Dubai: Gay Travel Advice (om a lol) - The Globetrotter Guys

Contents:

• GAY DUBAI
• DUBAI NIGHTLIFE FOR GAY MALE TOURISTS - DUBAI FOM
• ASIE EXPAT REVEALS WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY DUBAI
• PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI
• WHAT HAPPENED WHEN FOUR GAY GUYS FROM TEL AVIV TOOK A VATN TO DUBAI
• DUBAI GAY TRAVEL
• GAY CAB CREW SECRETS OM THE MIDDLE EAST
• DUBAI: GAY TRAVEL ADVICE (OM A LOL)
• GAY DUBAI DUBAI CY GUI
• DUBAI GAY MAP
• GAY BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS - DUBAI FOM
• BAR 44DUBAIMENUBARSGAY TRAVEL DUBAIGAY MAPBAR 44

GAY DUBAI

As you'd expect, the Uned Arab Emirat is not a particularly gay-iendly statn. 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. Obvly there are no gay bars and clubs town, but everyone mix at the top spots, ually nnected to hotels. Gay crowds also s at the fés of the Dubai Mall, g bluetooth nnectn on their cell phon to "nnect" wh others.

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. Hi, a iend and I are planng a holiday to Dubai, and we were wonrg what the night life would be like wh beg gay mal?

DUBAI NIGHTLIFE FOR GAY MALE TOURISTS - DUBAI FOM

We were disgted to fd a sectn our hotel rmatn book statg that lbianism and homosexualy are illegal. Gay culture is fetly owned upon and may be a punishable offense.

ASIE EXPAT REVEALS WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY DUBAI

They are tolerant of most 'wtern' behavurs and attus but unfortunately that tolerance do not extend to homosexualy. I'm old enough to still remember when beg gay was an offence here the UK!

I've got gay iends the UAE but beg "straight" I'm not up to date wh nightclubs etc. As Devon and Latimer have said, homosexualy is forbidn here unr the l of Islam although that's not to say that don't happen, eher amongst the expat muny or otherwise. I have the benef of gay iends the UAE ( rather than some people wh no experience) so there's obvly a gay scene there albe not so obv as other plac.

PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI

It’s 2am and the club is packed wh a sea of sweaty, gay men gettg their groove on to a Madonna classic — and I’m one of them.

Nothg strange here you might thk, I mean, there are gay clubs the world over, right? Dpe beg nservative by Wtern standards, this is where alhol and sex-starved Arabs flock to drov to get their fix — and that clus the gays.

My iends back home London joked about my forthg years of celibacy and, though I lghed along wh them at the time, as the plane touched down on the tarmac of Dubai’s airport my bravado the get go, I’m unr no illns about Dubai’s official attu to homosexualy.

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN FOUR GAY GUYS FROM TEL AVIV TOOK A VATN TO DUBAI

At my publishg pany, I’m told no uncerta terms to avoid g gay referenc wh stori which — when wrg celebry, pop culture and fashn — was particularly the surface ndns for gay Dubaiians might seem bleak, but thanks to some quickly acquired gay iends I learn quickly that, spe the legali, a vibrant gay scene flourish.

I break my Dubai gay club virgy at one of the most popular hangouts. Enterg via an unrground rpark on a Saturday eveng, my male iend and I enunter the uneven door polici that are rife throughout gay venu (a vague attempt to curb gay activy).

DUBAI GAY TRAVEL

Passg on that offer, I quickly meet an equally forward New Zealanr workg as crew for Emirat Airl (where a large portn of the cy’s gay ntgent work). Though I had a boyiend (an English expat) for the bulk of my time the cy, my gay iends played the field extensively and I know om their rpective tal that there was no shortage of actn.

Ined, wh a meltg pot of party-lovg Asi and Brs, lubrited wh large quanti of booze, no matter if you’re gay OR straight, bedhoppg is a cert.

GAY CAB CREW SECRETS OM THE MIDDLE EAST

While Dubai has bee somethg of a gay Mec for Arabs om surroundg untri where there are even harsher views on homosexualy (you n’t get much harsher than the ath penalty, after all) gays the cy n’t afford to rt on their lrels. Acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian and Gay Associatn, nsensual gay sex Dubai is punishable by up to 10 years prison.

Bee the mentaly here is that gay men need to be terred om homosexual activy, police raids of clubs and private parti are mon. For a time, the thori even patrolled the plethora of Dubai malls, searchg for “obv” signs of homosexualy.

When unspectg gay men are entrapped, the nsequenc of their sexualy are pennt on their natnaly.

DUBAI: GAY TRAVEL ADVICE (OM A LOL)

Foreigners are often put jail and then eventually ported, lols may have to endure hormone therapy to al wh their “problem” hard le taken by Dubai officials has led to var reports of jtice makg ternatnal headl, but unfortunately, there are untls s of gay persecutn that undoubtedly still rema undocumented.

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.

GAY DUBAI DUBAI CY GUI

“As two queer rearchers, we were able to enter the worlds of relatively privileged Wtern gay expatriat.

DUBAI GAY MAP

Not a sgle venue’s webpage the word ‘gay’ or related phemisms, nor do they ht at targetg a gay crowd. They also nducted terviews, relyg on personal ntacts, to fd 26 gay men, aged 24-48 and reprentg 15 natnali. 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.

GAY BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS - DUBAI FOM

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. 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.

BAR 44DUBAIMENUBARSGAY TRAVEL DUBAIGAY MAPBAR 44

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.

“So even if homosexualy is illegal, Dubai don't want to be seen as specifilly anti-gay. “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. As every untry, there are plenty of gay people Dubai, is more a qutn of how openly you n be gay Dubai.