Khalid Abdel-Hadi | |
|---|---|
 Abdel-Hadi on the February 2014 cover of My Kali | |
| Born | Amman, Jordan |
Khalid Abdel-Hadi (born 1989) [note 1] is a Jordanian LGBT rights activist and model, best known for founding My.Kali , the first LGBT magazine in the Middle East. Abdel-Hadi was listed as one of The Guardian's "LGBT change heroes of 2017". [1]
Abdel-Hadi was born and raised in Amman, Jordan. His family has Palestinian and Kurdish-Turkish roots. Abdel-Hadi was bullied at school for acting feminine. [2] He came out to his mother at age 14, telling her he liked men; she told him he was "just yearning for a father figure". [2] [3]
He graduated from the University of Petra in 2014. [4]
Abdel-Hadi was interested in magazines since childhood. He had attempted to intern at local publications, but was turned down for being "too out there". [5] In 2007, at age 17, he decided to found My Kali with some of his friends, with the aim of providing LGBT-related content. [5] On 30 October 2007, a local Jordanian publication, Ammon News, reported on its launch, reprinting My Kali's cover image of a shirtless Abdel-Hadi, though it identified him only as a "gay Jordanian teen". [5] [6] This article was referenced by numerous publications, outing Abdel-Hadi. [5] [6] At the time, Abdel-Hadi feared for his life. [5] [7] Abdel-Hadi recounted this event for the 2022 anthology, This Arab Is Queer.
In 2022, Abdel-Hadi co-curated Habibi, Les Révolutions de l’Amour, an exhibition of LGBT artists from the Arab world and diaspora, at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. [8]
Abdel-Hadi often collaborates with photographers and artists. In November 2017, for example, he was a subject for French photographer Scarlett Coten's series of portraits entitled "Mectoub" of young men from Middle Eastern countries. Coten photographed Abdel-Hadi wearing a black high-waist swimsuit and heels. [9]
In 2011, Abdel-Hadi angered many conservative LGBTQ Muslims by posing for a photoshoot in a speedo on Rainbow Street, Amman, with a mosque in the background. He later published a public apology for the shoot in Gay Star News. [10]
Abdel-Hadi is gay and queer. [5] [11] He is also Muslim. [11]
He rarely makes media appearances outside his own publication and those of people who are close to him, [12] and has said he dislikes being the center of attention and speaking in front of crowds. [2]
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