Sandra Melhem (Arabic: ساندرا ملحم) is a Lebanese entrepreneur and LGBT rights activist. She is the owner of Projekt / Ego Beirut club, a popular LGBT-friendly venue. Melhem founded Queer Relief Fund, a humanitarian charity, in the aftermath of the 2020 Beirut explosion. She received a special mention award for her humanitarian engagement at the International Prize for LGBT rights ceremony held in 2021 in Paris.
Quick Facts Nationality, Years active ...
Sandra Melhem |
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| Nationality | Lebanese |
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| Years active | 2015–present |
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| Organization |
- Ego Beirut
- Queer Relief Fund
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| Known for | LGBT rights activism |
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In 2015, Melhem founded Projekt / Ego Beirut club north of the Lebanese capital with four LGBT friends. Neither Melhem nor any of the other founding members had any experience in club management. She was encouraged however by increased openness towards LGBT people in Lebanon, and the need for a safe meeting space for the local and regional LGBT community. The club quickly became one of the most popular LGBT party hotspots.
Melhem advocates for LGBT equality and inclusion, particularly for transgender individuals. She showcases gay artists at her venues and events to raise public awareness and break societal misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding LGBT individuals and culture. Melhem was an early supporter of the Lebanese drag community. She arranged —with Lebanon's pioneering drag queens Evita Kedavra and Anya Kneez— and hosted Beirut's first drag show in 2015. According to Melhem, supporting drag artists and organizing drag shows are a form of protest against societal norms, and an invitation to the public to explore queer art and entertainment. Melhem is credited with contributing to the growth of the drag movement in Beirut; she hosts the Beirut Grand Ball, the biggest annual drag event in Lebanon. Melhem's Projekt/ EGO Beirut club, considered the foremost among Beirut's gay safe spaces, paved the way for the local drag scene to grow, and for a wider appreciation of queer art. Melhem is also active in initiatives that address disparities in access to healthcare resources and mental health management for LGBT residents of Lebanon.[18]
Sandra founded 'Queer Relief Fund', a humanitarian charity offering financial assistance to marginalized queer individuals affected by the 2020 Beirut explosion. The blast was particularly damaging to the gay-friendly neighborhood of Mar Mikhael, where beneficiaries were assisted with medical fees, home repair and relocation costs, and AIDS medical management.
In 2021, Melhem was given the Leader in LGBT Health Equity Award by the Lebanese Medical Association for Sexual Health (LebMASH). On IDAHOT 2021, Melhem received a special mention award for her humanitarian engagement at the International Prize for LGBT rights ceremony held by the City of Paris.
Melhem is openly gay. In a 2018 interview, Melhem spoke about her coming out experience, describing it as “well accepted”.
General and cited sources
- A., Khaled (31 August 2021). "Anya Kneez: On Building a Drag Scene and Rebuilding Beirut". My Kali. Archived from the original on 13 October 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- Aagaard, Thomas (5 April 2022). "For fem år siden forelskede jeg mig i Beiruts første drag queen. Jeg vendte tilbage og så en bevægelse genrejse sig" [Five years ago, I fell in love with Beirut's first drag queen. I returned and saw a movement recover]. Zetland (in Danish). Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- Beirut Pride (2018). "Beirut Grand Ball". Beirut Pride. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- David, Laura (2 December 2021). "Not a Monolith: What the Queer Response to the Beirut Blast can Teach Us about Lebanon and the Middle East". Brown Political Review. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- Enzerink, Suzanne (2021). "Arab Archipelagoes: Revolutionary Formations and a Queer Undercommons in Saleem Haddad's Guapa". Feminist Formations. 33 (1): 245–274. doi:10.1353/ff.2021.0011. ISSN 2151-7371. S2CID 236665292.
- Gough, Sam (19 August 2020). "'I can't think of the future': Beirut's LGBT+ community bruised and broken after explosion". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- Gubash, Charlene (5 September 2020). "For Beirut's gay community, chemical blast shattered a safe space". NBC News. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- el-Hage, Anne-Marie (7 September 2020). "Durement touchée par la catastrophe, la communauté homosexuelle se mobilise" [Hard hit by the disaster, the homosexual community mobilizes]. L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- Hourany, Dana (1 June 2021). "Unity in marginalization – Lebanon's queer community comes together amid crisis". Nowlebanon. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- Institute for Development Research Advocacy and Applied Care (IDRAAC) (19 May 2021). "Mental Health Challenges Faced by the LGBTIQ+ Community in Lebanon". Mindclinics. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- Jahshan, Elias (3 August 2021). "Post-blast, Beirut's LGBTQ+ community beset by homelessness". Alalaraby. Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- LebMASH (30 March 2021). "Congrats to Sandra Melhem and Dayna Ash on receiving LebMASH's Leader in LGBT Health Equity Award for 2021. Their support to the LGBTQ community in Lebanon throughout the past year has truly left a positive impact on the livelihood of many vulnerable members of our community!". Twitter. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- Massain, Cécile (21 October 2020). "Lebanese voices – 3". Guiti News. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- Olea, Andrea (2019a) [2019-06-07]. "Beyrouth : Comment les clubs des élites bourgeoises se sont ouverts à un public populaire et diversifié" [Beirut: How the clubs of the bourgeois elites opened to a popular and diverse public]. Trax Magazine (in French). Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- Olea, Andrea (2019b) [2019-03-27]. "Beirut, un refugio para la comunidad LGBT en el mundo árabe" [Beirut, a haven for the LGBT community in the Arab world]. Pikara magazine (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- Richard, Anaïs (17 April 2018). "Being a young LGBT member in Beirut". Medium. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- Seigneur, Marguax (29 March 2022). "Le retour du Grand Ball de Beyrouth !". Agenda Culturel. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- Satenstein, Liana (5 February 2019). "Inside Beirut's Bright and Beautiful Drag-aissance". Vogue. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
- Tlozek, Eric; Yazbeck, Cherine (22 September 2020). "Beirut was a haven for drag queens. The blast has left them with nowhere to go". ABC News. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- Ville de Paris (17 May 2021). "Les lauréats du prix international pour les droits des personnes LGBTQI+ dévoilés". City of Paris official website (in French). Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
