Visiting Fellow Tarek Zeidan

Tarek Zeidan is a sexual and bodily rights activist from Lebanon advocating for the rights and protection of LGBT communities in the MENA region. He is a fellow at the Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World at Harvard Law School concentrating on digital rights for LGBTQ populations in the global south. Tarek served as the head of Helem, the first LGBT rights organization in the Arab World from 2012 till 2024. His expertise lies in global LGBTIQ movements, strategic advocacy, digital rights, and policy reform. Tarek is an Ashoka Foundation global changemaker and a Ford Foundation global fellow. He previously worked as the head of communications and strategic planning for the MENA region at the Brookings Institution and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He obtained his MPA in human rights advocacy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.