That engaging in gay sex in Saudi Arabia was punishable by death is not news.  Sodomy can be punished by whipping, castration, or — especially for second offenses — death.  Gay life flourishes there in spite of the rigid Saudi enforcement of sharia.  Or alternatively, the Atlantic magazine suggests, gay life flourishes precisely because of the rigid Saudi enforcement of sharia.  Controls on young women are so strong that they often turn to each other because they cannot meet young men, and young men who cannot date a girl can visit with other young men without question.

“It’s a lot easier to be gay than straight here,” he had said. “If you go out with a girl, people will start to ask her questions. But if I have a [man] upstairs and my family is downstairs, they won’t even come up.” …

In Saudi Arabia, “It’s easier to be a lesbian [than a heterosexual]. There’s an overwhelming number of people who turn to lesbianism,” Yasmin said, adding that the number of men in the kingdom who turn to gay sex is even greater. “They’re not really homosexual,” she said. “They’re like cell mates in prison.”

Now the Kingdom is turning its sights on social media use in its latest attempt to force sexuality to comply with sharia.  The internet is bringing perversion, lawmakers claim, and making it easier for gays to meet and arrange dates.  35 cases of homosexuality have been tried in the last six months, along with 50 cases of cross-dressing (also a crime).  Last summer raids on “gay parties” netted both suspected gays and, less deniably, alcohol.

One man, caught using Twitter to arrange gay liaisons, was sentenced to three years and 450 lashes.  He was caught because Saudi police now have officers going online to pose as gay men seeking sex with other men.

The Obama administration likes to portray itself as a friend to the LGBT community, but it has faltered where sharia is concerned.  In 2010, a gay Saudi diplomat named Ali Ahmad Asseri applied for asylum in the United States over fears he would be “killed in broad daylight” for his sexuality.  The Obama administration denied him asylum, and rejected his appeal in 2014.

“I come from the darkest place on earth,” Asseri said in an interview with CNN. “We are brainwashed that we have the best system and sharia law comes from god. But they teach us to hate others.”

He was expecting a new hearing in 2015, but so far it seems to have been delayed.  Hope may lie in in the delay.  A new President may be more willing to address the brutal realities of sharia law for sexual minorities.