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The fight goes on for Lebanon's LGBT community

Despite a few modest achievements, the Lebanese lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community still struggles for acceptance and basic rights.

Lebanese activists chant slogans during a demonstration in front of parliament in Beirut April 25, 2010. Around 3,000 Lebanese marched in Beirut on Sunday to demand a secular system in place of the Muslim-Christian sectarianism that permeates politics,employment and family status matters in Lebanon. REUTERS/ Jamal Saidi   (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTXS512
Lebanese activists chant slogans during a demonstration in front of parliament in Beirut, April 25, 2010. — REUTERS/ Jamal Saidi

“You don’t have to be gay to defend gay rights,” insist a number of popular Lebanese public figures in an advocacy video released by civil society organization Proud Lebanon in the leadup to the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on May 17.

“Even if we’re different, we shouldn’t disagree,” asserted celebrities such as TV host Fouad Yammine, urging fellow citizens to challenge problematic laws that allow for the persecution of members of the LGBT community in Lebanon.

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