By Ramzy, GME Qatar Editor, 07.7.2011

What can be said when the President of the main funding body for Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar an overseer on the board of directors for Weill Cornell as a whole is also the same person who has proudly set up a charity and center that tries to rehabilitate gays and lesbians?

Sheikha Moza bint Nasser al Missnad, wife to the Emir of Qatar, is the President of the Qatar Foundation. The main focus of this organization has been to bring large, well-known names in education to Qatar. It also seems to have plenty of spare money to throw around and has paid big bucks to put their logo on the Barcelona Football Club jersey. Weill’s Cornell, one of the world’s leading Medical colleges has set up shop in Qatar under the umbrella of the Qatar Foundation. Sheikha Moza is also on the board of overseers for all of Weill Cornell. Now, this is particularly alarming because she has also set up the Al Aween center in Doha. The Al Aween center is a social rehabilitation facility that deals with a wide number of issues. However, it is this notion that homosexuality is deviant behaviour that requires rehabilitation at the center that is most concerning.

From Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, we are told:

“Al Aween center was established by the decision of HH Sheikha Moza Bint Naser the chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs as a private , public utility entity subject to the provisions of Decree-Law No (21) for 2006.

The center aims to protect the normal character against deviation from acceptable social behavior, treat people with deviant attitudes, develop self-reliance and self-confidence in such people, prevent them from descending to total breakdown and isolation, and work to integrate them in society. It also works to alert the society against deviation and familiarize individuals with their rights and obligations.

Al Aween is the first center in Qatar to specialize in treating behavioral abnormalities, provide specialized treatment for all kinds of behavioral deviation that require thorough intervention and treatment by specialists, and extend various services in the field of social rehabilitation.”

And in their quest to rehabilitate, the center holds a number of lectures; Dr. Dalia Al Moumen, Psychiatric Consultant General, has held a lecture on “Girl Problems”, discussing “Appearance Modifications and masculine/feminine behaviour”, “Figure and style modifications: like long hair for men and men trousers for girls” and it helps to “clarify the difference aspects between boys and girls”

Another enlightening lecture was on “Sexual identity disorder” where the good doctor discussed “the sexual identity perturbation or what we call imitating men which appear from actions, look, wearing and other…” and “To identify the relation between the behavior and “sexual identity perturbation” as a technical term, also to indicate the interesting feelings associated to this case, like real or biologic sex rejection.” Furthermore, the lecture is designed “To discuss the school girls about Gulf studies results regarding this problem factors and imitating men problem (negative impacts on mental health, and its effects on society, religion and family” and of course, “to present Self support mechanism and SRC role to solve problems.”

Sexual Identity Disorder? Sexual Identity Perturbation? Yes, I’m scratching my head as well. Basically, if you don’t fit into an appropriate mold and are even perceived as being lesbian, or just not being feminine enough, someone could find themselves at this center for rehabilitation.

Sadly, the Psychiatric Senior Consultant at Al Aween, Dr. Abdul Alim Ibrahim, in a short document that can be found on the Al Aween website entitled “How Much Do Homosexuals Impact on Society” states: 

“Through….different situations we can see how homosexuality appears superficially during the last 30 years and what homosexuals gain from rights were not based on scientific studies as it was clarified in Adina city when the last assembly of English Royal Faculty For Psychiatrics was held from 21 to 24/6/2010.

During this assembly they declared that homosexual rights was acquired because of the tension made by powerful homosexuals which affected many civil organizations, human rights organizations, decisions and law makers in different countries.”

This is from the Senior Consultant for Psychiatry who deals with homosexuals. Why is a psychiatrist treating homosexuals for their homosexuality when homosexuality is not considered a mental illness? And why would a medical professional declare that there is no scientific basis for LGBT rights? This is very concerning. His views seem less aligned with science and psychiatry and more in line with conservative religious views.

Other documents on the website discuss how homosexuality is a “behavioural disorder” and how “gender distortion” is an important issue. Of course, this goes right along with Al Aween’s “Vision and Mission” which states:

“Our vision extends to create a new level of individuals family, society protection from the deviant negative social phonemes, deriving from the most punctual scientific standards.

Al Aween is committed to increase the solid sense of responsibility in our culture and the humanitarian moral commitment in a healthy environment with no fear. We are working hardly to keep the balanced normal personality, to avoid any external negative effects and to rehabilitate the affected cases.

Al Aween is aiming, with a team spirit, to face social and behavioral deviance and its effects until we reach a safe community who believes in stable principles and fundamentals.”

Most punctual scientific standards? The lectures themselves show that there is very little scientific information being offered to those being rehabilitated. In fact, the training of these “psychiatrists” should be questioned. Who has deemed these individuals fit to practise psychiatry?

Now, Shiekha Moza is one of 70 on the board of overseers for the school. According to the Weill Cornell website, “The Overseers have responsibility for the general supervision of the programs and operations of the Medical College and Graduate School. Among other responsibilities, the Board oversees academic, financial and other program planning, approves domestic and global affiliations, oversees all clinical, research and administrative facilities, and approves faculty appointments to tenure and endowed professorships.” Granted, the school does work with a number of Christian organizations who may also have controversial views on homosexuality. But, once again, with Shiekha Moza, we are talking about a powerful woman who has actively set up an organization that “rehabilitates” homosexuals. And, she is helping to make important decisions on programs and research. This is worrisome.  

Does this not seem to be ethically wrong? How can one of the main players of Weill Cornell in Qatar believe that gays and lesbians not only can be, but SHOULD be rehabilitated, and has set up a social rehabilitation center to do just that? How is this affecting the teaching that is being done at the school? When it comes to teaching about homosexuality, which is surely a subject that would come up at a medical school, how does Weill Cornell in Qatar deal with this? If the message from the President of Weill Cornell’s funding body in Qatar and an overseer of the school as a whole is funding rehabilitation for gays and lesbians, surely the school is restricted in teaching about such an important issue? Or, is their teaching skewed towards the idea that homosexuality is wrong?

The bottom line is that Weill Cornell has gotten themselves into an ethical bind and it appears that money has won out. Can a school that has compromised its ethics be trusted? Even if the school in Qatar is free to discuss homosexuality without promoting rehabilitation (to the very demographic that could find themselves in the Al Aween Center), the fact that the school has such close ties to someone who has invested money and time into a facility that goes against all modern teachings on the subject of homosexuality raises serious red flags. Will Weill Cornell speak out against Shiekh Moza? Or will money keep them silent? And, although Weill Cornell is most concerning because it is a medical school, Shiekha Moza has honorary doctorates from Virginia Commonwealth University, Texas A&M University, Carnegie Mellon University, Imperial College London, and Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Is it right to award a woman who is essentially sending young gays and lesbians, or even those perceived to be gays and lesbians, to a rehabilitation center really a good candidate for these honors?

Shiekha Moza’s, the wife of the Emir of the richest country in the world, is constantly portrayed as a progressive, elegant, modern woman to the Western world. However, the fact that she set up the Al Aween center calls into question this façade. The hope is that Wiell’s Cornell (and others) will do the right thing and speak out against Shiekha Moza’s Al Aween Center. After all, that would be the ethical thing to do. But are they willing to bite the hand that feeds it?