![]() Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face persecution in many countries in the region, where some risk fines, jail and even death. While the gay rights movement has steadily grown in Beirut, homosexual acts are still punishable by up to a year in prison under Lebanese law - although a judge last year threw that into question when he said homosexuality was not a crime. ![]() Lebanon will on Saturday launch its second gay pride week in Beirut, after breaking new ground last year by becoming the first Arab country to hold such an event. "If I was still the person who I was six years ago, I couldn't survive, and I couldn't walk within the society," said Sasha, who battled low self-confidence and depression before coming out as transgender. I had to elevate myself, not just the physical self, but with my mindset," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in the capital Beirut. The 21-year-old's costumes are as colourful and complex as the journey that led to her coming out as Sasha in Lebanon, a seemingly progressive society that she says remains deeply rooted in religious and political conservatism. It is a deliberately provocative display of femininity from Sasha, who is on a mission to challenge the stigma and taboo of being transgender in the Middle East through her modelling, drag shows and social media. While the gay rights movement has steadily grown in Beirut, homosexual acts are still punishable by up to a year in prison under Lebanese lawīEIRUT, May 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In a central Beirut cafe, transgender model Sasha Elijah flips open a paper fan and whips out her new ice cream cone-shaped high-heeled shoes for a potential drag costume.
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