An extremist, anti-LGBTQIA+ militia group stormed a bar in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on the night of August 23 while a drag event was being held, threatening violence against members of the LGBTQIA+ community in a country that is seeing a rising wave of hatred and bigotry against them.
Violent Assault on Drag Event in Lebanon https://t.co/yL5DJDF6vj
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) August 25, 2023
Om Bar Room was hosting a drag event when an extremist Christian paramilitary organization named Soldiers of God (also called Jnoud El-Rab in Lebanon) surrounded and attacked the bar. Videos of the assault showed group members assaulting the bar’s performers and patrons, damaging the bar’s outdoor property, and shouting at the attendees.
“This is a Soldiers of God neighborhood, Amen! This shop is for Satan. It’s promoting homosexuality. That’s forbidden in the land of the Lord.” One of the assailants shouted in the videos circulated on social media. “Promoting homosexuality is forbidden. We are warning you this is just the beginning. We warned you 100 times.”
Last night, the gang “Soldiers of God” attacked a bar in #MarMikhael where a #dragshow was being held, assaulting several participants and damaging some of the bar’s outdoor property. The gang threatened attendees, who left the bar after the ISF arrived. #GayRights #LGBTQ+ #Queer pic.twitter.com/84CHBjbSmK
— Megaphone (@megaphone_news) August 24, 2023
Some of the bar’s drag performers narrated the incident to Rasha Younes, senior researcher at the LGBT Rights program of Human Rights Watch, who also covered the incident.
“We stopped the show and had to hide behind the bar, lying down on the floor, breathless,” one of the performers said. “The police stood on the side, watching, as the men were beating people.”
“There were a dozen men on motorcycles who attacked us. At least two of them had guns,” another drag performer said.
Even though agents of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces arrived while the extremist Christian group was attacking the bar, attendees reported that the authorities did little to stop them.
“The police were watching as they attacked us, but instead of stopping and arresting them, they interrogated the bar owner and the attendees about the nature of the performance,” one of the attendees said.
Christian group Junud ar-Rabb attacked Om Bar Room in Mar Mikhael for hosting a drag show tonight.
by u/yevgeni_bauer in lebanon
The attack at the Om Bar Room is just one of several assaults against the LGBTQIA+ community and their rights in a country known in the Middle East for its religious plurality. Religious leaders and politicians in Lebanon have been ramping up anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric recently, such as Hassan Nasrallah of the pro-Iran group Hezbollah, who described LGBTQIA+ individuals as a "danger to society" and called for them to be killed in July.
The Lebanese Minister of Culture also responded to the attacks by asking why the authorities did not prevent the bar from "promoting homosexuality" instead of calling for the assailants to be held accountable.
Although the Soldiers of God only has around 150 members, members of this group are known for inciting violence against Lebanon’s LGBTQIA+ community, accusing them of promoting homosexuality and endangering family values in the country. The group also holds far-right beliefs similar to those in Europe and the United States and insists that the LGBTQIA+ community is connected to some pedophilic conspiracy. This wild claim resonates with far-right groups in the West.
"They are a fringe Christian group …. they are basically hooligans. Their mission in life is basically to go against LGBTQI+ people," LGBTQIA+ rights activist Lea Z said regarding Soldiers of God.
After the attack, members of Lebanon’s Christian parties, notably Nadim Gemayel of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, distanced themselves from the paramilitary group.
"The assault that took place yesterday in Mar Mikhayel is rejected and condemned ... Our society must remain a free and open society that respects individual freedoms," Gemayel posted on X, previously known as Twitter.
