The UAE's posn on gay rights is actually surprisgly progrsive – and I should know | The Inpennt | The Inpennt

Contents:

• CAN I BE GAY DUBAI?
• PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI
• HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY
• TRAVEL SAFETY REPORT: 20 WORST PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2021
• ONE OF THE MOST ANTI-GAY UNTRI IS ABOUT TO HOST A NFERENCE ON LGBTQ RIGHTS
• GAY DUBAI DUBAI CY GUI
• ANTI-GAY SENTIMENT SHOWS LIM OF GULF STAT’ LIBERAL DRIVE
• BEG GAY DUBAI AND ABU DHABI
• THE UAE'S POSN ON GAY RIGHTS IS ACTUALLY SURPRISGLY PROGRSIVE – AND I SHOULD KNOW
• DUBAI: GAY TRAVEL ADVICE (OM A LOL)

CAN I BE GAY DUBAI?

This means that the more ual punishments for beg gay – beatgs, prolonged imprisonment, flogggs, torture, and chemil stratn – would be nsired to be gettg off lightly. 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.

PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI

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.

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

HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY

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.

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.

TRAVEL SAFETY REPORT: 20 WORST PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2021

“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.

ONE OF THE MOST ANTI-GAY UNTRI IS ABOUT TO HOST A NFERENCE ON LGBTQ RIGHTS

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Kamala Harris has been a vol supporter of LGBTQ rightsUS Vice-Print Kamala Harris who is on a tour of three Ain untri - Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia - has drawn cricism over her support for LGBTQ Ghana, a speech llg for "all people be treated equally" she appeared to cricise a bill before the untry's parliament which crimalis advocy for gay rights and propos jail terms for those that intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, or untry's Speaker Alban Bagb later lled her remarks "unmocratic" and urged lawmakers not to be "timidated by any person" Tanzania, a former mister spoke agast US support for LGBTQ rights ahead of the vis and Zambia some opposn policians have threatened to hold is homosexualy still outlawed?

In the same month, the high urt Barbados stck out laws that crimalised gay July last year, the urts Antigua and Barbuda clared a law crimalisg same-sex acts between nsentg adults Febary 2021, Angola's Print Joao Louren signed to law a revised penal to allow same-sex relatnships and ban discrimatn on the basis of sexual 2020, Gabon reversed a law that had crimalised homosexualy and ma gay sex punishable wh six months prison and a large fe. Mozambique and the Seychell have also scrapped anti-homosexualy laws recent there are untri where existg laws outlawg homosexualy have been tightened, cludg Nigeria and 's parliament recently passed a law to crack down on homosexual activi, promptg wispread source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Campaign agast LGBTQ rights some Ain untri has tensified recent weeksAnd some untri, efforts to get the laws removed have May 2019, the high urt Kenya upheld laws crimalisg homosexual acts.

GAY DUBAI DUBAI CY GUI

And many plac, breakg the laws uld be punishable by long prison of the 53 untri the Commonwealth - a loose associatn of untri most of them former Brish loni - 29 have laws that crimalise homosexualy. Although the origal Brish laws applied only to men, untri that crimalise homosexualy today also have penalti for women who have sex wh Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (Ilga) monors the progrs of laws relatg to homosexualy around the says the ath penalty is the legally prcribed punishment for same-sex sexual acts Bnei, Iran, Mrania, Sdi Arabia, Yemen and some northern stat of five untri - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, and the Uned Arab Emirat - there is no legal clary and the ath penalty uld be source, AFPImage ptn, An Indian gay rights activist protts agast a urt lg 2013 upholdg a law which crimalis gay repealed the ath penalty for nsensual same-sex sexual acts observers note that the risk of prosecutn some plac is mimal.

ANTI-GAY SENTIMENT SHOWS LIM OF GULF STAT’ LIBERAL DRIVE

For example, a 2017 report on Jamai by the UK Home Office said that Jamai was regard as a homophobic society, but that the "thori do not actively seek to prosecute LGBT persons".

Homosexualy⚢✖ Illegal (ath penalty as punishment)Gay Marriage⚭✖ UnregnizedCensorship✖ State-enforcedNon-bary genr regnnUnknownDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsDonatg Blood✖ Banned (fe ferral)Conversn Therapy✖ Not banned. 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. 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.

BEG GAY DUBAI AND ABU DHABI

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. Eleven of the men nfsed to practicg homosexualy and were sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for homosexualy, and an addnal year for obsceny. 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. 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 UAE'S POSN ON GAY RIGHTS IS ACTUALLY SURPRISGLY PROGRSIVE – AND I SHOULD KNOW

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.

And although there have been some improvements over recent years, more than 70 untri still have homophobic laws, acrdg to Equalx.

Sce the Fergsons’ study on the most dangero plac for gay travelers 2019, several laws have changed—some for the better (Sudan), and some for the worse (Hungary, Poland). “It was ranked so poorly 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.

DUBAI: GAY TRAVEL ADVICE (OM A LOL)

This Middle Eastern kgdom is another on our list which n implement the ath penalty for nsensual homosexualy unr their terpretatn of Sharia law, ” says Fergson. 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. “The punishments for homosexualy Malawi have earned this Ain untry as the number four worst untry for LGBTQ+ travelers, ” 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. “This oil-rich Middle Eastern untry enforc up to three years prison, floggg, and the ath penalty unr Sharia law for any acts of homosexualy.