It’s called
Mithly, and has so far, according to
Pink News,
sold only 200 copies.
The title, an Arabic word, means “the same as me”, which has come to mean gay.
The magazine has covered the recent controversy over singer Elton John’s appearance at a music festival in the country, and a survey on suicide rates among gay Moroccans, says
Pink News reports.
Morocco’s only gay-rights group (although it is based in Spain), Kif Kif, is the publisher behind the magazine, and some of its writers are Moroccan, “but keep a low profile”, says the online news outlet.
It quotes Samir Bargachi, general coordinator of Kif Kif, as saying that he hopes
Mithly will help to tackle negative attitudes to homosexuality.
He says: “For over five years now, there has been a debate surrounding homosexuality in Morocco. But the mainstream media have the tendency to sensationalise the subject. With
Mithly, we have the opportunity to give the views of homosexuals, and the opportunity to interact directly with society.”
Article 489 of the Morocco’s criminal code imposes prison terms on people who commit “lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex”.
