Egypt’s nascent LGBT online magazine, Ehna—Arabic for “us”—has abruptly shut down production, raising concern that the Islamist Mursi government is cracking down on the nation’s gay community.
The site, whose staff and headquarters are unknown, covered everything from local celebrations and HIV/health issues to the Cairo 52 and the Tahir Square Revolution. According to Al-Arabiya, Ehna’s mission was “to become the voice for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning (LGBTIQ) communities in Egypt… To defend their rights, tackle homophobia in the country and raise awareness on issues such as HIV, spotlighting celebrity members of the gay Egyptian community.”
A cryptic note appeared on the magazine’s Facebook page stating, “We have been forced to shut down the online magazine due to security reasons. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.” The Ehna WordPress account is listed as “no longer available.”
Neo
We are all hoping that these good people are moving shop before they are attacked and are too re-open later and that they and their families are all safe.
Gregg
Yet another brilliant accomplishment of the Obama Administration: support the “Arab Spring,” even if it means Winter for human rights in the Middle East! Barack has (more) blood on his hands!
LadyL
@Gregg: Oh, please–you’re blaming Obama for this? Is he responsible for the Kennedy assassination and the events of September 11th as well?
Neo
@LadyL: He also faked the moon landing, is secretly Hitler and Chairman Mao and once tried to build a giant statue of himself in ancient Rome under his real name of Julius Hussein Hitler Obama Stalin Pot Kenya Caecescu.
I think Gregg has learned what the Arab Spring was from Fox News unfortunately, there’s a few posts of his that read like a genuine anti-intellectual. Hopefully him and a few others see the ban hammer soon, or I hall have to take the member exploits out of the cupboard and do it myself.
Kevin B
@Gregg: Because if there’s one thing Mubarak was known for, it was respect for human rights, am I right? Yeah, maybe his oppression wasn’t aimed at gay people specifically, and it is possible that the new government will take a harder line in that regard, but even so, it’s a net benefit seeing him gone. Besides, we’ve seen what happens when we try to put the lid on democratization, or are we forgetting that Iran was well on its way toward decent government before we had Mohammad Mossadegh overthrown? Sure, we probably could have staved off the Arab spring for another decade or two, but when the people had enough the resulting governments would have ended up way more radical.
Kevin B
Also, Ehna means “me,” not “us.”
Freddie27
Tahrir Square, Queerty. Check the news sometimes