Damian Barr on Morocco's anti-gay paradox and freeing Ray Cole

I’ve never been anywhere more gay, or more homophobic, than Morocco. I’ve never had more lingering looks or filthy stares than I got in the souk at Marrakech where I was made to feel marginally less valuable than a leather bag. Hisses, whistles and giggles – lingering hands touching my then long blond hair.

I first went to Morocco in the pages of Brideshead Revisited. I went looking for Lord Sebastian Flyte, who I found drunk in the muscular arms of Kurt, the super-Aryan German solider. Soon after I found Paul Bowles and all those other writerly queens colonising – or being colonised by – mesmerising young ‘Arabs’.

It seemed like a place to go and be gay in a sort of E.M. Forsterish sex tourist way. It didn’t appeal. So it took me a long time to visit.

I visited Marrakech a couple times in the mid 2000s, staying at a beautiful riad in the old town restored by a gay friend and his equally charming brother. Their place is beautiful and the staff welcoming – though the female kitchen staff actually took pictures of me cooking dinner one night: they’d never seen a man prepare food.

I went with my boyfriend and a female friend. She was twice our age but gave us a kind of cover we hadn’t thought we might need, but were grateful for. I loved the city and – when I ventured out – the country.

Everywhere men held hands: it was like some vast gay pride. It may have been homo-social, or even homosexual, but it certainly wasn’t gay. I held my boyfriend’s hand just once until a passing Frenchman warned us of the police.

Homosexuality is illegal in Morocco, as 70-year-old Ray Cole now knows. Last month, Ray went on a five week holiday and met up with a local guy he’d met online. The police swooped on them at a bus stop seizing their phones finding photographs of ‘homosexual activity’ on Ray’s phone – the kind of photos lots of us have. Now both men are languishing in Marrakech Central Prison.

Ray only came out a few years ago. His children are leading the campaign to free him. His son reports that “his cell is designed to sleep 44, however since there are 60 men in there my 70-year-old father sleeps on the concrete floor.” His father is being held with murderers and rapists.

Yes we must obey the laws of the countries we choose to holiday in. But there are 77 countries where you can be imprisoned for being gay and a dozen where the death penalty is on offer. Even Charlie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, branded the charges “medieval”. These laws oppress locals and tourists alike. This oppression harms and offends us all, regardless of sexuality.

Homophobia is not a quant local custom – it is not cultural imperialism to demand Ray and his companion be released. Tourism is a major part of the Moroccan economy. Equality is not to be haggled over. So let’s all walk away and see if we can’t change their minds.

Sign the petition calling for Ray Cole’s release here.

Damian Barr is the author of Maggie & Me. Follow Damian on Twitter @Damian_Barr.

Damian Barr on Morocco’s anti-gay paradox and freeing Ray Cole

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