Elton John was scheduled to perform in a private concert in Egypt on May 18 as part of his "I'm Still Standing Tour" but was barred from doing so by the Egyptian musicians' union.

 

Contactmusic.com reported that Mounir al-Wasimi, the head of Egypt's Musician Union said his country could not allow: "A homosexual who wants to ban religions, claimed that the prophet Issa (Jesus) was gay and calls for Middle Eastern countries to allow gays to have sexual freedom" to perform.

The 63-year-old singer was quoted as saying, in a February issue of Parade magazine, that Jesus was a "compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems."

He added: "On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East – you're as good as dead."

As Jesus is considered a prophet in Islam – the main religion practiced in Egypt, John's statement could be taken as an affront to the religion.

Egyptian law probibits homosexuality. In a case that made headlines around the world, 52 men were arrested on May 11, 2001, aboard a floating gay nightclub called the Queen Boat, which was moored on the Nile in Cairo, Egypt. The men were reportedly subjected to beatings and forensic examinations to "prove their homosexuality". Twenty-one of the men were convicted of the "habitual practice of debauchery," one man of "contempt for religion," and another, accused of being the "ringleader," was convicted of both charges and received the heaviest sentence, five years' hard labour. A fifty-third man, a teenager, was tried in juvenile court, was sentenced to the maximum penalty of three years in prison, to be followed by three years of probation. After a retrial in 2003, 21 men were handed three-year jail sentences and twenty-nine were acquitted.