A study has found many homosexuals in Australia's Arabic community have been the victims of homophobic violence and have suffered verbal abuse or pressure to act straight.

The report also interviewed the community's elders and religious leaders, who said people should be excluded or "corrected" to discourage homosexual behaviour.

Ghassan Kassisieh interviewed 37 homosexuals, their families as well as community and religious leaders for the study.

Most of the respondents were Christian and live in Sydney.

Seven of them said they went to a doctor, priest or imam to be cured of their homosexuality

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Mr Kassisieh acknowledges that the study is not statistically significant, but says it is important because it is the first report to document the effects of homophobia in the Arab community.

He says many Arab families do not understand.

"The sort of ideas that they have about homosexuality include that it's a sickness, it's a western import, it's a choice, and so it's correctable or it's curable," he said.

He says people's experiences varied widely.

"The most common being socially excluded, verbal attacks, as well as being pressured to act straight," he said.

Nassim Arrage came out to his parents when he was 20 but he says his Lebanese father still does not accept it.

"He wanted me to experience being with women before I made a final decision about being gay," he said.

Mr Arrage says he has never been physically attacked, but he says it hurts to be overlooked.

"Arabic culture very much prioritises getting married and having children, so anyone that doesn't fit that mould, gay or otherwise, is kind of on the margins," he said.

Keeping secrets

Another respondent, Kellie, says her mother and siblings know she is attracted to women, but she is not sure if she will ever tell her dad.

"He suspects, though. He has come out and asked me if I'm a lesbian and technically I don't identify as a lesbian, so I guess I denied it because there's not really any point in causing a storm there," she said.

Kellie says she is torn about sharing the secret with her father.

"One reason why I don't talk to him about my same-sex attractiveness is because, well I never spoke to him about who I slept with before I slept with women, so why does he necessarily need to know?" she said.

"But when it comes to situations like, for example, when I finally got into a long-term relationship with a woman, it was a bit weird because my girlfriend would come over and spend time with me but I'd have to say to my father 'oh this is my friend' and kind of keep up that façade, which I think did put a bit of pressure on me and my girlfriend as well."

Mr Kassisieh hopes this report starts to correct some of the misconceptions about homosexuality in Australia's Arab community.