the Division believes that it is necessary to respect the privacy of societies in that matter." In June 2021, the US Embassy and members of the US Navy base in Bahrain, celebrated Pride Month by raising the rainbow flag and posting about it on social media, prompting the state's Bahrain News Agency (BNA) and all local newspapers to publish several articles in Arabic condemning homosexuality, homosexuals, and even the US embassy. The President of the Bahraini Educators Union, Safia Shamsan, described the statement of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and its support for the statement of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif as "a right stance that we all support." And she explained that "what is constant in the laws of the earth is the common sense that Allah instilled in us and that is reinforced and protected by the heavenly religions." Shamsan claimed that it is "important to stand against the issue of "alshudhudh aljinsi" (homosexuality) and preventing its promotion through a systematic and fraudulent media" In the same year, Ma'an (Arabic: معاً), a Bahraini human rights organization, issued an article on BNA in Arabic titled "We support the statement of the Islamic Supreme Council and call for respect for Islamic and societal values", calling for "protection of society from all manifestations of "Shudhudh" (homosexuality) and attacks on Islamic and societal principles and values." BNA and the local Bahraini newspapers accused Qatar of "promoting homosexuality" in the then upcoming FIFA World Cup. In June 2022, coinciding with pride month again, the US Embassy raised a rainbow flag and celebrated pride on their social media accounts, which instigated BNA and all local government allied newspapers (including Al-Ayam; a self identified liberal newspaper) to publish several articles (in Arabic) condemning, attacking homosexuals (and calling them Shawadh), and attacking the US Embassy itself, and claiming that all religions are against homosexuality, in addition to pseudoscientific Anti-Gay propaganda by saying no one is born Gay and portraying Monkeypox as a Gay Plague. Some of the more lawful liberal and leftist political groups within Bahrain have expressed opposition to introducing Sharia law into the Bahraini penal code, but none of them have expressed support for LGBT rights. False accusations Sometimes false accusations of homosexuality, or anti-gay innuendos, are levied against critics of the Bahraini government in an effort to discredit political or sectarian dissent. In a society where being gay is widely perceived as a vice or