Saudi authorities have been confiscating children’s toys and clothes with rainbow patterns because they allegedly promote homosexuality.
A report by state television channel Al Ekhbariya shows store officials with some of the products with the Claire’s Accessories logo, telling a reporter that the products posed a risk to young people.
The reporter tells viewers that items such as forks, tags, stylized animal face design bags, unicorn headbands, multicolored nail polish sets, and other rainbow-toned gifts , have been “confiscated”.
On the ground floor of the journalist and store officials – who he says is in one of Riyadh’s markets – is a growing pile of rainbow-colored items apparently taken from the shelves.
The journalist explains that the objects have been confiscated by the Ministry of Commerce because they are related to homosexuality and, what is “amazing”, is that they are for children.
An officer in a green uniform tells him that the colors promote homosexuality and that the items are “aimed” at the younger generation.
A tweet from the Ministry of Commerce with similar images leads an official to tell people that while visiting the mall, his team had detected “a series of violations of public morality” while showing a package labeled on camera. with the tag Crayola.
The translated tweet reads: “Our monitoring teams conduct rounds of outlets, seize and confiscate products that contain symbols and indications that call for anomalies and contradict normal common sense …”.
He adds that “legal sanctions” have been imposed on those who violate the rules.
The rainbow flag has been increasingly adopted as a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer social movements and LGBT social movements.
Image: Saudi authorities have been confiscating rainbow toys in a crackdown on homosexuality. Image: Al Ekhbariya
It is believed, however, that most of the confiscated toys used the colors for decoration, to attract young children.
According to Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia outlaws same-sex relationships and criminalizes forms of gender expression.