New Delhi: A Pakistani man’s bold move to attempt to open a gay club in Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has landed him in a mental facility.
Preetum Giani, 75, wanted to create a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community in northern Pakistan—a venue for social interaction and support. But amid massive backlash, he was sent for mental treatment, according to a Telegraph report. His application for the gay club had earlier gone viral on social media on 9 May.
ThePrint reached out to the hospital in Dadar, where Giani had been admitted, confirmed the news but refused to comment any further.
They said that Giani was picked up by unidentified men in plain clothes and taken to a mental health facility, where he was wrongly diagnosed and subjected to harsh electroconvulsive treatments. However, doctors at a government psychiatric hospital found no mental illness, declaring that homosexuality is not a psychiatric disorder under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mental Health Act of 2017.
Earlier this year, Giani applied to open the Lorenzo Gay Club, a space where gay individuals could meet, converse, and enjoy refreshments without fear. His application, submitted to local authorities, emphasised that the club would strictly prohibit any form of sexual activity but would allow kissing. Giani highlighted that the club aimed to uphold the basic human right of free association, a principle Giani argued was enshrined in Pakistan’s constitution.
The proposal triggered an immediate and fierce backlash.
Giani’s letter was leaked and social media condemnations followed. According to local reports, the community reacted strongly against the idea and Deputy Commissioner of Abbottabad, Abbas Afridi, promptly rejected the application, citing impracticality on religious, constitutional, and legal grounds.
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Atmosphere of fear
While some Pakistanis called it a shameless move, others saw homosexuality as the reason why many women are unmarried in Pakistan.
The reaction from local political figures was equally severe. Naseer Khan Nazir of the Right-wing Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PATY) warned of “very severe consequences” if the club were to open, while another politician threatened to burn down the establishment, News 24 reported.
Speaking to ThePrint from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mehrub Moiz Awan, a prominent activist in Pakistan, added that post Giani’s release in May, Right-wing parties namely Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) protested against it. They led street processions and brought a mob to the hospital, which vandalised the facility and threatened the medical professionals. Awan added that this backlash has created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity for healthcare workers in the region.
Awan, who is also Pakistan’s first transgender politician, called it ‘a mutated Frankenstein-ian form of homophobia’ that needs to be addressed.
“We are witnessing the weaponisation of homosexuality by Right-wing factions in Pakistan, exploiting international transphobic and homophobic rhetoric originally propagated by white Christian supremacists. This ideology has infiltrated Pakistan,” she said.
She added that this kind of homophobia threatens the lives of innocent people and the intensified prejudice places undue burden and scrutiny on mental health professionals, pressuring them to illegitimately classify homosexuality as a mental disorder, despite it not being one.
Same-sex relations are criminalised and punishable by up to two years in prison in Pakistan. The Penal Code of 1860 prohibits acts deemed as ‘carnal knowledge against the order of nature’. This law imposes a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and specifically targets men.
In 2020, the Pakistan government intensified its moral policing by cracking down on dating apps such as Grindr and Tinder.
The Transgender Persons Act of 2018 of Pakistan also enabled individuals to self-identify as male, female, or genderqueer, ensuring their gender is accurately reflected on legal documents such as passports and driver’s licenses.
“This is such a misfortune that human beings are treated as objects controlled by myths and social theories of morality to not only violate fundamental human rights but also strengthen the culture of hatred and homophobia,” said Uzma Yaqoob, a human rights activist and founder of Forum for Dignity Initiative in Pakistan.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)