GME - Gay Middle East

For the first time GME is conducting and publishing a survey concerning safe sex among gays in eight countries in the Middle East. Our plan is for this to become an annual survey, which will provide an ongoing study of gay sexual behavior in the surveyed countries.

As the survey was conducted via internet, we realize it is imperfect. It does not include the segment of the gay population not connected to an internet network. (usually part of the weaker groups in the population).

Thousands of people were surveyed across the Middle East. However, we bring to your attention that in some countries we were only able to obtain replies from 200 people. In countries we had more than 2000 replies. GME professional consultants have determined the survey findings to be reliable, as we see the relative homogeneity in the distribution of the results as an evidence for this reliability (see table below).

Egypt	Syria	Saudi A.	Kuwait	Jordan	Qatar	Lebanon	UAE

1%	1%	0%	1%	0%	1%	0%	0%	Never safe sex
11%	17%	14%	8%	10%	8%	6%	5.5%	Needs Discussion
26%	18%	22%	27%	24%	18%	19%	18.5%	No Comment
62%	64%	64%	64%	66%	73%	75%	76%	Always safe sex

GME has divided the results from the eight countries into two groups. Lebanon, the UAE and Qatar are in the first group. All the other countries are in the second group. The answers of the survey takers to the question "do you always perform Safe Sex" are the reason for this division.

The portion that marked the answer "always" in the first group (Lebanon, the UAE and Qatar) exceeded 70% and was actually in the range of 73% to 76%.

The portion than marked the answer "always" in the second group (Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia) ranged only from 62% to 66%. We will further discuss the possible reasons for these differences later.

I want to clarify the meaning of each of the categories from which the respondents had to choose an answer:

As with all segments of society, the gay population is also influenced by labels assigned to us. As we know that unsafe sex is the most common factor in the spreading of the AIDS virus, gay people practicing unsafe sex have been labeled at best as irresponsible, often criminal.

In other words, a person who always performs safe sex will never lie and claim that he does not. However, the reverse is often true – people that do not always have safe sex will lie and claim that they do.

This is why I recommend referring to the results in the "always" category as the highest possible results. It is very reasonable to assume that the percentage of the gays that indeed perform only safe sex is smaller than those who declare so. I estimated that the number is at least 10% smaller (composed of "open for discussion" or "never").

In order to support this reasoning we conducted parallel and limited survey in two out of the eight countries, where we gave an option to respond on a 100% scale (0%- never perform safe sex, 100%- always perform safe sex).

The results of this limited survey demonstrated that sizeable portion of those who answered on the parallel survey that they "always" perform safe sex marked on the scale that they perform safe sex in less than 100% of the cases.

GME consultants determine that the above mentioned difference between the groups (Lebanon, UAE and Qatar vs the second group with the rest of the countries) is as follows:

In Lebanon, the Helem organization (Lebanon’s national GLBT organization) is actively educating the public as to the dangers of unsafe sex. In the UAE and Qatar, there are many residents from countries around the world in which AIDS awareness and AIDS information is easily available.

Egypt: the survey points to Egypt as the country with the most worrisome data. Only 62% of the survey takers marked that they perform safe sex only, the lowest score among the eight countries involved in our survey. It is reasonable to assume that the persecution policy against gays in Egypt makes the spreading of information difficult, and the absence of any GLBT organization leads to this unfortunate result.

Syria: the survey results indicate that 18% of the survey takers in Syria marked either one of two possibilities (1% never have safe sex, 17% safe sex needs discussion). This paints a dark picture of widespread unsafe sexual relations. Only 6% of the population in Lebanon and UAE were under the above mentioned categories.

Saudi Arabia: in Saudi Arabia 14% answered that the subject of safe sex "need discussion". Saudi Arabia is one of three countries (Kuwait, Syria and Saudi Arabia) in which 64% answered that they perform safe sex only.

UAE and Lebanon: 76% of the survey takers in UAE and 75% in Lebanon stated that they perform safe sex only. These are the highest scores in the sample. In these two countries only 6% said that the safe sex issue "needs discussion".

Jordan: 66% of the survey takers in Jordan answered that they perform only safe sex, a score that gave Jordan the first place in the "lower group" of the results. We surely hope that the Jordanian health authorities, together with the awakening GLBT community in Amman, take action to help Jordan to cross the 70% bar by the next year.

The percentage of those who choose this reply and mean it is close to 100%. No one misunderstands this question or replies inaccurately.

Possibly, due to the apparent optimism and open wording this reply became very popular (17% in Syria). Experience has shown that this reply is a shelter for those who tend to most of the time perform unsafe sex. This reply is also often used by those who often perform unsafe sex but so not want to put themselves in the “never” category.

This is the most complicated answer of them all. From our experience, those who choose this reply can be divided into three main groups:

A. People who do not want to speak about their sexual relations at all, whether because they think it's nobody else's business or because of fear.

B. People who wish not to refer to the subject because they don’t perform safe sex, whether partially or fully.

The percentage of the gay men who do not perform anal sex (group C) is no more than few percentage points. The highest rate is in Syria, where 7% declared that they don’t perform anal sex. However, in most of the countries the percentage does not exceed 3%-4%.

Our experience in surveys shows us that unfortunately the true data regarding people who claim that they perform only safe sex shows that it is not 100 % true. There are however many people who only perform safe sex and accordingly they mark this reply. However, this reply is marked also by people who don’t perform safe sex but do not want to declare so due to various reasons (fear, shame, social pressure, fear of loosing sexual partners etc.).

GME is planning to conduct regular annual survey regarding safe sex in the Middle East. We hope that the National Health Services in the surveyed countries will read the results and take them seriously. As we know, many gay men in the Middle East are married with families. Therefore, safe sex should be a concern not only for the gay population, but the entire population at large.

As GME is one of the gay central communication channels in the area, we are ready and willing to provide any additional information that will contribute to the launching of an information and education campaign throughout the region.

A. Getenio is the responsible for the interpretation of the survey findings. He is the manager of GME and has a long history of promoting of rights of GLBT people. While reading and studying the results of the survey, GME has made all efforts to bring the accurate facts to light.