Omar
Sharif Jr. Shares
What It's Like Being a Gay Egyptian in the Public Eye
Actor
and activist Omar Sharif Jr. opened up in an op-ed for Hornet
titled A
Voice for the Voiceless: Amidst a Brutal Crackdown, This Gay
Egyptian Looks for Hope. The piece shares what it’s like
being a gay Egyptian in the public eye and the weight it carries
both in the United States and in Egypt.
Highlights Include:
On being a public figure and coming out:
“When I came out in 2012, I wanted to use my status as a
relatively public figure — grandson of two of Egypt’s most beloved
celebrities — to push LGBTQ acceptance through what I then assumed
would be our darkest hour. Unfortunately, since then conditions
have only worsened, and the country is now gripped
by a brutal crackdown against some of its most
vulnerable citizens.”
His advice for youth in Egypt:
I can’t tell the young gay Egyptians who message me to come
out en masse; I don’t want them to be cannon fodder for my ideals.
I can’t even tell them to come out to their own families; few
of them had the liberalizing experiences my grandparents did,
working on movies with people from all walks of life. So I tell
them to be safe, to be careful, to hang on.
Read the FULL STORY Here: https://hornetapp.com/stories/gay-egyptian-omar-sharif-jr/