A man who attempted to establish the country’s first gay club in the conservative city of Abbottabad will be detained in a mental hospital by local authorities.
The man applied with the local deputy commissioner to open the club, describing it as a valuable resource and convenience for homosexual, bisexual, and even some heterosexual individuals residing in Abbottabad and other parts of Pakistan.
The man’s application for the gay club stated that a prominent notice would be displayed, warning that no sexual activity would be permitted on the premises. This was intended to ensure that no laws, even outdated ones like Section 377 of Pakistan’s Penal Code which criminalizes same-sex relations, would be violated within the club.
The deputy commissioner’s office in Abbottabad confirmed to the Telegraph newspaper that they had received the application for the gay club and were reviewing it like any other business proposal, without any special consideration or prejudice.
The application for the gay club was leaked on social media, which prompted a strong backlash and outrage from residents and politicians in the conservative northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A leader of the Right-wing Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PATY) said that if permission for the club was granted, there would be “very severe consequences.”
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The leader of the conservative religious Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) party in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly claimed that the man attempting to establish the gay club had recently returned from a visit to the UK.
The man who filed for the club was transferred to the Sarhad Hospital for psychiatric disease in Peshawar on May 9.
His friends were extremely concerned for his safety and that they had been blocked from visiting the man or finding out more information.
