i hope kuwait would focus also on educating these homophobias who make comments here.

Homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) – first edition, published in 1952, before gay rights activists lobbied against the definition, and only in 1973 was declassified; since then, the lobby has grown a lot more powerful and it’s pretty much become a norm, after being ridiculed and stigmatized for eons. Strange world we live in isn’t it? Lobby hard for anything and it’ll become mainstream…who knows where humanity’s going next at this rate, with the gender blurring agenda.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_DSM

It’s called progress and growth. Slavery was the norm until it was abolished and they used to think mental illness was a form of infection so they used to cut out various organs where they used to think mental illness could be located. If you want to compare things that are normal today but used to be ridiculed and stigmatized for eons then we can pull up a ton of shit from the history books.

By Post Author

See, this is where it gets murky. What defines progress or growth? Everyone’s own set of personal biases and ethnic/cultural views largely form this. The way a local society organizes or regulates itself should stay within the confines of that group. Slavery is inherently wrong and we can all see that, because it strips humans of dignity and civil liberties, most would wholeheartedly agree today. You can’t simply lump homosexuality in the same category simply because a minority contingent of the populace consider themselves as being victims of their own society’s cultural/sociopolitical leanings.

Your argument doesn’t make sense and not sure where to begin. We can all see slavery is wrong today because it’s been over 100 years since it was abolished. Do you think the majority saw slavery as a bad thing back then? Secondly what does being a minority have to do with this? So because they’re a minority group we shouldn’t care?

By Post Author

We’ll just go round in circles with this argument because we both clearly each have our own set of beliefs/biases framing our views of what “progress” is. One individual’s very definition of what constitutes progress might be another’s stagnation. I don’t view gender permeability laws as being particularly progressive, but I do believe that the abolition of slavery is. To even begin to compare the two is folly IMO. But you obviously beg to differ. So let’s just leave it at that and call it a day ☺️

Sorry, but if you’re still in the mindset of homosexuality being a mental illness then you need to wake up. Homosexuality was found to natural among many different species in studies which you can look up.

Also – why the hell do you care??? If two consenting adults are in a some kind of relationship and are not harming anyone, why bother yourself on going into their business? Just get on with your day and move along.

Between this and the comment section about Death on the Nile, people should stop watching social media and read more books instead 😓

Dear Mark,

We follow your blog for your wonderful exposition of activities we can do in Kuwait, the interesting history of the nation, amongst other things.

However, let me be frank, there’s no way to sugar coat it, we’re not interested in your personal political views, especially if they’re based on ethical views that clash with our country’s culture and values.

No worries, if you don’t want to live in a democratic society where people are free to state their opinions then you can always leave and move to Afghanistan or something, nobody is forcing you to stay here.

By Post Author

Telling a citizen to leave his country wow new low even for you. Well since democracy is based on the rule of the majority and in Kuwait where the constitution partly stems from Islamic Sharia Law people who supports immorality may find themselves more comfortable in Canada hey I hear they are so liberal they even issued a law legalizing bestiality.

Just because he’s Kuwaiti doesn’t mean he is forced to live here or stuck here forever. Like everyone else, if he doesn’t like living here he can also leave and live somewhere else. Not sure why you find that freedom insulting.

By Post Author

@Tariq How would you feel if you were not allowed to write this comment and express your disapproval on Mark’s political views? He could easily delete this comment if he wanted to. Having this freedom to express applies to everyone. So if you aren’t interested in any future posts, just ignore them.

I just lost so many brain cells after reading those negative comments. Is your life really that boring that you find the time and energy to judge what others wear and do with their own life?

I think most people were okay with tolerance and acceptance of the fringe until it was given the pinky. After which it turned into a f-ing monster and bit off the the whole arm. I was okay with it too because i thought it was in good faith–live and let live sort of speak. But many ppl in the west are beginning to realise (too late) that tolerance is now equivalent to submission and obedience to “the message”. When ppl are pushing to make this poop the norm and indoctrinate future generations with this mental illness, that’s when you know you’ve f-ed up. This is a slippery slope that should not be tolerated. What u do in your bedroom is your own business and dressing up like a peacock when you are a pigeon is very much telling the world about your sexual orientation. The next thing is changing the language and with it changing text books and curriculum (i know this first-hand). Many international schools wishing to get accreditation from international (western) agencies are already struggling to think of ways to try to implement this or try to dodge this bullet, which is impossible (they have been planning for it since 2016). And Mark, since YOU brought up the idea of relocation (a kind of gtfo) to another country with “better” political norms, how about you, a Canadian Lebanese who grew up and lives in Kuwait, who has probably never set a foot in Canada (you very seldom do in reality, we all know) go back to the ultra liberal nonsense that Canada is turning into? I’m sorry, is Canada not good enough? Well hey, you have your Armenian Lebanese in California… You’ve been to the Valley havent you? You’d fit right in. With that said, California is turning out just right, as we all know.

I know that was out of line and I’m a piece of Sh** for it. I apologise. I love your blog (i have started every day with it since 2008) and agree with most things that you say. But in all honesty, unless you have a dog in this fight (discussion) this matter should really not be discussed on this platform. I am surprised this hasn’t been reported yet.

Seriously dude, wtf are u doing?

This is probably not the typical example of cross-dressing that people have a problem with. I very much doubt that anyone would bet an eye if they saw a man with long hair or a woman with short hair.