BAHRAIN’S National Assembly has condemned and rejected efforts by the US Embassy to promote Pride Month in the kingdom.
Parliament said it strongly objected to the diplomatic mission in Bahrain putting out a ‘Rainbow Post’ on Thursday at the start of the month dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and other spectrums of gender and sexuality (LGBTQI+).
In an official statement yesterday, the chamber stressed the importance of embassies and diplomatic missions respecting Bahraini society and its established pillars as well as refraining from encouraging perversion and calling for ‘homosexuality’.
It called for action to protect societies and people from ‘abnormal ideas that seek to distort human nature and demolish moral values’.
“This is an unacceptable practice that constitutes a blatant provocation of the Bahraini society, its culture, traditions and its national and authentic constants,” said the statement.
“Promoting matters that contradict human nature and the values and principles of monotheistic religions is an unacceptable act.
“Embassies and diplomatic missions must respect Bahraini society and not promote bad campaigns that contradict the values of virtue and common sense and respect the principles and laws of the United Nations in regards to diplomatic missions.
“The Bahraini society categorically rejects such calls and moves which come in the context of systematic campaigns to penetrate human and Islamic societies while hiding behind the mantle of human rights in a flagrant manner flouting the values and principles that are compatible with human nature.”
The Shura Council also expressed its strong condemnation of the US Embassy’s ‘call for homosexuality’ and stressed its strong rejection of practices that are inconsistent with innate values and principles.
“These calls for homosexual practices are hidden behind the disguise of supporting human rights,” said the National Assembly’s upper chamber in a statement yesterday.
“It represents a blatant provocation of the conservative Bahraini society and an infringement of the upright national, social and religious constants.
“The Shura Council affirms its categorical rejection of these calls, which are rejected by the conservative Bahraini society, because of the dimensions they carry that represent an anomaly from the natural human instinct.”
The Shura Council called on embassies and diplomatic missions to abide by their duties in accordance with what is stated in international laws, charters and norms, and to refrain from raising sensitive and systematic issues met by unifying and consistent national positions.
The Shura Council reaffirmed the Bahraini society’s adherence to national and social constants in line with noble human values and principles, and strips it of all calls that contradict common human instinct.
It expressed sincere respect and appreciation for the state of coexistence, integration and brotherhood that is compatible with natural instinct.
The GDN reported yesterday that the US Embassy in Bahrain was the only American diplomatic outpost in the Arab world to put out a Rainbow post stating that the ‘United States supports efforts to promote inclusion and acceptance of LGBTQI+ persons’.
In reply to a GDN query, the US Embassy said:
“Every June, the US joins nations around the world to recognise LGBTQI+ Month.
“This is in keeping with US efforts to recognise the diversification 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 believe.”
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 call came as the embassy 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.
The GDN reported on Thursday that Bahrain Chamber board member Sonya Janahi accused the International Labour Organisation of 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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