Bareed Mista3jil

Available in print at Heinrich Boell Foundation - Middle East Office in Beirut

MEEM launched in 2009 the book “Bareed Mista3jil”: a collection of 40 true stories from voices in Lebanon that we seldom hear. Their common thread is that they are all from persons of non-conforming sexualities and gender identities, the life of queer women and transgender in Lebanon.

The book is organized around different themes and questions: What kinds of discrimination do lesbians face? How does it affect their self-esteem and their sense of community? What are the relationships with their families, friends, and each other like? How do people of different sexualities deal with religions and faith? Is it a struggle to identify a non-heterosexual? How do bisexuals “come out”? Or do people ‘Just know”? Are there gender identities other than “man” and “women”? How has life for lesbians in Lebanon changed over the past 10 years? Is emigration their only choice?

This publication comes to dispel the myths surrounding these questions and to reveal a glimpse into lives existing invisibly and silently in different Lebanese communities. The stories in this book are about love, pain, identity, suffering, overcoming, and the intricate complexities of the human heart. And all above all, these stories are about hope.