Alarming accounts of the systematic humiliation faced by LGBTQI+ persons in prison expose the harsh reality that this community endures in Tunisia. An image very far from that which the government would hope to sell to its partners in the West.

Alarming accounts of the systematic humiliation faced by LGBTQI+ persons in prison expose the harsh reality that this community endures in Tunisia. An image very far from that which the government would hope to sell to its partners in the West.
In the context of a Muslim and conservative culture, Tunisian male students, of all sexual orientations, experience bullying, ostracism, and social pressure to conform to the rigid image of masculinity. This qualitative study explores how men experience homophobia and toxic masculinity mainly in high school and middle school through a literature review and personal narratives interpreted together within the Tunisian and educational context.
The collective exhibition « Au temps du 230 » [In the era of 230] took place between May 17-21 in the Medina of Tunis. Organized by the feminist association Chouf which advocates for the rights of sexual minorities, the exhibition is the first of its kind in Tunisia. « Au temps du 230 » featured the work of 12 artists—painters, photographers and caricaturists—who denounce Law 230 of the penal code which criminalizes homosexuality. On the occasion of UN’s 2016 Periodic Review, Tunisia admitted the unconstitutionality of Law 230 but has made no move to abrogate it.
I just can’t understand all this hatred and this reject of the LGBT community in Tunisia. Undoubtedly, as a heterosexual, I don’t share the same affinities and sexual orientations with the members of this community, but I can’t accept the insulting and degrading remarks directed at this minority.