Gay Uned Arab Emirat News & Reports 1999-2007

Contents:

• DUBAI GAY MAP
• GAY DUBAI
• DUBAI GAY WHATSAPP GROUP LK
• PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI
• GAY UNED ARAB EMIRAT NEWS & REPORTS 1999-2007
• GAY CAB CREW SECRETS OM THE MIDDLE EAST
• GAY MUNY INTER TO STAY TOUCH THE EMIRAT
• UAE GAY GROUP USE CYBERSPACE FOR NETWORKG

DUBAI GAY MAP

It has sodomy laws punishable wh imprisonment, but wh such a diverse populatn everyone knows there's plenty of gay lols and visors. It's also slightly more liberal than other Arab stat, wh no ter ntrol, although many Wtern s are blocked and foreigners have been jailed and ported for simply attendg private "gay parti.

There are obvly no gay hotels Dubai, but orr to feel safer and be surround by like-md people, you may want to stay at Wtern chas close to Jumeirah beach.

Many LGBT dividuals may chose to vis Dubai or the UAE but is extremely important to be rmed of the nsequenc of beg openly gay this regn. Wh harsh and discrimatory laws nmng homosexualy and promotg homophobia the name of relign, one mt nsir the risks que refully.

GAY DUBAI

There are no official gay clubs, but lotns of unofficial gay clubs circulate on the Inter and men gather wh ltle fear of the nsequenc. Some claim that the police will simply disperse crowds if a gay club is bted, but other people are fearful that the suatn might be worse.

When the police fd out about gay iendly clubs they get shut down fast, people get ported and punishments are likely imposed. There are stori of fundamentalists chattg onle and meetg up wh gay men and subsequently threateng to report them to the police. Eleven of the men nfsed to practicg homosexualy and were sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for homosexualy, and an addnal year for obsceny.

DUBAI GAY WHATSAPP GROUP LK

Kafkaque claims he was disuraged by the police om prsg charg and even faced the possibily of beg charged wh crimal homosexual activy himself. What is apparent though, is that there have been var s over the last 5 or so years that monstrate harsher treatment for foreigners and crimalizatn of homosexualy.

PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI

Homosexualy has a grave impact on a society where relig books nmn homosexual behavr for beg immoral and agast human nature. While is clearly a vlatn of human rights to crimalize homosexualy and promote discrimatn, there is a fe le between the right to be yourself and the importance of rpectg other people’s cultur.

While is imperative that homosexualy be accepted the UAE, is also important for foreigners to be rpectful of the culture which they impose themselv – even if they disagree wh the ctoms. The charg arose January and another man, MN was also charged wh prostutn, nsensual homosexual sex, pornographic material, cross-drsg and sultg relign.

There were only few reports of prosecutns and punishments but many people on the Inter censor their nversatns and inty gay chat rooms.

GAY UNED ARAB EMIRAT NEWS & REPORTS 1999-2007

That is the qutn that LSE’s Dr Centner and his -thor Harvard’s Manoel Pereira Neto explore their groundbreakg rearch to Dubai’s expatriate gay men’s nightlife. Their forthg paper explas: “Much of the Dubayyan gay nightlife tak place venu wh the cy’s p ternatnal hotels, which are technilly open to all who n afford them.

The rearchers wonred, at first, how so many men knew that the are events attend by many other gay men: “The were ed ‘parti’ – on a specific night of the week for different s – equented by gays, not bars intified as gay.

Gay datg apps are also shunned for fear of entrapment by ’s this nstant sense of your hair standg on end and havg to be ut about who's listeng, who's at the door, who's ved, or what might be said and passed along, that uld get most such venu, the rearchers note that the mic played is rarely the kd of remixed, beat-heavy tracks or classilly “gay” songs that domate self-proclaimed LGBTQ bars across many global ci.

GAY CAB CREW SECRETS OM THE MIDDLE EAST

Only those wh the most cumulative privilege among a generally imperilled populatn of heterogeneo Dubai-based homosexuals would attempt to ploy this repertoire openly.

