Trying to Open Pakistan's First Gay Club Lands Man in Mental Hospital

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Local authorities detained a man in Pakistan in a mental hospital after he applied to set up the first gay club in the conservative, Muslim-majority nation.

The man, who chose not to be identified, said in an interview with The Telegraph that he had filed an application to set up the club in the northern city of Abbottabad, a conservative Pakistani city known for being the place where Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, was found and killed by a team of US Navy SEALs in 2011.

In the application filed to the city’s deputy commissioner (DC), the man said that the club would be a “great convenience and resource for many homosexual, bisexual and even some heterosexual people residing in Abbottabad in particular, and in other parts of the country in general.”

Gay sex is illegal in Pakistan and can be punished by up to two years in prison. The conservative religious culture in the South Asian nation also made it extremely difficult for Pakistanis to openly come out as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. However, in practice, these laws are rarely applied.

Displays of affection among even heterosexual couples are also frowned upon, with fornication before marriage a crime. 

The application also stated that in “the envisaged gay club, tentatively to be called Lorenzo gay club, there would be no gay (or non-gay) sex (other than kissing).”

“A clearly visible notice on the wall would warn: no sex on premises. This would mean that no legal constraints (even obsolete ones like [anti-sodomy] PPC section 377) would be flouted on the premises,” the application also said.

The office of the deputy commissioner in Abbottabad confirmed that it had received the application for a gay club to be established in the city and said it was reviewing it like any other proposal.

However, the application to set up the gay club in Abbottabad was leaked on social media, prompting outrage from locals and right-wing politicians from the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the city is located.

Naseer Khan Nazir, leader of the right-wing Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PATY), said that if permission to set up the gay club were granted, there would be “very severe consequences.” Another MP from the party said that he would douse the building with petrol and set it on fire if the plan to build the gay club went through.

The leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam, a conservative religious party in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa legislature, claimed that the man trying to set up the gay club recently returned from a visit to the UK.

Religious and right-wing parties also accused the man of being an agent of a foreign country and even called for the deputy commissioner to be dismissed for simply considering the application.

The Telegraph, who interviewed the man and reported on this news, learned that the man was transferred to the Sarhad Hospital for Psychiatric Disease in Peshawar on May 9th after they attempted to visit the man.

The man's friends expressed concern for his safety and said they were blocked from visiting the man or finding more information about him or his location. One friend also said the man’s sexuality is well-known in Abbottabad, and there had never been any issues with him in the community. They said the man is now “vulnerable” and “anything could happen to him at any time.”

In an interview before being sent to the mental facility, the man told the Telegraph: “I talk about human rights, and I want everyone’s human rights to be defended.”

He also said that if his application proved unsuccessful, he would ask officials to provide a written reply explaining why they would reject it.

“I have started the struggle for the rights of the most neglected community in Pakistan, and I will raise my voice in every forum,” the man said. “If the authorities refuse, then I will approach the court, and I hope that, like the Indian court, the Pakistani court will rule in favor of gay people.”

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