It's common knowledge that Islamic countries forbid homosexuality. It may come as a surprise, then, that Saudi Arabia - the only country ruled entirely by Islamic law - actually affords queers more freedom than other parts of the Middle East. According to The Atlantic's Nadya Labi, not only are Saudi sissies largely unregulated, gay sex has long been the norm.

One of the main tenets of severe Islamic law, or Wahhabism, rules that unrelated men and women cannot socialize. The entire country's been divided into gendered regions. Men hang with men and women hang with women. Gay girls and boys, then, can socialize freely without fear of anti-gay recrimination. Labi writes:

...The kingdom leaves considerable space for homosexual behavior. As long as gays and lesbians maintain a public front of obeisance to Wahhabist norms, they are left to do what they want in private. Vibrant communities of men who enjoy sex with other men can be found in cosmopolitan cities like Jeddah and Riyadh. They meet in schools, in cafés, in the streets, and on the Internet. “You can be cruised anywhere in Saudi Arabia, any time of the day,” said Radwan, a 42-year-old gay Saudi American who grew up in various Western cities and now lives in Jeddah. “They’re quite shameless about it.”

The shamelessness comes not from gay acceptance, but from a distinct divide between one's acts and one's so-called sexuality.

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Lesbians, lesbians everywhere! That's what some education officials in Saudi Arabia are saying after an apparent explosion of labia-minded love in the primarily Islamic country.

As homosexuality's a terrible, no good sin and certainly not innate, some people have been pointing the fingering finger at parents. College student Aisha Al-Qahtani agrees and also sheds some light on the ins and outs of lesbian relationships. Warning, it's pretty graphic:

A student who is not receiving enough love and care from her family tends to look for love in other students. At first she will admire a girl’s clothes or living standards. After that the relationship deepens and they exchange gifts and perfume to express their admiration for each other.

Girl, oh, girl, being a lesbian sounds like a real snooze.

The New York Times was all sorts of gay this weekend. In addition to the aforementioned article on straights foregoing marriage in the name of queer support, the newspaper's Sunday magazine ran an article on the rise of homophobia in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Some people believe that homophobia's an ancient practice. Of course, considering the notion of homosexuality didn't exist until the butt end of the 19th century, that's just plain wrong. Still, it's tempting to project an American experience on a Middle Eastern country.

According to Negar Azimi, however, the threat to Arab gays reached new heights over the past five years:

[S]exuality in general and homosexuality in particular are increasingly becoming concerns of the modern Arab state. Politicians, the police, government officials and much of the press are making homosexuality an “issue”: a way to display nationalist bona fides in the face of an encroaching Western sensibility; to reject a creeping globalization that brings with it what is perceived as the worst of the international market culture; to flash religious credentials and placate growing Islamist power.

Homosexuality, then, becomes a mere scapegoat in the fight against Westernization, rather than a true moral issue. Read all about it, after the jump.

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A new Harvard-endorsed report contends that depsite the nominal success of women's liberation movements and more inclusive politics, not one in 115 survery nations have bridged the gender gap in terms of education, salary, politics or health.

Sweden has gone farthest in eliminating inequality between men and women, followed by Norway, Finland and Iceland. The Philippines is the only Asian country in the top 10 and the United States comes in at 22. Yemen ranks bottom.
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For economic participation, for example, the researchers measured the proportion of men and women in work, pay gaps and the ratio of women to men among legislators, senior officials and managers.

The study shows the gender gap for health and survival is very narrow across the world. Based on a score of 1 meaning full equality and 0 a complete lack of equality, the range for all 115 countries is just 0.9796 to 0.9227.

But when it comes to political empowerment -- the ratio of women to men in parliament, ministerial positions, and heads of state over the past 50 years -- the best performer is Sweden with a score of 0.5501 but Saudi Arabia is last with zero.

So, ladies, we advise you to steer clear of Saudi Arabia and Yemen if you're looking for equality. The US ain't looking that great, either. Perhaps a mass exodus to Sweden? That's looking pretty good. Plus, they have great music.

• In Saudi Arabia, twenty men were arrested during a purported gay wedding, which had 400 men in attendance. Homosexuality is illegal there and punishments are determined under Islamic law. [IOL]

• Call them "mutant" (and damn fortunate) HIV patients: As many as one in every 300 people infected with HIV will never see the worst effects from it. Doctors want to go after these "elite" examples of HIV infections, which never lead to AIDS, but such lucky individuals often don't want the attention. [Reuters]

• In Georgia, Georgia Tech University repealed protections for gays in its student housing code of conduct to comply with the findings of a lawsuit filed by two students (who were represented by the Christian law firm Alliance Defense Fund). Students will no longer face the threat of punishment for using gay epithets and derrogatory language based on orientation. [Advocate]

• In Britain, a retrial of murdered lesbian Mandy Power finds a one David Morris guilty, which clears suspicion – at least legally – that it was Power's ex-lover Alison Lewis who killed her, her two children, and the children's grandmother. [BBC]

• In Oregon, the longtime leader of the Oregon Christian Coalition and staunch anti-gay advocate, Lou Beres, admits to sexually molesting young girls. [AP]

Contrary to what the Saudi Arabian government would have us believe, yes, in fact there are many Saudis suffering with AIDS. 10,000 is the official number, though doctors suggest the real number could be as high as 80,000. Until recently, information about the AIDS virus was a national secret, as many fundamentalist Muslims believe that it is punishment for deviant behavior. We would then ask what it is that the 600 children suffering with the disease to upset God so much. We're sure they have an answer for that as well.

Saudi Arabia Begins to Face Hidden AIDS Problem [NY Times]

• Sounds like Drudge creamed his pants over Anderson Cooper's proclamation that "going gray is like ejaculation" even more than we did.

• Speaking of ejaculate, STD cases in the gay community are on their way up, up, up. Someone please cue the Evangelicals. This is about when they start to claim this is God's way of punishing homos.

• Images from Gay.com didn't just magically appear on Mayor James West's computer after all. Yeah, obviously.

• Radar Magazine goes all kissy face and lists the top ten guy on guy movie smooches. Funny thing is we thought this article would only end up in the straight guy pages of Details.

• Saudi police busted up a gay beauty pageant before it even happened. Among the items they confiscated were large quantities of "sex toys." Um, what kind of beauty pageant was this going to be?

• Can't wait for it to come out next week? MTV.com is streaming Madge's new disc.