Anger, disbelief and question marks have been raised over why the US embassy in Manama has decided to promote Pride Month in the kingdom for the third consecutive year.
American diplomats used the embassy’s official social media to spread their propaganda and used Bahrain as the only country in the Gulf region to push the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and other spectrums of gender and sexuality (LGBTQI+) agenda.
This comes despite the leadership, leading politicians and business leaders calling for an end to provocative politicising and pushing of foreign agendas that are against Islamic values and culture.
The US Embassy in Bahrain became the only American diplomatic outpost in the Arab world yesterday to put out a Rainbow post stating that the ‘United States supports efforts to promote inclusion and acceptance of LGBTQI+ persons’.
When approached for a comment, the US Embassy responded with the following statement:
“Every June, the US joins nations around the world to recognise LGBTQI+ Pride Month.
“This is in keeping with US efforts to recognise the diversity of our nation and society through months devoted to Arab-American History, Women’s History, Black History, Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage, Hispanic Heritage, and Jewish American Heritage, to name just a few that we celebrate in the US and have commemorated here at the embassy. These months celebrate the progress US society has made in promoting human rights and in increasing equality for all and working to overcome difficult aspects of our own history.
“We believe all human beings should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear no matter who they are, to whom they pray, where they are from, what they believe, or whom they love.”
The community backlash, however, was swift.
“As a Bahraini and a member of the Muslim community, I would like to express our strong objection to the promotion of the LGBT agenda,” one of the commenters Wasan Al Marhoon wrote in reply to the post, which was published in the early hours of yesterday.
“Our faith and values have always guided us, and we believe that these actions are not compatible with our beliefs. We kindly request that you respect our traditions and refrain from pushing this agenda onto our society.”
There were more than 300 comments in response to the post.
A number of civil societies also responded to the constant provocation.
Among them was the National Unity Assembly (NUA), a political society that has carried out several campaigns over the years condemning the foreign agenda being promoted when it comes to Pride Month.
“We at the NUA are strongly against this idea right from the beginning and did several campaigns in which Bahrainis and their families rejected this concept that is against our religion and ethics,” its president Abdulla Al Howaihi told the GDN.
“This goes against what we learned from our elders and what we value in our society.”
Mr Al Howaihi added that several civil societies and organisations in Bahrain were in the process of signing a document expressing their anger.
“It seems these are desperate attempts to influence people’s opinion and principles which we will stop by all means within our social rights,” he added.
“Even non-Islamic countries shun these concepts but yet every year we continue to see such campaigns aimed to control the world by evil ways.”
In 2021, the GDN reported on the controversy that erupted after the US embassy decided to fly a rainbow flag to celebrate LGBTQI+ Pride Month, which saw MPs calling on the Foreign Ministry to ‘address the issue without delay’.
The move in 2021 came after the US embassy in Manama celebrated Pride Month but decided to snub the Black Lives Matter movement by not flying its flag, despite US Secretary of State Antony Blinken encouraging all US embassies overseas to fly flags highlighting the movement.
Last year, MP Zainab Abdul Ameer again called on the Foreign Ministry to summon the US ambassador and hand him a note of protest against the US Embassy’s publication of gay slogans electronically, in an explicit violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Yesterday, the GDN reported that Bahrain Chamber board member Sonya Janahi accused the International Labour Organisation for pushing an ‘alien agenda’ when the Geneva-based organisation sought to categorise humans based on gender and sexuality, and allocate a portion of its budget to the inclusion of LGBTQI+ individuals.
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