In Egypt I used to go dancing all the time. I love to dance. I dance salsa, tango, you name it.

But you know who didn't love my love for dancing? My mom, she had a very specific reason.

You see, I was single at the time.

When you are single in the Middle East, there is one thing that is more important to your

mom than your career, your health, or even your

happiness.

It's to get married.

You have two choices.

You can marry the person your mom chooses for you or you can marry someone your mom approves.

My mom worried that I might meet someone when I was dancing and marry her.

What kind of woman goes dancing?

She would ask.

And to make matters worse,

dancing is considered and manly in Egypt.

I did meet someone while dancing tango my wife, Hela as a matter of fact the song you hear right now

was our wedding song and of course Hela was not the fluzy my mom feared.

Actually, my mom was there watching us dance and she was very happy for us.

But that's really beside the point.

The generation of my parents didn't think about anything for us

besides being good students, better Muslims, and of course to decide who we

married. Any social activities with the opposite sex were deemed a time bomb that would jeopardize all of the above.

And if you think a single man who then salsa had it bad, the cultural norms facing the queer community were a hundred times worse.

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