Airdate: How Gay is Pakistan?

Tomorrow night ABC2 screens the documentary, How Gay is Pakistan?, which looks at how being gay in Pakistan is punishable by up to ten years in prison and, in some cases, death by stoning.

Yet, despite this, the country has a vibrant gay scene that’s growing.

This is a complicated place, where homosocial behaviour, like men holding hands, is common and accepted. In this revealing journey to the country of his birth, presenter Mawaan Riswan talks to the people struggling to assert their sexuality against a complex backdrop.

From the activists campaigning for gay rights despite the threat of violence, to the transgender sex worker considering surgery, and the men who identify as straight but enjoy gay sex, Mawaan discovers a fascinating world hidden from public view. During his time in Pakistan he’s also surprised to be offered a miracle herbal cure for his own homosexuality.

In this country, gay sex is practised privately more than Mawaan thought possible. In How Gay is Pakistan? he uncovers poignant stories that epitomise the LGBT experience in a country riven with contradiction

8:30pm Friday on ABC2.