Morocco - a hub for homosexuals?
Did you know that the country with strict islamic laws where homosexuality is punished, was once a place where homosexual men from America could take a break from their home country’s oppressive atmosphere.?
For decades Tangier and other Moroccan cities were magnets for gay tourists. It’s because for so many years prior to 1956 Tangier was a territory without an “owner” ,an international zone with no defined laws. It attracted a lot of american toutists who loved to indulge in discreet homosexuals behaviors and smoke local cannabis.
A writer William Burroughs published a book about his experiences in Morocco that was banned in US.
In fact, Tangier has a huge literary legacy and it always attracted mostly male homosexual writers like Jean Genet, Andre Gide, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal and Joe Orton, also Mark Twain and Samuel Pepys ( who were both straight). Another Writer and English aristocrat, David Herbert ,wrote about “queer reputation” of Tangier in his autobiography.
And while it’s shocking how such a religious country with anti-lgbt laws could attract so many homosexuals back in the days, it might have been one of those society’s paradoxes.
You can read more about Tangier’s fascinating gay history here:
A British man has flown home from Morocco after being jailed for "homosexual acts" - there was a time though when Morocco was a haven for ga