TUNIS, Tunisia — The wave of homophobia began April 14 when a Tunisian actor went on live television and blatantly made homophobic remarks. Ahmed Landolsi appeared on the popular talk show "El Hiwar Ettounsi" ("The Tunisian Conversation") and was asked about his views on homosexuality. He expressed his belief that “homosexuality is a sickness” and that “Tunisia’s constitution states that the country’s religion is Islam,” so homosexuality is “against the constitution.”

Landolsi’s motivation for these comments remains unclear. He is a key public supporter of the Esperance Football Club in Tunis and his supporters would likely not respond favorably to comments friendly to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. He may have been pandering to these soccer fans or even expressing his true beliefs. Either way, he doubled down on his comments, expressing the same thoughts on Mosaique FM.

The LGBT activist community condemned his comments and implored him to rescind his homophobic remarks, but Landolsi refused. Landolsi’s comments and refusal to apologize were not surprising; he expressed a belief shared by many Tunisians. According to a survey by ELKA Consulting, 64.5% of Tunisians believe homosexuals deserve punishment.

In response to this general acceptance of such normative homophobic comments, Ahmed Ben Amor, vice president of Shams, Tunisia’s first LGBT activist organization, appeared live on "El Hiwar Ettounsi" to publicly condemn Landolsi’s comments and share his organization’s principles. The talk show is not known for being a particularly thoughtful program, and the episode featuring Ben Amor reinforced this idea.