A contestant from India has been forced to withdraw from this year’s Mr Gay World competition, to be held in Knysna next month, after threats to him and his family.
Thahir Mohammed Sayyed, 28, will no longer be joining the other 22 international delegates who will arrive in South Africa on Sunday for the week-long competition (April 26 to May 3).
According to organisers, Sayyed, a part-time model from Brisbane, Australia, feared his religious parents in India would be ostracised.
Reports said that after the delegates were introduced on social media, Sayyed’s father was hounded by religious leaders, who advised he avoid praying at the local mosque. The family has since fled their home.
India reinstated a colonial-era law banning gay sex in December 2013, under which gay sex is punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
Mr Gay World was established in 2009 by Eric Butter and Dean Nelson. Butter said, “We created this event to combat homophobia, but for a delegate and his family to go through this is not acceptable and we have to be sympathetic with him. We wish him strength in these difficult times.”
Cape Argus