Gays, tomboys banned from Saudi Arabia public schools

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has banned gays and tomboys from its public schools, a report on the news site Emirates 24/7 said. There was no indication how Saudi Arabia’s religious police would detect who among the nation's student population were gay and tomboys.  Saudi Arabia is the second leading destination of Filipino workers overseas. According to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), there were over 1.5 million Filipinos in Saudi as of 2010. Most children of OFWs in Saudi Arabia go to international private schools which are not covered by the ban. 

 

Quoting a report on the Arabic language news daily Sharq, Emirates 24/7 said Saudi Arabia’s religious police under the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has been directed to prevent homosexuals from entering government schools and universities.

 

“Instructions have been issued to all public schools and universities to ban the entry of gays and tomboys and to intensify their efforts to fight this phenomenon, which has been promoted by some websites,” the newspaper report said.

 

It was not clear where the instructions came from, but the newspaper said these were “high-level orders.”

 

The commission was also instructed to step up its efforts against this “unacceptable behavior” in public places, according to the report.

 

The report added that gays and tomboy students will still be allowed to go back to their schools “if they prove they have been corrected and have stopped such practices.”

 

The Saudi government follows Shari’ah or Islamic law, which strictly prohibits the open display of homosexual behavior.

 

Two years ago, the Saudi government banned the recruitment of gay and lesbian workers to the Middle Eastern country.

 

The consular section of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia even reminded recruitment agencies in Manila at that time to be stricter in screening job applicants to the kingdom. - Andreo Calonzo/VVP/HS, GMA News