Opn: Dr. Nasser 'Nas' Mohamed sought asylum the US after g out as gay. Here's what he wants people to know about Qatar | CNN

Contents:

• GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
• WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI
• GAY MAN 'HUNTED' BY QATAR POLICE AND GANG-RAPED HOTEL ROOM AHEAD OF WORLD CUP
• GAY LIFE QATAR
• 5 SAFT PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2019 (AND THE MOST DANGERO)
• GAY QATARIS PHYSILLY ABED THEN RECED AS AGENTS, MPAIGNER SAYS
• GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI
• AMERINS STILL GREATLY OVERTIMATE U.S. GAY POPULATN
• OPN: DR. NASSER ‘NAS’ MOHAMED SOUGHT ASYLUM THE US AFTER G OUT AS GAY. HERE’S WHAT HE WANTS PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT QATAR
• BEG GAY IS 'DAMAGE THE MD', QATAR WORLD CUP AMBASSADOR SAYS
• CONFN, EXASPERATN AND DATG APPS – MY MONTH AS A GAY REPORTER AT THE QATAR WORLD CUP
• DOHA - GAY LIFE - DOHA FOM

GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP

In the months sce, Mohamed lnched the non-prof Alwan Foundatn to advance LGBTQ+ rights across the Middle East and pecially Qatar, where he says that secury operativ filtrate gay muni orr to torture and erce members to rm on others. There are some people om really affluent fai that are gay and ’s almost public knowledge—but they’re really wealthy, affluent, and very nnected, so people jt don’t say anythg. REUTERS/Fabriz Bensch/RtersBy Maya Gebeily and Andrew MillsDOHA (Rters) - A group of Arab iends livg Qatar's pal Doha met up over cktails and snacks last week, exchangg opns as they flicked through profil of gay men on datg apps Tr and Grdr.

The man his 20s leapt up om the table, leavg to meet his date iends, who met up days before the soccer World Cup kicks off Qatar on Sunday, are part of a Doha gay scene that's managg to fly unr the radar a natn where same-sex relatns are illegal and punishable by up to three years of jail-time. "Polil Cartoons on World Lears Rters spoke to four gay men Doha - the Wterner, two Qataris pl an Arab om elsewhere the regn - who said they lived the untry, a mag for foreign workers, bee they had well-paid jobs, pl iends or fay there.

In fact, the four exprsed worri about the wave of ternatnal cricism about gay rights Qatar brought by the World Cup, fearg they uld lose the eedoms they do enjoy should the opprobrium lead to a public backlash agast the LGBT+ muny once global attentn mov on. "The men prent jt one snapshot of life for gay people the Gulf natn - and the four regnise their relative eedoms are a product of privilege; they n afford to live alone, host parti and meet partners high-end rtrants or nightclubs, where the strict l of Qatari society are often more relaxed. A Qatari official cricised the HRW report as ntag false rmatn and said the untry do not license or operate nversn Mohamed, a gay Qatari physician who has lived the Uned Stat for about a , weled the attentn the tournament has drawn to Qatar's rights rerd, sayg prompted him to speak out wily about his sexualy.

WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI

The four men terviewed by Rters said that there were strong fancial and reer centiv to ridg the untry, addg that life for gay people there was better than some other plac the Middle ced Sdi Arabia and Iran, where men have been sentenced to ath for beg gay..

"Qatari anisers of the World Cup have warned visors agast public displays of affectn but say that everyone, no matter their sexual orientatn or background, is wele at the the tournament, medil practners will not ask patients about their extramaral sex, relign or any other stat, acrdg to the Yoef Al Maslamani, the healthre spokperson for the FIFA World the 12 years sce Qatar was named host of the 2022 tournament, the untry has faced tensifyg cricism over s rights rerd on laborers, women and the LGBT furore has been fuelled by ments om public figur cludg former Qatar player and World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman who told a German broadster that homosexualy was "damage the md". The World Cup will start jt two weeks' time, spe grave ncerns over Qatar's rerd on human rights, wh the Middle East untry ntug to persecute the LGBT+ munyA gay man has claimed he was hunted by police ahead of the upg World CupA gay man who has prevly livg Qatar has claimed he was 'hunted' by the untry's police force before beg gang-raped a hotel room. One of the biggt ncerns about the Middle East untry is s laws which outlaw homosexualy, wh LGBT+ people the untry at risk of imprisonment or even the ath penalty.

