It's official! QueerPK is banned from viewership in Pakistan as of yesterday! We are mirroring the website onto a new domain! Stay tuned
Queer Pakistan
@QueerPK
It's official! QueerPK is banned from viewership in Pakistan as of yesterday! We are mirroring the website onto a new domain! Stay tuned
Pakistan's Internet watchdog blocked www.queerpk.com, the country's first LGBT website, because it was deemed to be against Islam, reported the Agence France-Presse.
The website was started in July as a platform for Pakistan's marginalized LGBT community to voice concerns, share personal stories and network in the deeply religious country where homosexuality is illegal.
"We blocked the website under the law because its content was against Islam and norms of Pakistani society," said a spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority.
A statement from the website's moderators said, "The government would ban anything that is progressive and talks about the rights of minorities. The government does such things to appease the extreme-right all the time."
The website says:
We're Pakistani so-called LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning) people living in Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Some of are Muslims, some are Christians and some even Atheists and yet we come together for the same cause i.e. to begin the movement to take what's ours.
The aim of the website is to use social media to represent LGBT voices and concerns and also to "provide support to the most marginalized LGBTQ community of Pakistan that has lived in the shadows."
The website can still be accessed from a different domain name.
#QueerPK is now accessible on new domain name http://t.co/S2V98zu7KM! We are determined to fight #censorship if we have your support!
Queer Pakistan
@QueerPK
#QueerPK is now accessible on new domain name http://t.co/S2V98zu7KM! We are determined to fight #censorship if we have your support!