Table Of Content

Queer Beirut THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Queer Beirut by sofian Merabet University of Texas Press Austin The University of Texas Press and the author gratefully acknowledge financial assistance provided for the publication of this book from the President’s Office at The University of Texas at Austin. Copyright © 2014 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2014 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to: Permissions University of Texas Press P.O. Box 7819 Austin, TX 78713- 7819 http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/rp- form ♾ The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1 992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Merabet, Sofian Queer Beirut / by Sofian Merabet. pages cm ISBN 978-0-292-76096-7 (hardback) 1. Gay men—Lebanon—Beirut. 2. Gender identity—Lebanon—Beirut. 3. Homosexuality—Lebanon—Beirut. I. Title. HQ76.2.L42B456 2014 306.76′620956925—dc23 2014013809 doi:10.7560/760967 نيويع Für meinen Neffen Jules und meine Patentochter Widad. Mögen sie im Strudel der Identitäten stets zahlreiche Querverbindungen finden. THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Prologue. Itinerant Journeys xv Introduction 1 1. Producing Queer Space in Beirut: Zones of Encounter in Post- Civil- War Lebanon 11 2. Producing Prestige in and around Beirut: The Indiscreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and the Assertion of a Queer Presence 43 3. Walking through the Concrete Jungle: The Queer Urban Stroller Traveling amid de Certeau, Benjamin, and Bourdieu 69 4. Queer Performances and the Politics of Place: The Art of Drag and the Routine of Sectarianism 91 5. The Homosexual Sphere between Spatial Appropriation and Contestation: Collective Activism and the Many Lives of Young Gay Men in Beirut 112 6. The Queering of Closed and Open Spaces: Spatial Practices and the Dialectics of External and Internal Homophobia 134 viii Queer Beirut 7. The Gay Gaze and the Politics of Memory: A Stroll on the Corniche and a Walk through Zoqāq al- Blāṭ 156 8. “Seeing Oneself” and the Mirror Stage: The Ḥammām and the Gay Icon Fairuz 187 9. Phenomenology and the Spatial Assertion of Queerness: Spatial Alienation, Anthropology, and Urban Studies 210 10. Raising the Rainbow Flag between City and Country: Dancing, Protesting, and the Mimetics of Everyday Life 227 Conclusion. Struggling for Difference 246 Notes 249 Glossary of Transliterated Arabic Terms 261 Bibliography 265 Index 275 Illustrations Map of Lebanon xviii Paradise Beach, July 28, 2013 2 Map of Beirut 10 Maarad Street, July 29, 2010 28 Classic “service” out of service, May 29, 2011 32 “The Life of a Gigolo Is Hard,” July 1, 2011 36 The staircase at the Roman baths, July 3, 2010 48 Snāck al- sakhra, August 2003 50 Commotion on the Corniche, May 29, 2011 78 View from the American University of Beirut “beach” to ʿAyn al- Mraisseh, July 3, 2013 82 Cinéma Salwa in Tarīq al- Jdīdeh, July 22, 2010 86 View from Ashrafieh westward, August 6, 2010 89 Rue Monot sign, August 5, 2010 99 Photos of Bachir on a building in Ashrafieh, January 19, 2012 103 Battle of the phalluses in ḍownṭown, June 18, 2011 109 Life on the Corniche, June 23, 2011 157 The Phoenicia Hotel with the old Holiday Inn behind it, June 24, 2011 159 The old manāra, June 22, 2011 160 The new manāra, June 20, 2011 161 The location of the former Hotel Carlton, June 27, 2011 164