I Wanna Be Mawaleh

Seeing people getting left out – emotionally, socially, mentally, physically – you name it! – has always made me mad for as long as I can remember. I grew up like one of those girls who other kids think is weird but can’t quite put a finger on it. Still I was taller than everyone else in my age group so I was used to sticking up for myself and other people. I am a pretty polite person but I got into lots of trouble for saying what I thought at school especially when I was pointing out something I considered an injustice. I would go and shout at the big boys beating up a little kid for his lunch money and tell the teacher off when they made an assumption about a usual suspect. It didn’t make me popular but I usually didn’t care as long as I wasn’t lonely.

When I was 16, a guy came to our school and came out to me after [Read more…]

Mawaleh #12.5

Mawaleh 12.5

Mawaleh is the only LGBTQI magazine in Syria. It’s been a year, and now, we are celebrating our ups and downs in one issue in Arabic and English.  Read it here.

موالح هي المجلة المثلية الوحيدة في سوريا، وقررنا الاحتفال بعامنا الأول بإظهار نقاط ضعفنا وقوتنا في عدد باللغتين العربية والإنكليزية، يمكنكم قراءته وتحميله من [Read more…]

Mawaleh’s Initiative for Syrian LGBT Pride Day 2013: Photos Links

This initiative is meant to show LGBTQI Syrians that they are not alone, and that in case some of them need help, there will be people trying to help. It is also aimed at giving the LGBTQI community a stronger voice, which is needed now in order not to miss on any opportunity after the war in Syria comes to an end.

What you can do to [Read more…]

Mawaleh’s Initiative for Syrian LGBT Pride Day 2013

Mawaleh is launching an initiative to celebrate LGBTI Pride Day, which will be an online celebration of the event for many reasons; one of which is the current situation in the country, and the other is because homosexuality is still criminalized under the current Syrian law.

We are going to ask our readers and LGBTI rights supporters to change their profile pictures on social media networks, and have one of the photos we designed for the initiative. We would love to ask non-Syrian friends, who support our cause, to join and show their support. [Read more…]

Mawaleh: The Risk

Mawaleh English #1

In a country under an ongoing war, where homosexuality is criminalized by law, where Fedaa Aietani was arrested by the rebels for writing what they described as “unbecoming of the revolution”, where Dana Bakdounes was verbally attacked and abused for throwing away her veil by those who are supposed to be “freedom fighters” despite the fact that she protested against Assad’s regime while most of her attackers were still hiding in fear; in a country where Islamism is growing, writing for a gay magazine is nothing less than extreme danger. [Read more…]

Mawaleh: The Name

Mawaleh English #1

In Syrian dialect, Mawaleh means “nuts“. It is derived from “maleh“, which means “salty“. Choosing the name and the concept of the magazine was the most important task before starting working on it.

People in Syria love nuts and enjoy having them with tea, beers, arak, and  matte.  It is true that almost all Syrians love nuts. They have to love us, queers, as well; let’s [Read more…]

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