This post was submitted by John "Jolly" Bavoso

Washington, DC, while having the fact that it’s both my home and the political center of the free world going for it, is pretty lacking in the fashion department. In fact, I’d venture to say that the majority of DC residents are aggressively and purposely unfashionable, as if doing one’s part to save the world and wearing running shoes with a suit or pencil skirt are necessarily linked. I know we’re all trying to show how seriously we’re contemplating planetary concerns by not caring about what’s on our backs, but to deny that fashion, like any other area of culture, affects politics or societal norms in a meaningful way is to be willfully ignorant. Considering that industries such as fashion and design are fields in which LGBT people are disproportionately represented (or, at least, recognizable), this interplay is certainly worth thinking about.

While, in general, it’s not particularly revelatory or noteworthy for an individual to be openly gay in the fashion industry in the U.S. and other Western countries, in other parts of the world, especially regions currently negotiating sensitive issues like the acceptance of LGBT peoples and an influx of Western culture, an out homosexual living his or her life openly in any industry can become a force for change.

This has been the experience of Khalid, a young model and writer who is making his mark in the fashion industry while also challenging perceptions about homosexuality in and around the Middle East.

For Khalid, who grew up in Jordan, developing an interest in fashion mirrored his desire to understand who he is and what his place in the world may one day be.

“When I was younger, I wanted to be everything, but I never felt I could be part of anything,” he said recently, via email. “The fashion world interested me earlier in life, then it became a calling, so in one way or another I always wanted to be part of the fashion world. I always say, you end up living what you’re attracted to in life. You are what you want to be.”

When he was 14-years-old he stood head and shoulders above everyone else in his class and was taller than many of the boys in the older grades as well. While his height was initially a source of insecurity for Khalid, when a female friend told him that models are tall and suggested he look into fashion, he knew he had found his life’s work.

“I began modeling slightly thereafter, doing everything from participating in school fashion-related events to modeling for school student magazines and writing for local magazines in Jordan, which I took seriously for a while,” Khalid recalls. “Then I started to consider modeling for my own articles and writing became my ticket into the industry. Combining both was very original for me. I still practice both.”

In addition to recently appearing in features in the Dutch magazine Join and the Palestinian magazine Beksoos, Khalid keeps up with his writing by running the online publication My.Kali.mag.

“My.Kali.mag is an LGBT online magazine that speaks to the minds that live in the Middle East or the Arab world,” he explains. “Many LGBT people live in isolation, feeling they’re the only ones who are going through this. In one way or another, the media forces certain images on the public, especially Western images that couldn’t possibly be worn in our culture, which is often opposed to lifestyle differences.

“My.Kali.mag doesn’t force a certain image for others to copy or embrace. The idea of the magazine is to comfort our readers, to let them know what self-love and acceptance are and how to find them. And that is the essence of My.Kali.mag, to know what it really feels like to love yourself and relate to others.”

While Khalid has no interest in imposing his personal style on others, he does take its cultivation very seriously.

“Every style has its own inspirational code, starting with simple basics, moving on to completing the outfit with what’s fashionably and acceptably ‘weird,’ and then ending with original personal touches. Fashion is passion, after all. I like to base my picks on the 80s cool-vibes, which encapsulate my sense of style.”

And his own personal style development has fallen in line recently with that of some parts of Amman, Jordan’s capital city and Khalid’s home. As the city has become more cosmopolitan and open to new fashions, it has also inched its way toward a greater acceptance of LGBT peoples -  an impressive feat in a country where homosexuality is not technically illegal but is still considered highly taboo.

“High street-fashion is what I consider the Ammani look. However, Amman is a very relaxed city; fashion is still green here, which allows new outfitters to pop up effortlessly in their own ways,” Khalid says.

“Jordan is letting the arms of judgment down slowly, giving space for the LBGT community to breathe a little. Social life for LGBT people had progressed much more compared to just a few years back. Gay hangouts and parties are always in reach. But just like any kind of development, it has its pros and cons. The liberated lifestyle that is being embraced here could be taken into the extreme, which Amman may not be ready for. If we forget the conservative environment we still live in, in the longer run it could turn ugly. Don’t get me wrong, if Amman isn’t as open minded as I’m saying, I wouldn’t be here. There’s the sense of decency our culture requires, however, and we shouldn’t pass on that. We need to own respect to demand it.”

And how does Khalid feel about being, in one tiny way, a part of that opening up? Of being an openly gay model in the Middle East?

“It’s not as difficult as others may think, but sometimes I get the feeling of ‘What the heck am I doing?’ But when people come up to me at events telling me how inspired they are, then I feel like I must have done something right. But I don’t think my sexuality has affected my life negatively in any way. If anything, my life feels very whole.”

While Khalid is proud to be part of a cultural transformation in Jordan, he’s unsure of how his work can, or should, impact gay politics in the region.

“In our generation everything is possible, but it’s hard to imagine [that fashion can directly influence LGBT politics],” he says. “They’re both in two different categories that can’t be combined in one chapter. Fashion could be influenced by politics, because fashion always loves its opposites, but not the other way around. Right now you can’t be a fashion designer and a politician, although I think it’s a cool idea.

“However, in terms of personal politics, as I recently learned, many designers do let you wear your sexual identity in their own designs, and that could be a statement in and of itself. So in that sense, fashion and design could definitely influence people’s personal politics when it comes to LGBT issues.”

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