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Kuwait To Perform “Medical Tests” To Keep LGBTs Out Of Country

Not that anyone would ever think of Kuwait as the ideal destination for a lavender holiday, but the country wants to make sure that you don’t get the chance to visit at all. The government is planning to screen people entering the country to make sure that they are not LGBT. 

“Health centers conduct the routine medical check to assess the health of the expatriates when they come into the GCC [Gulf Cooperation] countries,” Yousouf Mindkar, director of public health at the Kuwaiti health ministry, said  “However, we will take stricter measures that will help us detect gays who will be then barred from entering Kuwait or any of the GCC member states.”

Just what these mystical medical tests might be aren’t detailed. We can only imagine what the meeting is like when Mindkar and company brainstorm about them.

Kuwait criminalizes homosexuality, with a penalty of up to ten years in prison. The country has conducted ongoing campaigns against the LGBT community, arresting LGBT teens and trans citizens. Fine thanks to the LGBT servicemembers who fought to secure Kuwait’s freedom when it was invaded by Saddam Hussein in 1991.

Photo credit: Raphael 17

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