Gay Travel Book in Translation Trouble

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  07.15.09 | 4:04 PM ET

Long-time Frommers writer Michael Luongo’s “Gay Travels in the Muslim World” has become the first gay-focused English language book to be translated into Arabic. The only catch? Every instance of the word “gay” has been translated to read “pervert.” Luongo had planned a Middle Eastern promotional tour, but, as he told Page Six, “this has thrown a wrench into the plans. Imagine standing in front of a crowd declaring yourself a pervert. So far I have avoided real fatwas, though I’ve been told the Taliban produced a Web site condemning the book. But with this new title, who knows?” (Via The Book Bench)

Tags: Islam, Languages, Travel Books, Literary Travel

Eva Holland is the senior editor of World Hum. Her writing has also appeared in the National Post, the Montreal Gazette, the Ottawa Citizen and WestJet's Up! Magazine, among other publications. She's based in Ottawa, Canada.


1 Comment for Gay Travel Book in Translation Trouble

Grizzly Bear Mom 07.17.09 | 3:46 PM ET

A few months ago we read about a women who arrested for drinking coffee with men that aren’t their husbands.  Doesn’t this book serve as a guidebook for the morals police to arrest Gays?

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