As part of our Queer in SWANA: Voices Heard series, LevantX spoke to members of SWANA Kings, a group founded for drag kings in Lebanon with members from different places. Check out their stories below, what they do and how they started

[Queer characters in video games] are a reminder that queer people exist, deserve representation, and deserve equity, especially when it comes down to games that are based in historical fiction. As Rick Riordan once tweeted:
”If the reader is wondering why I put gender fluidity in a Norse Mythology story...that reader does not know much about Norse Mythology”.  

هناك تحدٍ يكمن في التأكيد على إتاحة الفرصة لمتحدثي اللغة العربية عن فهم الأشخاص المنتمين لمجتمع الميم، ويوضح إيّان "في العالم العربي، إن لم تكن متقناً للغة الإنجليزيّة، قد تظن أنك شخص مريض للأبد

“In the Arabic world, if you don’t speak English, you think you’re a sick person forever. You won’t have access to information on LGBT issues. So many people still don’t understand what being ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ means.”

A minority within a minority... but it gets better. Growing up female, black, an Arab immigrant, an apostate, and queer, is as difficult as you can imagine.

Both sexual minorities and sexual health are taboos in Middle Eastern societies. For religious, social, and cultural reasons, sexual minorities feel pressured to hide their sexual orientation from their families and friends. Moreover, they are often expected to have a heterosexual marriage and to produce children. This can put them at higher risk of suffering poor mental health outcomes such as depression and anxiety, write Ismaël Maatouk, Moubadda Assi and Rusi Jaspal.