Sam J. Chalhoub

Mohamad’s article: http://justpaste.it/yfs

Hello Mohamad. 

First of all, I am wondering what kind of curiosity has led you to do the researches shared in the second paragraph. If you see what I mean. 

Here’s my story: 

-The other day, I saw a couple holding hands along the streets. Normally I would never look twice, but something was not right. 

I thought they were family members. But the ‘old’ lady (around 60 years old) and the young man (around 20) were holding hands way too romantically. The sight was disturbing. 

-Even some Americans might see them wrong, or act like I did. 

-God created Adam before Eve, so men must be older than women when it comes to love and for some, this is against the nature and the whole cosmos. 

But what I know is that they are happy together, at least it’s clear. And I know that writing an article expressing my feelings towards the couple won’t affect any of its members. In the end, we live in a society and in a society, no one has the same education level, culture, opinions or sexual orientation, or else war wouldn’t have been there someday, at some point. 

You must know that as well. It’s a melting pot. You’re not alone, we’re not all here to please your mind, we are far from being/thinking the way you are/think. 

Thank you for understanding, 

Sam.

“Hello. My name is Nada. I used to live in Lebanon before I move to Sri Lanka, so I could help my family. We’re having a lot of financial problems, and I heard that Sri Lanka was the best country when it comes to domestics, knowing that a part of my friends have moved there to work. 

I’ve been applying to many agencies. I got called from Colombo. Heading to the airport on the very next night, I was very sad to leave my family for three years. My parents couldn’t come to say goodbye, we don’t have a car at home and not enough money to call a cab. I left.

Colombo. I was sent directly to the agency. I saw the family I’m going to work with. They were signing some papers before taking me home. I was waiting outside, thinking of my parents. Madam has smiled to me before saying bye to the agent. 

Home. If I can call it so… I’ve been learning to cook Pol Sambola all day. I was trying to taste it until Madam came and slapped me on the hand with a table spoon. She taught me how to say sorry in their language, “tchit”. And that was the only word I could say when she was around. She thought that I was stupid, that I don’t know how to cook and always said in front of me: यह पिछली बार जब मैं एक लेबनानी लड़कीकिराया, which means that this is the last time she hires a Lebanese domestic. The telephone was locked and I couldn’t call my parents to express how I feel, nor go and talk to another Lebanese domestic who lives in the building located in front of where I work. Madam had two sons. One was 19 years old, Aditi,  and Abha was 16. When she used to go to her friends’, I used to stay home with them. Mister is not in the country. 

Last week, Aditi called me. He was in his room. I knocked the door. He told me to enter. Aditi was naked on the bed with a belt next to him. I ran in the house screaming, no one heard. He took me using my hair and threw me on his bed. He prevented me of using his belt if I won’t do what he wants me to do. I was screaming “ya emmeh, ya bayyeh, dakhilkoun”. Abha came with a video camera in his hand. He was filming everything. 

On the next day, I couldn’t work correctly. I was crying all the time. I got my daily slaps from Madam. I didn’t feel them, my inside pain was more painful. 

Madam left the house. Abha forgot to lock the phone. When I was trying to use it, Aditi called me again. Here we go, but this time, he used his belt. My skin became red with a touch of black. When Madam came back home, she saw it and asked what happened. I told her everything. She called her sons and said, “Assholes! Didn’t you find any other girl to play with? She is dirty!”

I couldn’t take it anymore, and it was only the second month. My passport was hidden. I couldn’t leave the country. Sri Lanka is horrifying, I wanted to be with my parents. The door was locked. I went crazy. I went to the kitchen where I used to sleep, opened the window, waited for the first car to pass by and I threw myself out of the window. 

I died.

I was all around the press, they all said that Lebanese domestics are crazy. They don’t understand.”

Nada represents more than 400,000 domestics in Lebanon and the Middle East. Say no to domestic violence. 

More from Sam on Facebook: www.facebook.com/samjchalhoub

Tweet Sam: @samchalhoub 

I would like to introduce myself. I’m Sam Chalhoub. I used to be one of the most bullied students at school. And if I had to say what I’m about to say in the 80s (always been a loser in history), Hitler would have killed me. 

Hello Lebanese citizen. I am proud to stand here tonight. With hearts full of love and justice, I have come to expose the truth of our lives and silence liars. I have come to challenge discrimination that is paralyzing every single one of us. I have come to defend our honor and win our equality. But most of all I have come in peace and with courage to say, “Lebanon, we are not hiding anymore. Because starting this day, with love in our hearts, we’re building a bridge where no one suffers because of their sexual orientation or their gender.”

To my country of love, to my country of democracy, to my country where everyone is welcomed, shouldn’t we get a small part of your heart that protects us from discrimination? Don’t we have a place to feel happy and secure in the same time? Why do we have to hide every time we want to be happy? Why do you have to blame or censure this happiness and consider it to be against nature? Why? 

If a part of your population is not safe in your lands because they are showing their happiness, then you are not a country. If a part of your population has to play hide and seek every time they appear in society, then you are not a country. If you think that punishing a part of your population that is at least being true to itself, then you are definitely not a country.

