Sheik Falah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan denied the charges brought by Silvano Orsi, 40.

At his trial last year, the court heard the attack began when Orsi, originally from Rochester, New York, declined a bottle of champagne the sheik offered him in August 2003.

Orsi claimed that after he refused the champagne, the sheik – whom he never before had met – came up behind him, jostled his glasses, sat in his lap and tried to kiss and fondle him. When Orsi protested, the assault began, he said.

Two former hotel employees and a security officer testified that they had seen the sheik assaulting Orsi.

The sheik said the men got into a heated argument after he overheard someone call him gay and acknowledged that he pulled his belt from his trousers, but insisted he never struck Orsi.

The sheik was convicted of inflicting “bodily harm with the use of a dangerous object” and imposed a suspended fine of 540,000 francs ($530,000), which would be payable in the event of another infraction in Switzerland during the next three years.

The sheik appealed and last month an appeals court in Geneva overturned the verdict, saying in its ruling a belt could not be considered a dangerous object.

Through his attorney, Orsi said he will appeal to the Swiss Supreme Court to have the original sentence reinstated.

Orsi’s injuries and post-traumatic shock from the beating left him incapable of working.

A lawyer for the sheik said that Orsi’s accusations are “false” and purely motivated by his desire to gain money from the sheik.

The sheik is a brother of Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was appointed president of the United Arab Emirates in 2004 after the death of their father, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Emirati women attend a football training session for Emirati schoolboys at the Football Club in the Gulf emirate of al-Ain on February 10, 2009.

Jezebel (one of my favorite sites) reported yesterday that the United Arab Emirates are pursuing a public awareness campaign about the infiltration of the fourth gender.

Many may remember the ongoing research on the “third gender,” a feminine man, physical man who’s gender identity does not match his sex, hermaphrodite or homosexual (depending on who you talk to).

I have seen reports about the notion of the third gender as a healthy inclusion of transgendered and homosexual individuals in societies otherwise intolerant of “deviant” sexual behavior. I have also read about the third sex as a pariah and low class of individuals tolerated, but not included.

That said, the UAE ministry of social affairs has launched a campaign called “Excuse me, I am a girl” aimed at ridding the “fourth gender” from the country. As Naji Hay (from the ministry) asserts:

“The phenomenon of manly women has become apparent in society…. These women are against the normal nature of females. Their deviant behavior threatens other normal girls. This is why we had to launch this initiative to protect society from this menace.”

What I found so fascinating about this report was its indication that gender performance is effectively equal to sexuality in the UAE. Manly women may be a threat because some are lesbians, but manly women are unacceptable even if they are not lesbians.

This element of performance runs throughout the research on the third gender and, frankly, throughout our own country’s understanding of LGBT people.

To what extent are we told to hide who we are, how we interact with people? How many times have you been yelled at or spit on while holding hands with your partner? More importantly, how many times have loved ones asked you to keep quiet and stop announcing “it” everywhere?

Even those most religious and intolerant Americans would be happy if gays and lesbians could acknowledge their deviance, overcome it and learn to behave in a normal way.

In some ways, the UAE has it right. The performance of new gender roles is threatening. It is the expression of difference and, sometimes, of a difference in attraction. This expression encourages diversity and communicates to others that they are not alone in their frustration with the roles they have been shown.

So here’s to manly women, in the UAE and at home. Proclaiming difference is never easy, and it is so vitally important.

(Geneva) A brother of the United Arab Emirates’ ruler appealed to a Swiss court Monday to overturn his conviction for assaulting an American with his belt in a luxury hotel bar.

A lawyer for Sheik Falah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan denied that the 38-year-old whipped Silvano Orsi, 40, after the American declined a bottle of champagne the sheik offered him in August 2003.

Defense lawyer Marco Crisante urged a three-judge panel in the Geneva cantonal (state) criminal court to declare the sheik innocent and annul the 10,000 Swiss franc ($9,820) fine imposed by the Geneva police tribunal in July.

The lower court had convicted the sheik of inflicting “bodily harm with the use of a dangerous object” and also imposed a suspended penalty of 540,000 francs ($530,000), which would be payable in the event of another infraction in Switzerland during the next three years.

Geneva’s chief prosecutor, Daniel Zappelli, told the appeals court that it should uphold the verdict. Zappelli said two former hotel employees and a security officer had independently testified that they had seen the sheik assaulting Orsi.

Crisante said Orsi’s accusations were “false” and purely motivated by his desire to gain money from the sheik.

Orsi, a resident of Rochester, N.Y., claims that after he refused the champagne, the sheik – whom he had never met – came up behind him, jostled his glasses, sat in his lap and tried to kiss and fondle him. When Orsi protested, the assault began, he says.

The sheik says the men got into a heated argument after he overheard someone call him gay and acknowledged that he pulled his belt from his trousers, but insists he never struck Orsi.

Crisante said the sheik’s bodyguards intervened and prevented him from whipping Orsi.

Orsi’s lawyer Alec Reymond said the sheik “did not have sufficient education to understand he cannot whip other people like a dog” and asked the court to uphold the ruling.

Prosecutor Zappelli has said Orsi’s injuries and post-traumatic shock from the beating left him incapable of working.

It was unclear how long it would take for the judges to issue a verdict. Neither the sheik nor Orsi attended the hearing Monday.

The defendant is a brother of Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was appointed president of the United Arab Emirates in 2004 after the death of their father, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.