likely to apply the law and the police forces will not reinforce it." In August 2014, the Internal Security Forces Morals Protection Bureau conducted a raid on a Turkish bathhouse in Beirut, resulting in the arrest of 27 Syrians. According to a report co-produced with Helem, the stated reason for the raid was the suspected "presence of homosexual individuals". In May 2016, LGBT activists staged a sit-in, demanding Article 534 be repealed. In March 2018, the Kataeb Party, a minor Christian party, expressed support for the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the repeal of Article 534. Local LGBT activists welcomed the support, stating that this was the first time a political party in Parliament had endorsed their cause. In July 2018, the Penal Appeal Court of Mount Lebanon upheld a lower court ruling which acquitted nine people prosecuted over being gay. The lower court held that homosexuality was "a practice of their fundamental rights". The Appeal Court agreed and found that consensual sex between same-sex partners cannot be considered "unnatural" so long as it does not violate morality and ethics, such as "when it is seen or heard by others, or performed in a public place, or involving a minor who must be protected." Activists welcomed the ruling and called on the Government to repeal Article 534. This ruling was the fifth of its kind in Lebanon, and the first from such a high-level court. In 2019, Military Court Judge Peter Germanos acquitted four military personnel accused of "sodomy" in a landmark ruling, clearing the group of charges of committing sexual acts "contrary to nature" and declaring that sodomy is "not punishable by law". In June 2022, during Pride Month, the Caretaker Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi ordered the Internal Security Forces and GS to "immediately take the necessary measures to prevent any type of celebration, meeting or gathering" by the LGBTQ community following pressure by religious authorities in the country, while declaring: "This phenomenon [Homosexuality] is contrary to the habits and customs of our society" and religious principles, Mawlawi said, adding that "personal freedoms cannot be invoked." A few days later, the Lebanese Psychiatric Association released a statement stressing their position on homosexuality, stating: "as psychiatrists, we would like to clarify that homosexuality cannot be considered a disease that requires treatment". Gender identity and expression In January 2016, the Court of Appeals of Beirut confirmed the right of a transgender