 
And when we talk about homophobia, why does the rainbow flag have to be burnt by some people who don’t accept the fact that being a part of the LGBT community is being a ‘normal’ citizen, human, thinker and what all the others are and more. Yes, more. Studies show that homosexuals have a more developed artistic vision due to a more developed sensibility and sensuality.
It is a community based on a conscious or an unconscious suffering during the first age. Is suffering a fact that should be rejected, mocked, assaulted or violently abused? Is it human to mock people fighting cancer or aids or any other factor that made them suffer - or are still suffering - once upon a time? Do we have the right to throw them in jail, or kill them by groups? If yes, then what’s to blame? Suffering?

A holy marriage where God gave their parents the permission of founding a family based on love and trust. And they were born. Christians, Muslims, Buddhists or Jews, LGBT* are fruits of divinity. You as a religious population say that God is perfect. How can he create something that he is against? You’re about to link this to criminals and law-breakers, but what you don’t know is that we, humans, made them out to be what they are. We made them imperfect by not looking at them the way they should have been looked at, by not giving them what they need from finance to affection. A killer will never kill for no reason, a pickpocket will never steal if he didn’t need it. A psychopath didn’t choose to be a psychopath. You, society, made them and their parents a victim of the unknown. 
If God had the cruelty of punishing all of the societies for what they have made of our brothers and sisters, he would have made all of them burn in hell. However, God is way too love-giving. He loves you, loves me, loves every suffering person and knows exactly who the real criminal is and law-breaker. There are no sins. There are only a cycle of victims being cruel towards each other. You say that only God can judge you. Well, who are you to judge God for who he loves and who he doesn’t?

Let me end this speech by making you agree with my words. Dear Lebanese citizen, together we can rule the world. Keep that in mind: If we can change a mentality, we can change a society. 

The subject of this article is far from my intellectual capacities, but I’m writing.

“They are the opposite of nature”, “They are against the religion”, “They are a living sin” and the judgments are still around. Who are they? 
A holy marriage where God gave their parents the permission of founding a family based on love and trust. And they were born. Christians, Muslims, Buddhists or Jews, LGBT* are fruits of divinity.

You as a religious say that God is perfect. How can he create something that he is against? You’re about to link this to criminals and law-breakers, but what you don’t know is that we, humans, made of them what they are. We made them imperfect by not looking at them the way they should have been looked at, by not giving them what they need from finance to affection. A killer will never kill for no reason, a pickpocket will never steal if he didn’t need it. A psychopath didn’t choose to be a psychopath. You, society, made them and their parents a victim of the unknown. 
If God had the cruelty of punishing all of the societies for what they have made of our brothers and sisters, he would have made all of them burn in hell. But God is way too love-giving. He loves you, loves me, loves every suffering person and knows exactly who’s the real criminal and law-breaker. 
There are no sins. There only are a cycle of victims cruel towards each other. You say that only God can judge you. Well, who are you to judge God for who he loves and who he doesn’t?

I - as a religious - love God. And I am practically more than sure that he is beside me, you, and every aching heart. So if you think that LGBT is a sinner community, then you should review your sense of faith.

*LGBT:  Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders. 

facebook.com/samjchalhoub 

This article belongs to the freedom of speech, I hope.

  On this very first day of 2012, I am writing about LGBT internationally. I actually spent the new year’s eve at a mostly Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender party. When the dance floor started to be fully peopled, three male dancers came on the top and danced on the rhythm of the music. Two of them were topless, wearing slim pants and high heals. Another dancer was a male-to-female, wearing a dress. They were dancing in a very professional way, when it comes to women.

While shouting to encourage them, I got poked by one of the men saying, “Do you think that this is tolerable?” I turned to answer, “Are you straight?”. The man was actually straight. The first words that came out of my lips were “You know, you’re at an LGBT party. Here, you’re free. You can criticize, but as long as you’re enjoying, you don’t have any right to be against”. The man hesitated replying, “No, don’t get me wrong. I understand, but I think that what these guys are doing is not acceptable.” The conversation ended with a smile.

We can’t tag this man of being homophobic, or else he would have hit more than the half of the attendees. This man was actually enjoying the party knowing that he was at an LGBT party.

But when it comes to homophobia, why does the rainbow flag have to be burnt by some people who don’t accept the fact that being a part of the LGBT community is being a ‘normal’ citizen, human, thinker and what all the others are and more. Yes, more. Studies show that homosexuals have a more developed artistic vision due to a more developed sensibility and sensuality. It is a community based on a conscious or an unconscious suffering during the first age. Is suffering a fact that should be rejected, mocked, assaulted or violently abused? Is it human to mock people fighting cancer or aids or any other factor that made them suffer - or are still suffering - once upon a time? Do we have the right to throw them in jail, or kill them by groups? If yes, then what’s to blame? Sufferance?

The University of Georgia has made some studies on a group of 60 men, divided between a group of homophobic men and another group of straight men that have no problems with the homosexuals. They were to watch a 4 minutes gay porn video, and they were related to a sensor that recognizes any excitement. The results showed that the homophobic people got aroused while the other hand didn’t make any physical/sexual reaction. I’ll let you make the researches in order to know why did the results go this way. But in sum, is there any hidden affections in the homophobic that scare them too much that they have to reject them? Well, talking about diseases, I guess that this case is to be discussed. Let’s end this opinion before I start saying whatever comes on my mind.

If you are a homophobic reader, I hope that these words made you realize how non-sensed is to fight for something that is maybe hidden inside. But try to save your words and actions against people who deserve all the best in their lives, as much as you do. If not, then keep it up. You and only you can make a change.

Like Sam on Facebook facebook.com/samjchalhoub 

I believe that women should be added to natural disasters