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Morocco can’t feel the love tonight

Elton John’s slated to perform today in Morocco, and conservative Muslims aren’t thrilled with the prospect: "This singer is famous for his homosexual behavior and for advocating it," said Mustapha Ramid, a leader and spokesman for the PJD, the biggest opposition party with 40 lawmakers in parliament. Despite the brouhaha, Moroccan gay rights leaders claim ...

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Claire Greenway/Getty Images
Claire Greenway/Getty Images
Claire Greenway/Getty Images

Elton John's slated to perform today in Morocco, and conservative Muslims aren't thrilled with the prospect:

Elton John’s slated to perform today in Morocco, and conservative Muslims aren’t thrilled with the prospect:

"This singer is famous for his homosexual behavior and for advocating it," said Mustapha Ramid, a leader and spokesman for the PJD, the biggest opposition party with 40 lawmakers in parliament.

Despite the brouhaha, Moroccan gay rights leaders claim that the country is one of the most forward-thinking in the Muslim world: 

A sign of Morocco’s evolution, Taia said, is the creation of a new local word to describe homosexuality in Arabic: "Mithly," replacing the pejorative usual phrase of "an act against nature."

I fail to see how anyone could object to the harmonious, existential lessons of "Circle of Life." Encouragingly, Moroccan officials have told John to go ahead and claim, "I’m Still Standing."

Andrew Swift is an editorial researcher at Foreign Policy.
Tags: Culture, Middle East and North Africa

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