At UAE Campus, Gay Rights Not a Given

At UAE campus, gay rights not a given

Sergio Hernandez

Issue date: 11/13/07

From NYU News

"In bringing up these issues, I do not wish to exacerbate anti-Islamic or anti-Arabic prejudices," Kaye said. "As with the status of women, the status of homosexuality in Middle Eastern countries is extremely complex, and people should avoid the idea that the West is inevitably more tolerant or accepting."

NYU's plans for a campus in the United Arab Emirates call for building a mini-NYU in the gulf state. On the self-contained campus, located in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, NYU public safety officers would enforce order, NYU professors would teach classes in English and degrees would be stamped with NYU's name.

But students who step off campus would find one sharp difference between NYU in Abu Dhabi and NYU in New York: In Abu Dhabi, homosexual acts are illegal.

Now, a month after administrators announced plans for the university's first full-fledged satellite campus, some students have raised questions about the partnership, saying it is at odds with NYU's support for rights for lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender students.

NYU has a reputation for being one of the U.S.'s most gay-friendly schools; the Princeton Review has ranked it "Most Accepting of the Gay Community" two years in a row. At a town hall meeting last week, two students sharply questioned NYU president John Sexton about the plan and voiced their concerns about LGBT students at NYU Abu Dhabi.

U.A.E. federal law does not outlaw homosexuality outright, but it does define "acts of homosexuality" as illegal, said Simon Pearce, the director of strategic communications for Abu Dhabi's Executive Affairs Authority.

In an interview with WSN following the announcement, Sexton said the university had "addressed all of the issues that one would want to address in the course of our conversations" but did not comment on specific concerns.

Kerwin Kaye, a bisexual doctoral student in NYU's American Studies program who mentioned the issue at the town hall, said he was unsatisfied with Sexton's vague answers.

"I think he basically dismissed the concern and said it's not going to be a problem - I don't think he thought about it for more than the 10 seconds the question was asked," Kaye said.

"I didn't hear in his answer that it's really been thought through carefully about what issues might arise," he added.

Since the announcement, university officials have characterized the campus - called NYU Abu Dhabi, or NYUAD - as a self-contained bubble in which students would be able to enjoy the same freedoms they're allowed in America.

In an interview with radio station WNYC, NYUAD Vice Chancellor Mariët Westermann even said the university has obtained a "special, royally decreed Academic Freedom Zone."

But though policies within the zone will be decided and enforced by NYU administrators and the university's Department of Public Safety, recent cases involving LGBT rights in the U.A.E. have some students wondering what measures will protect students beyond the bounds of NYUAD.

Early this month, The New York Times reported the story of Alexandre Robert, a 15-year-old French boy who was raped by three men while studying in Dubai, a neighboring emirate in the U.A.E.

According to the Times, authorities initially discouraged Robert from pressing charges and threatened to charge him with "forced homosexuality."

And in 2006, Dubai drew fire for arresting 12 gay Arab men who attended a gay wedding and threatening them with imprisonment and government-ordered hormone treatments.

"There can be a lot of tacit acceptance and every so often, out of nowhere, a criminal case or this case with the 15-year-old kid [comes up] where suddenly - the fact that officially it's quite frowned upon suddenly is very important," Kaye said.

In February, the University of Connecticut abandoned its own plans to open a similar satellite campus in Dubai amid criticism of certain U.A.E. policies, including its treatment of LGBT persons.

NYU spokesman John Beckman said the Department of Public Safety will work closely with local law enforcement to protect students and enforce the university's policies, but noted that even students at other study abroad sites are still subject to the laws of their local governments.

"In many of the countries where our students and faculty study or travel now - whether Shanghai, Paris or Accra - attitudes, customs and laws are different than in the U.S., including those relating to freedom of speech, freedom of association, gender and sexuality (both heterosexuality and homosexuality), to name just a few," Beckman said.

"There is no blanket immunity that NYU - or any other entity (including the U.S. government, for that matter) - can offer from the laws and customs of the many countries in which members of our community pursue their scholarship," he added.

Some of NYU's current nine study abroad sites are in locations that have been criticized for how they handle LGBT rights.

Ghanaian law, for example, also bans homosexuality and last September banned an LGBT rights conference that was scheduled to be held in the city of Koforidua. And until 2001, the Chinese government had classified homosexuality as a mental illness. Sodomy was not decriminalized there until 1997.

The U.S. also has a history of criminalizing homosexuality. Until a 2003 Supreme Court decision, at least 13 states maintained anti-sodomy laws and in the 2004 presidential election, President Bush used a federal ban of same-sex marriages as a major campaign issue.

"In bringing up these issues, I do not wish to exacerbate anti-Islamic or anti-Arabic prejudices," Kaye said. "As with the status of women, the status of homosexuality in Middle Eastern countries is extremely complex, and people should avoid the idea that the West is inevitably more tolerant or accepting."