A man in Pakistan who tried to establish the nation's first gay club has been sent to a mental hospital. According to the Pakistani media reports, after seeing his actions, religious scholars said he was influenced by a recent return from the UK.
The man's identity was not disclosed in a news report. Application submitted to build the gay club in Abbottabad, a city in northern Pakistan with 240 million population. In his application to the government officials, he proposed to open a gay club named Lorenzo, which would serve as a "great convenience and resource for many homosexual, bisexual, and even some heterosexual people residing in Abbottabad in particular, and in other parts of the country in general."
However, gay sex is criminalized in Pakistan, punishable by prison sentences of up to two years. Additionally, the deeply conservative culture makes it difficult to be openly gay. As a result, the man was transferred to the Sarhad Hospital for psychiatric diseases in Peshawar on May 9. He faced significant abuse for his application from local citizens and politicians alike.
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According to the Telegraph report, the leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) party, a conservative religious group, claimed that the applicant's attempt to set up the club followed a recent return from the UK.
A local MP from the Pakistan Awami Tehreek party expressed extreme opposition, stating he would have doused the club with petrol and set it alight, while the party leader, Naseer Khan Nazir, warned of "very severe consequences" if the club was allowed to open.