Loubya In Time Of Corona : Report 2020

What: “Loubya fi Zamane Corona” (or “Being Queer in the Time of Corona”) is a 35 pages illustrated report that addresses the situation of queer people who lived in Morocco in 2020. The report exposes the general context in which the Moroccan queer community finds itself as well as different kinds of violences that queer people faced during the Covid-19 pandemic in Morocco (cyberviolence, institutional violence, societal violence…). It also highlights efforts that were made by the Moroccan civil society to address this violence, and presents recommendations to improve the lives of queer individuals in Morocco. The report was written based on a series of interviews that members of the Nassawiyat collective conducted, as well as data that was previously collected by other queer Moroccan organizations and Nassawiyat’s analysis, experiences, and knowledge of the situation. This report was written in collaboration with other LGBTQI+ Moroccan collectives and organisations, namely Atyaf, Akaliyat, Fek Tayri, SAQFE, Groupe d’Action Féministe, Kasbah Tal‘fin, Liqaat, and Tanit, and its art and design was done by the artist Fagouta. The report is available in four languages: Arabic, Amazigh, English, and French.

Why: 2020 was a particularly rough year for the Moroccan queer community as the LGBTQI+ community suffered from violence that was sparked by hate speech and outing campaigns which was heightened by the Covid-19 crisis. This report was written to document what this year brought to the queer community in Morocco in order to reflect on it in the future and move forward. Additionally, this report was written to raise awareness about the situation of the LGBTQ+ community to the broader Moroccan public. This report is also a way to provide recommendations to the Moroccan society, government, and media on how to interact with and respect our community. It is very important for us to make our report accessible to the people of Morocco and beyond, so we translated it into Arabic, Amazigh, English, and French in order to reach as many people as possible. Put into a few words, we wrote this report to support, archive, advocate, and inform.