GAY MAN 'HUNTED' BY QATAR POLICE AND GANG-RAPED HOTEL ROOM AHEAD OF WORLD CUP

Completely overlookg the social impact of such a huge ternatnal event such a ty Islamic place as Qatar FIFA got self to hot water om human rights anizatns as well as gay rights associatns. It is unavoidable that a clash of cultur will occur; a llisn of east-vers-wt agast Qatar’s tightly bound sexual and social standards, both straight and gay.

The UK gay football group, The Jt Campaign, as well as activist John Ameechi, said was eply ncerned: “spe their apparent mment to humanarian valu and the promotn of global solidary through football, FIFA is sendg out a msage loud and clear that the rights of the global LGBT muny do not even register on their agenda… Sport should never be allowed to tmp human rights. ) by subsequent ments by the FIFA Print Sepp Blatter who tried to mimize the ncerns of the gay football fans worldwi by sayg that gays, to avoid trouble, should simply not have sex while Qatar: “homosexual fans should rea om any sexual activi that are illegal Qatar”.

GAY LIFE QATAR

However, even if a gay person is most and discreet he (unlikely she) may be targeted by foul-md lol Qatari men for any number of reasons such as blackmail, money, sexual abe or relig enmy.

For foreigners, beg sgle over the age of 30 is a spic cue; drsg wh some fashn, beg well groomed, sg at others, beg gentle and pole n be nsted as gay tras. In the mid-2000’s a Fnish gay man was sced and eventually entrapped by a “geo” Qatari man who at first offered him alhol then hashish and eventually sex–“many tim”. There are no gay plac here, except one, and my opn, we n’t say that ’s really gay bee ’s the only place where guys n enter whout girls, and a lot of straight guys go there as well.

5 SAFT PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2019 (AND THE MOST DANGERO)

“In Jordan, I knew many people and 90% of my iends were gay, but here, after a long time, I have succeed fdg only one gay iend whom I have met and stayed touch wh by the phone. Speakg here is a gay heart yearng to be ee yet tied to forbiddg circumstanc that are likely to nfe and fe his entire life cludg marriage to someone he n’t fully love, producg some offsprg and warg a mask behd a closed door to thentic love and timacy.

In 2004 a potential sndal was supprsed and th avoid when the Qatar’s 25 year old Crown Prce Tamim B Hamad Al-Thani was allegedly seen at a London gay bar and was volved an altertn. To make this suatn even more bizarre, the prs quoted Dr Yuf al-Qaradawi, a Mlim fundamentalist scholar based Qatar, as sayg homosexual behavr is servg of rporal punishment cludg beg stoned to ath.

GAY QATARIS PHYSILLY ABED THEN RECED AS AGENTS, MPAIGNER SAYS

” Obvly homosexualy is among the viatns Qatar although the universy has sisted that human rights would be rpected any of their operatns and programs. Another dark si of hidn homosexualy Qatar is revealed recent reports of sex-traffickg of poor gay Kenyan male stunts who have been lured to Qatar wh the promise of good jobs only to fd they’ve bee entrapped by wealthy Qatar lols to e for their sexual pleasure.

The variants are more clive of all dividuals who are non-heterosexual and non-cisgenr stead of exclively applyg to people who are lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr. For example, one set of qutns may seek self-reported data on same-sex sexual experienc, while another set may seek data surroundg personal intifitn as lbian, gay, or bisexual. Other stat wh LGBTQ+ protectns, such as Massachetts and Colorado, also have higher timated populatns of gay, lbian, bisexual, and otherwise non-heterosexual dividuals.

Doha: A group of Arab iends livg Qatar’s pal Doha met up over cktails and snacks last week, exchangg opns as they flicked through profil of gay men on datg apps Tr and Grdr.

GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI

The iends, who met up days before the soccer World Cup kicks off Qatar on Sunday, are part of a Doha gay scene that’s managg to fly unr the radar a natn where same-sex relatns are illegal and punishable by up to three years of jail-time. Rters spoke to four gay men Doha – the Wterner, two Qataris pl an Arab om elsewhere the regn – who said they lived the untry, a mag for foreign workers, bee they had well-paid jobs, pl iends or fay there. The men prent jt one snapshot of life for gay people the Gulf natn–- and the four regnise their relative eedoms are a product of privilege; they n afford to live alone, host parti and meet partners high-end rtrants or nightclubs, where the strict l of Qatari society are often more relaxed.

