Authorities in Morocco have arrested Ibtissame “Betty” Lachgar, a prominent feminist and human rights activist, over a T-shirt reading, “Allah is lesbian.”
The slogan echoes the phrase “God is a Lesbian,” first published in the 2013 book The Perils of Pedagogy: The Works of John Greyson. The phrase has appeared on T-shirts as both satire and religious critique, according to The New Arab, a London-based pan-Arab news outlet.
In an X post sharing a photo of the shirt, Lachgar wrote, “In Morocco, I walk around with T-shirts bearing messages against religions, Islam, etc. You tire us with your sanctimoniousness, your accusations. Yes, Islam, like any religious ideology, is fascist, phallocratic and misogynistic.”
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rabat said Lachgar, a psychologist who co-founded the Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties (MALI), was arrested on August 10 for allegedly posting a photo “depicting her wearing a shirt with phrases offensive to the divine, along with a caption insulting Islam.”
Moroccan law criminalizes insults to Islam, the monarchy, or incitement against territorial integrity, carrying penalties of up to five years in prison and fines of 500,000 dirhams ($136,130) if committed publicly, including online.
Lachgar is known for organizing demonstrations against male violence and advocating for women’s rights, abortion rights, LGBTQ equality, same-sex marriage, and separation of church and state.
MALI, the group she co-founded, is known for provocative actions challenging religious and social taboos, including a 2013 “kiss-in” outside parliament in Rabat after two teens were arrested for posting a photo of themselves kissing on Facebook.
Lachgar — long a target of criticism and threats from social conservatives — says she has faced additional threats over the T-shirt photo.
Writing on Facebook, Lachgar said that, after publishing the controversial photo on July 31, she became a victim of “cyberbullying, thousands of rape and death threats, and calls for lynching and stoning.”
On Facebook, Lachgar said that after posting the photo on July 31, she was subjected to “cyberbullying, thousands of rape and death threats, and calls for lynching and stoning.” One critic called for her imprisonment.
Several activists defended Lachgar, even while disagreeing with her views, warning of creeping censorship in Morocco.
“I fundamentally disagree with her approach and activism,” Moroccan podcaster Abdelaziz Al-Abdi wrote on Facebook. “But none of this justifies attacking her or supporting the authorities in prosecuting her.”
The National Secular Society (NSS), a British group advocating religious freedom and church-state separation, called for Lachgar’s immediate release.
“Freedom of expression must include freedom to criticise religion, even when that means offending religious sentiments,” said Megan Manson, head of campaigns for the NSS. “We call for Lachgar to be released without charge and for Morocco to put an end to its draconian blasphemy laws.”
The former Kentucky clerk -- and anti-LGBTQ culture warrior -- who went to jail rather than issue licenses to same-sex couples is now targeting the landmark 2015 ruling.
A decade after catapulting to right-wing stardom, Kim Davis -- the former Rowan County, Kentucky county clerk who chose jail over issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples -- has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its landmark 2015 decision that legalized marriage equality nationwide.
Represented by the anti-LGBTQ Liberty Counsel, Davis has formally asked the nation’s highest court to strip away the right of same-sex couples to marry.
A Mike Huckabee acolyte and four-time married fundamentalist zealot, Davis rose to fame in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses to any couple -- gay or straight -- after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision struck down all state-level bans on same-sex marriage, including Kentucky’s. Ordered to comply, she instead spent six days in jail for contempt of court.
On July 29, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court struck down two sections of St. Lucia's criminal code that banned "buggery" and "gross indecency," ruling the laws unconstitutional. The court found that criminalizing private, consensual acts violated fundamental rights to privacy, equality, and liberty guaranteed by St. Lucia's constitution.
Although rarely enforced, the laws carried penalties of up to 10 years in prison. Civil rights advocates argued that their continued existence endangered the LGBTQ community, leaving members vulnerable to harassment, abuse, and violence.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has reposted a CNN clip featuring Doug Wilson, leader of the Christian evangelical movement he follows, in which the pastor calls for making gay sex illegal.
“In the late ’70s and early ’80s, sodomy was a felony in all 50 states. That America of that day was not a totalitarian hellhole,” Wilson says in the seven-minute segment, reports the Daily Beast.
Wilson goes on to say he wishes the United States would revive anti-sodomy laws, which criminalized same-sex relations -- and, in some states, even certain non-vaginal sex acts between consenting heterosexual partners.
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