Mashrou’ Leila, the biggest rock band in the Middle East, was formed nearly a decade ago by Lebanese students at the American University of Beirut. The quintet's front man, Hamed Sinno, is openly gay—a rarity in Arab pop culture even in more liberal Beirut.

And the band doesn't shy away from addressing queer issues: ”Shim el Yasmine (Smell the Jasmine),” for example, is about a young man’s desire to introduce his boyfriend to his parents, while "Tayf (Ghost)" is about a shuttered gay club.

That openness has cost Mashrou' Leila ("overnight project" in Arabic). They've been banned several times in Jordan.

Even in Lebanon, Sinno told NewNowNext in 2016, “We live under what resembles feudal dictatorship, under a legal system that treats women as third-class citizens, with very little freedom for the LGBT community.”

Mashrou’ Leila's latest video, "Roman," explodes Western stereotypes of Muslim women as subservient, stoic and mysterious. Director Jessy Mousallem inverts the male gaze and offers lush visuals and expressive choreography.

"While the lyrics discuss betrayal, struggle, and conflict, the video revolves around the lyrical pivot in the chorus, ‘Aleihum (charge!)," reads the description on YouTube, "treating oppression, not as a source of victimhood, but as the fertile ground from which resistance can be weaponized."

"Roman" is available on the deluxe edition of Mashrou’ Leila's latest album, Ibn el Leil.