Moroccan LGBT Community Faces Online Harassment Amid Lockdown

A Moroccan transgender woman living in Turkey, Sofia Taloni, would be the instigator of the campaign of denigration and lynching against the Moroccan LGBT community. On her Instagram account, she posts a series of videos in which she reveals the sexual identity of dozens of people without their consent.

"We have been contacted by several people in distress following this campaign that has revealed their sexual identity to their loved ones," said M.B., one of the organizers of the LGBT rights campaign in Morocco, to the website Le Desk.

An LGBT activist has also announced the suicide of a 21-year-old student who had returned from France and was confined with his family in Rabat. He could not bear to see his photos from dating apps circulating on social networks until they reached his entourage. Faced with the situation experienced by LGBT activists, several homes have opened their doors to the survivors of lynching and family violence in cities like Casablanca and Rabat, the same source said.

Pages like Gay Maroc have been used to collect testimonies; this will allow the community to provide psychological support to the victims of violence and harassment. Similarly, LGBT groups intend to launch a campaign to denounce this violence, through visuals and texts, and to counterattack by exposing the bearers of homophobic and transphobic discourse. It should be noted that Moroccan law prohibits homosexuality through Article 489 of the Penal Code, which provides for a prison sentence of up to three years.