Middle Eastern gays face cultural taboo - by Maureen Feighan
Barricaded in his bedroom after his parents found out he was gay two years ago, Bashar Makhay of Ferndale felt alone in the world. He was 19 and his Chaldean mother, an Iraqi Christian, was hysterical. He knew he needed to move out, but had nowhere to go. His mother said he could stay on one condition: He had to be normal.
Refusing to live in the closet, Makhay and a group of friends have started a Metro Detroit support group for gays and lesbians of Middle Eastern descent, offering support, socialization and awareness. The group called Al GAMEA -- which means "the gathering" in Arabic -- is one of the few of its kind in the nation. More than 600 people have signed up for Al GAMEA's -- pronounced Al ja-ME-uh -- e-mail mailing list. Its "Arabian Nights" bar nights regularly draw up to 200 people.
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