AMERINS STILL GREATLY OVERTIMATE U.S. GAY POPULATN

Nas Mohamed, a gay Qatari physician who has lived the Uned Stat for about a , weled the attentn the tournament has drawn to Qatar’s rights rerd, sayg prompted him to speak out wily about his sexualy. The four men terviewed by Rters said that there were strong fancial and reer centiv to ridg the untry, addg that life for gay people there was better than some other plac the Middle East. The furore has been fuelled by ments om public figur cludg former Qatar player and World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman who told a German broadster that homosexualy was “damage the md”.

In an attempt to help terme the worst plac for gay travelers, the duo created the 2019 LGBTQ+ Danger Inx, rankg the world’s most dangero—and saft—untri for gay travelers. The journalists looked at the top 150 most-vised untri the world by the number of g tourists, then ranked them g eight factors, cludg laws agast gay relatnships, legal protectn agast discrimatn and more.

“In 2018, India managed to annul Sectn 377, a Brish lonial-era law prohibg ‘unnatural acts, ’ orr to legalize nsensual gay sex, ” says Fergson, who pots out that ancient Indian lerature such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana have many referenc to LGBTQ+ hero cludg transgenr warrrs and two queens who ma love orr for one queen to get pregnant wh an heir for their kgdom. “We found this to be a b ironic as the reason for many of the harsh homophobic laws untri throughout the world is largely leftover om laws created durg Brish le, ” says Fergson. Ci like Lisbon and Porto have the bt gay scen the untry and Portugal is hopg to host the 2022 Europri, the world's biggt event celebratg gay pri Europe.

OPN: DR. NASSER ‘NAS’ MOHAMED SOUGHT ASYLUM THE US AFTER G OUT AS GAY. HERE’S WHAT HE WANTS PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT QATAR

Wh an overall natnal attu that is relaxed and acceptg towards homosexualy, Belgium is known for havg a vibrant gay and lbian scene, particularly Bssels, ” says Fergson. It was ranked so highly largely due to the extreme penalti for simply beg gay, which clu up to 14 years prison and the ath penalty stat unr Sharia law, ” says Fergson.

“Sdi Arabia is another of the untri on our list which implements the ath penalty for nsensual homosexualy unr their terpretatn of Sharia law, ” says Fergson. “Iran ma #6 on the x, due part to s extreme punishments for homosexualy, which clu 100 lash for homosexual terurse or the ath penalty, and 31 lash for same-sex acts other than terurse, ” says Fergson. “Publicly, homosexualy is a taboo topic, so LGBTQ+ travelers choosg to vis Sudan should proceed wh utn and rema discreet wh regards to their sexualy.

BEG GAY IS 'DAMAGE THE MD', QATAR WORLD CUP AMBASSADOR SAYS

“Historilly, Barbados and some other Caribbean islands have had poor anti-LGBTQ+ legislatn and practic, largely left over om the Brish occupatn which put the laws place and rerced anti-gay attus. Unfortunately, imposed punishment for homosexualy is severe and the existence of gay people Malaysia was nied by their tourism mister as recently as March 2019, ” says Fergson. That said, the LGBTQ+ muny is margalized this untry and there are heavy nsequenc for beg homosexual, which clu seven years to life prison for any same-sex act, ” says Fergson.

CONFN, EXASPERATN AND DATG APPS – MY MONTH AS A GAY REPORTER AT THE QATAR WORLD CUP

Unfortunately, thgs may soon be gettg even worse for the LGBTQ+ muny, as the Ugandan ernment has recently lled to retroduce an anti-homosexualy bill, which would clu the ath penalty for same-sex acts, the midst of the recent murr of a gay Ugandan activist.

“In the Paltian terrori of Gaza and the Wt Bank, the anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is taken very serly, wh homosexual acts rultg up to 10 years prison, ” says Fergson.

“Groups advotg for LGBTQ+ rights are threatened by the erng thori Palte, who nsir homosexualy to be ‘a blow to, and vlatn of, the ials and valu of Paltian society.

DOHA - GAY LIFE - DOHA FOM

Currently, Kenyan law stat that same-sex terurse between mal rults 14 years prison, while all other homosexual acts between mal are punished wh five years imprisonment, ” says Fergson. In fact, Jamai was lled ‘the most homophobic place on Earth’ by Time magaze 2006 and LGBTQ+ people are sadly still the victims of homophobic vlence today. Gay Qataris have been promised safety om physil torture exchange for helpg the thori to track down other LGBTQ+ people the untry, a proment Qatari doctor and gay rights mpaigner has told the Nasser Mohamed, who liv the US but retas ntact wh hundreds of gay Qataris, said that some secret works had been promised after arrts by Qatar’s preventive secury partment.