A Lebanese Rocker Caught in a Human Rights Incident Over Rainbow Flags<br />"She’s like, ‘Stay in the states!’ ‘I can’t afford a house here, woman!’ She’s like, ‘I’ll buy you a house!’" But Mr. Sinno, who has dual Lebanese and United States citizenship, doesn’t feel much more at ease in America than he does in the Middle East, saying<br />that the "in your face" racism he encounters here is at least as bad as the homophobia back home.<br />Mashrou’ Leila was banned from Egypt, and homophobic rumors swirled online, including<br />that the concert had been a 35,000-person orgy — "which, even if you try to entertain the idea, seems really, really difficult to organize," Mr. Sinno said with a bitter laugh.<br />That same trip, Mr. Sinno found himself torn after the mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Fla., wanting to stand with the gay<br />and lesbian community even as online trolls called him a "terrorist." "It’s literally disillusioning to have to do away with the romanticized narrative of the U.S. that I had," he said.<br />" Mr. Sinno said. that My mother really doesn’t want me to go back to Beirut,<br />Though he grew up speaking mostly English, he studied Arabic to write lyrics, with the goal of "bringing poetry into Arabic pop music." One song, "Shim El Yasmine,"<br />or "Smell the Jasmine" ("I would have liked to keep you near me, / Introduce you to my parents") has been described as Arab pop’s first gay love song.<br />" Mr. Sinno said glumly. that In the past two years, we’ve lost our two biggest markets, Jordan and Egypt,
