Brian Whitaker: Unspeakable Love; Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East

Thoughtfully well researched. It's quite an academic text...it's not a collection of personal experiences ( although they are necessarily referenced) but all the better for that. I think the mental pressures for individuals growing up in these sort of societies must be almost incomprehensible to people such as myself and to come successfullyb through that is a remarkable testament to individual toughness.

The invidious influence of religion is ( yet again) well shown but there is much fascinating information about the manifold varieties of the Muslim faith which reinforces my belief that to talk about 'Muslims' and 'the Muslim faith' as one unmarked and unyielding belief system is as moronic as it gets.