Journalist discusses homosexuality in Mideast

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, one traveling journalist from New York decided to go to the Middle East to explore gay culture and how it connects to terrorism.

As a part of a national reading tour Michael Luongo visited Bloomington last Thursday to discuss his new book “Gay Travels in the Muslim World.” He read excerpts from the book to a dozen people at Rachael’s Café, 300 E. Third St.

Luongo earned undergraduate degrees in communication and English and a graduate degree in urban planning at Rutgers University. He started his freelance journalism and photography career in 1994 and started writing for commercial publications in 2000, such as the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Women’s E-News. He is the author of three other books, including “Frommer Buenos Aires,” “The Voyeur” and “Looking for Love in Faraway Places.”

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Student Support Services office library coordinator Eleanor Moss said she was excited to see Luongo in Bloomington and hopes his new book gains popularity.

“There’s not many publications about Muslim gay culture,” she said. “Part of it is a lack of publication. It would be a great opportunity for the library.”

In his speech, Luongo said mainstream news coverage on terrorism fueled his desire to write “Gay Travels in the Muslim World.”

Luongo noted how the mainstream media suspected Mohamed Atta – one of the hijackers responsible for the terrorist attacks – was gay and committed the hijacking to prove his masculinity.

He also mentioned the coverage of the torture and abuse prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. He said the coverage of Atta and Abu Ghraib promoted homophobia, showing homosexuality as “the worst kind of torture.”

Luongo said Middle Eastern countries such as Afghanistan are often shown as homophobic in mainstream news coverage, but the coverage of terrorism and gay culture, plus the acts committed in Abu Ghraib, proved that the homophobia actually stems from Western countries.

“The reality is British and American soldiers are doing this there as if it’s the worst thing to do to a person,” he told the audience. “The homophobia doesn’t come from Afghanistan.”

“Gay Travels in the Muslim World” describes Luongo’s observances of gay culture in Afghanistan and other countries. He explained how openly men talk about their sexuality. He said this is because in many Middle Eastern countries, men and women are separated from each other, making it difficult for men to interact with anyone else.

“It creates this homo-social space,” he said. “There are many spaces in the U.S. where men and women interact with each other. It creates this far more intimate area than we have in the West.”