By Taleen El Gharib | Local News Junior Editor

The sixth installment of the popular American slasher franchise “Scream 6” has reportedly been banned from screening in Lebanon due to the depiction of LGBTQ+ characters. The film features an openly queer couple, played by Jasmin Savoy Brown and Devyn Nekoda. 

Film critic Anis Tabet broke the news to Twitter earlier this month, which sparked both outrage and concern over the future of the film industry in Lebanon. Many began to speculate whether the highly anticipated Barbie movie will be banned as well, as it is being celebrated by the LGBTQ+ community for its queer-inclusive cast. Tabet clarified that although upcoming movie releases may be advertised in cinemas, that does not mean the movie will be screened. The decision to censor them “doesn’t happen until a few weeks before the release”. 

This isn’t the first time that Lebanon has witnessed such censorship of same-sex depictions in films. Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story prequel “Lightyear” also witnessed a similar fate, as it was not screened in 14 Middle Eastern countries, including Lebanon, due to its inclusion of a same-sex kiss. 

Members of the LGBTQ+ community in Lebanon, as well as the MENA region, have been witnessing major crackdowns on their freedoms, now more than ever. The homophobic sentiment has been largely fueled by governmental and religious authorities, including caretaker Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi who issued a crackdown on LGBTQ+ events back in June 2022. Although such cancellations of pride events in Lebanon happen yearly, there appears to be a worrying rise in anti-LGBTQ+ discourse. As the global film industry pushes for more LGBTQ+ inclusive casts, characters, and storylines, the concern arises over the state of the film industry in countries where queer individuals enjoy no representation or support. 

Pushing for overt queerness in all forms of media has been the goal of many industries globally with calls for non-stereotyped and false representations of LGBTQ+ individuals. As the world seems to be making gradual progress in terms of inclusivity, Lebanon and the MENA region continue to make several steps in the wrong direction. 

It seems that Lebanon’s concern over censoring queer representation has not been subdued over the past few years, even as the country suffers one of the worst economic crises in history.