Greetings from Morocco where I am currently escorting Zoom Morocco. I wanted to take a few minutes to share with you how excited I am to be here with Zoom guests in a country so full of natural beauty, personal acceptance, as well as cultural, geographic, religious, and culinary diversity.
I know that sounds like a mouthful but there is no easy way to describe Morocco. This is a place where one naturally feels comfortable and at ease despite what appears to be an exotic location. At first it’s difficult to understand why. But then you realize that Morocco is a country that defies its geographic location. It sits on the continent of Africa. But culturally it’s a mixture of a lot of Europe, a little of Africa and a fair amount of the Middle East. You see this diversity in the faces of its people. You hear it in the music, and you absolutely taste it in the food. Simply put, it is a feast for the senses.
Religiously, Morocco is Muslim. And generally this means the country is conservative. But once again the stereotypes are thrown out the window because the Moroccan people are very accepting. It is a place where our LGBT guests have not felt judged and in fact have been openly welcomed. There is good reason so many high profile gay personalities like Yves Saint Laurent, Malcolm Forbes, and Paul Boles lived all or part of their lives in Morocco. It’s also a place where Jews feel so welcomed they come in droves to visit the ancient synagogues. Morocco’s cultural diversity was recently declared by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity to be protected, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s a country that has to be experienced to be appreciated and I’m thrilled to be here and now doing just that.
