Community Declares Daytime Curfew to Protest ‘L Word’ Posters

By Abdel Moein

News Item: British Muslim activists have stepped up a campaign to deface or rip down advertising billboards featuring scantily-clad women in communities with large numbers of Muslims… Sky television news reported from the English city of Birmingham that the campaign has achieved some of its goals as there were now few such billboards close to mosques.

QUEENS, NY -- The normally bustling Steinway street, home to one of New York City’s highest concentration of Muslim residents, now looks like a ghost town during the day. Instead of the usual throngs of shoppers and lunchtime diners descending on the various Middle Eastern grocery stores, bakeries, travel agencies, restaurants, and check cashing establishments in what is now referred to as Little Cairo, the street is now virtually empty during daylight hours.

Longtime local resident Constantine Stephanopoulos, an 80-year-old retiree, was the only one on the street on this particular afternoon. “I don’t know what happened. Whenever I go for my daily walk, I usually can’t breathe because of all that smoke coming out of those damn coffeeshops,” said Stephanopoulos, referring to the wafting aroma of the ubiquitous traditional Arabic waterpipe, known as sheesha or argilah, that has become so popular along this thoroughfare. “Now I can finally smell the exhaust from all the cars on the Grand Central Parkway, just like the old days,” he reminisced.

The reason for the dramatic decline in pedestrian traffic is a self-imposed daytime curfew by local residents in protest against a series of bus stop posters advertising the season premiere of “The L Word,” Showtime’s hit comedy-drama series which follows the lives of a group of lesbians, their friends, family and neighbors. Area residents feel that the posters are deeply offensive.

“This is so insulting,” says Mohammadein Abdel Moneim, the imam of one of the neighborhood mosques and one of the organizers of the curfew. “It’s bad enough that they are showing these naked woman, but they are also lesbians. It’s a double insult a’udhubillah.”

“Look at this dirty stuff. They are all showing their hair and arms and legs and everything and they are all sitting with their body touching and getting excited,” continued Abdel Moneim, who is a graduate of King Abdul Aziz University for Righteous Thinking. “I cannot believe,” he said.

But why only a curfew during the day?

“At the night, it is too dark, so we can’t see the pictures,” explained Hasanein Ghanem, a local who usually spends his nights hanging out at the Hezz ya Wezz Café watching Hayfa Wahbe music videos on the café’s large-screen TV. “The city does not give us street lights and the Egyptians who drive here don’t like to turn on their headlights, thanks God.”

Resident say that the curfew will continue until the posters are taken down.

But Showtime marketing assistant Josh Rosenbaum says no offense was ever intended. “I just looked at the numbers, and HBO’s ‘Real Sex’ does really well in the neighborhood, so I figured that it was a no-brainer,” said Rosenbaum. “I guess I really messed up.”

Showtime executives are reportedly in negotiations with community representatives to find a solution. Some of the options on the table include airing the “I am a Muslim” spots produced by CAIR, a Muslim civil liberties group, before each episode; replacing the posters with ones that say “L Is for La Hawla Wala;” or distributing free sunglasses to community residents.

However, some residents don’t seem to mind the posters. “My friends and I are big fans of ‘The L Word’ and we can’t wait to find out if Tina and Bette get back together,” said Hend Abdo, a 20-year-old college student. “I do my shopping at the A&P around the corner anyway,” she added.