As you might image, is private hom where Wtern gay men experience the most eedom to build a “more robt sense of belongg, tablishg supportive works that rerce their intifitn as both gay and Wtern, dividually and as a group. Most terviewe talked about needg to fd their “gay fay” Dubai as soon as they arrived, so they might make a “home away om home. Sce most pani arrange randomly assigned hog shared flats, is up to gay men to ask heterosexual flatmat to swch wh a gay ntact, so two or more gay men n habate and anise private and very selective social seekg some sense of home away om home...

The men are, advertently, unwillgly, or some s, que explicly, keepg out other typ of gay or queer people who are not ‘siar’ to them. Reflectg on the signifince of the rearch, Dr Centner says: “In addn to brgg some attentn to this kd of existence, is also important to note how this is very much an expatriate, relatively privileged, experience of gay life Dubai. So, part of what we try to do is to pot out how, seekg some sense of home away om home, that the men are, advertently, unwillgly, or some s, que explicly, keepg out other typ of gay or queer people who are not ‘siar’ to them.

GAY MUNY INTER TO STAY TOUCH THE EMIRAT

“However, we felt that, ntrast to plac where even if homosexualy is not illegal, but there's plenty of vlent homophobia, everythg felt more on edge Dubai. The GLAS web se hosts a chat-le, and reports and edorializ on such topics as AIDS, asylum s volvg gays and transsexuals, civil marriag Lebanon, and the imprisonment of polil dissints the regn. Dubai has ma a huge effort to promote self as a tolerant, safe tourist statn, and gay and lbian travellers won’t face any discrimatn or legal trouble, short of stagg a gay-pri march down Sheikh Zayed Rd.

For example, one nightclub that had a strong gay followg crossed the le when posted flyers around the cy llg on lol gays and drag queens to e out. Among natnal girls, (Ed: and gays) is virtually impossible for a young woman to adm to clanste meetgs wh boys, although om the tal young men tell, is clear that the take place. Abu Dhabi – Senr officials have nmned the queer acts practised by 26 youth at a gay party held a hotel Abu Dhabi on Tuday night.

"The mory who practic homosexualy should return to their sens before this danger aggravat and spreads among our youth, " he warned. DUBAI, Uned Arab Emirat – More than two dozen gay Arab men arrted at what police lled a mass homosexual weddg uld face ernment-orred hormone treatments, five years jail and a lashg, thori said Saturday. The Interr Mistry said police raid a hotel chalet earlier this month and arrted 22 men om the Emirat as they celebrated the weddg ceremony, one of a strg of recent group arrts of homosexuals here.

UAE GAY GROUP USE CYBERSPACE FOR NETWORKG

Outward homosexual behavr is banned the Uned Arab Emirat, and the gay group weddg has alarmed lears of this once-isolated Mlim untry as grappl wh a sweepg flux of Wtern rints and culture. " Lately people have been talkg about (homosexualy), but has been here for a long time, " said Nadia Buhannad, a Dubai psychologist.

Last year, police ma mass arrts at an apparent gay weddg the nservative emirate of Sharjah and at the Khor Fakkan beach rort Fujairah emirate, a police official said on ndn of anonymy bee he was not thorized to speak to the prs. Azouri scribed the arrts Ghantout as a "lite" matter ma public for the first time — more than a week after the event — bee the untry’s tribal learship wants to monstrate will not tolerate open homosexualy. " There will be no room for homosexual … acts the UAE, " Al Dhahiri was quoted as sayg the Dubai-based Khaleej Tim newspaper.

Azouri said the Interr Mistry’s partment of social support would try to direct the men away om homosexual behavr — g methods cludg male hormone treatments, if the men are found to be ficient. Azouri said thori want to be seen to be takg actn at a time when plats of gay behavr were emergg om the untry’s schools and myriad shoppg malls.