Tunisia, Tunis. 04 December, 2016. A posed portrait of lesbian couple A (25 years old) & A (25 years old) (+216 25863907, bmbarek.abir@gmail.com, +216 22142156, hammouda.amaf@gmail.com). A & A have been a couple for four years, but have hidden their sexuality from all except to a few close friends. Like many in the LGBTQI+ community in Tunisia, they express their frustration over a society that does not acknowledge their existence: ÒIt was last valentines when we decided to go have a romantic dinner at this nice restaurant where everything was decorated in red with heart shaped lights. The moment we got in, we set our eyes on this nice table for two with lovely candles on top of it, but the waiter directed us to a regular table for four because the other tables were for couples and we werenÕt a couple. How can we be when she is a she and I am a she. It wasnÕt just a ValentineÕs Day incident, it was our everyday life outside our safe bubble. That is why those four years of love were also four years of hiding. And we still hide and we still love.Ó Photo Robin Hammond /NOOR for Witness Change.  The Tunisian Revolution, also known as the Jasmine Revolution, was an intensive campaign of civil resistance, including a series of street demonstrations taking place in Tunisia, and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. It eventually led to a thorough democratization of the country and to free and democratic elections. Tunisian LGBTQI+ community hoped that the revolution would usher in a more open society, and an end to homophobia and transphobia. This has not come to pass. The laws that target LGBTQI+ people remain, most notably article 230 which makes same-sex acts illegal, punishable by up the 3 years in prison. Transgender people are targeted under public decency laws. The general public is no more accepting of LGBTQI+ people than they were before the revolution. Despite the legal and societal discrimination, LGBTQI+ activists are dedicated to campaigning more openly.

A&A /

“We fell in love a few years ago. It was and still is passionate and intense in every possible way. We kiss, we love and hug. We have breakfast in bed, go to the movies when we can afford it. We make our life plans around each other because we are each others everything. Our friends think we are perfect together and we think we are perfect for each other. We have been now for four years. Four years inside a safe bubble of love, that we almost forget that we weren’t like everyone else.

“It was last valentines when we decided to go have a romantic dinner at this nice restaurant where everything was decorated in red with heart shaped lights. The moment we got in, we set our eyes on this nice table for two with lovely candles on top of it, but the waiter directed us to a regular table for four because the other tables were for couples and we weren’t a couple. How can we be when she is a she and I am a she. It wasn’t just a Valentine’s Day incident, it was our everyday life outside our safe bubble. That is why those four years of love were also four years of hiding. And we still hide and we still love.

 

A&A”

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