- Leo Sands
- BBC News
2 hours ago
The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry said it had summoned a prominent US diplomat in protest of a tweet by the US embassy supporting LGBT rights.
US officials there had posted on the Internet the rainbow flag – which is an emblem of the LGBT community – and a message of support from President Joe Biden, on the occasion of the events in June, in honor of the LGBTQ’s gender identities.
However, Kuwaiti officials criticized the embassy for its “support of homosexuality”, and demanded that it not repeat it.
LGBT rights are subject to severe restrictions in Kuwait.
Posted by the US Embassy in Kuwait Tweet in Arabic Thursday’s English includes an excerpt from a statement Biden made saying that all human beings “should be able to live without fear, no matter who they are or who they love.”
The post appeared, marking the beginning of the “month of pride”, accompanied by a picture of the rainbow flag.
And hours later, The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs said She rejected the publication, and summoned the acting US Embassy Chargé d’Affairs, James Hollistider, to hand him a notice of refusal of the publication.
According to its statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered the embassy to respect Kuwaiti laws and “not to publish such tweets.”
Kuwaiti officials also accused the embassy of violating international agreements that require diplomats to “respect the laws and regulations of the receiving country.”
Many conservative Kuwaiti Twitter users reacted angrily to the “pride” post published by the US embassy, including the MP. Osama Al Shaheen Who wrote: “The behavior of the US Embassy is unacceptable.”
He added, “Foreign embassies should respect Kuwait’s public order and its official religion.”
as such Kuwaiti user accused Another posted on a social media site that US officials were “imposing a sick, decadent culture on our conservative Muslim community.”
LGBT rights are extremely limited in Kuwait, which is socially conservative, one of 69 countries in the world that criminalizes homosexuality.
Kuwait’s penal code stipulates that men who have a same-sex relationship be punished with up to seven years in prison.
Until this year, Kuwait considered sexual transit a criminal offense. But a court has now struck down the law as unconstitutional.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to an emailed request from the BBC for comment.