Gay Dubai LGBTQ* nightlife and travel 2023

Contents:

• CAN I BE GAY DUBAI?
• PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI
• DUBAI: GAY TRAVEL ADVICE (OM A LOL)
• GAY BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS - DUBAI FOM
• GAY DUBAI
• DUBAI GAY TRAVEL
• ASIE EXPAT REVEALS WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY DUBAI
• DUBAI GAY MAP

CAN I BE GAY DUBAI?

As every untry, there are plenty of gay people Dubai, is more a qutn of how openly you n be gay Dubai. There are no LGBT (Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr) rights any of the Uned Arab Emirat.

Knowledgeable expats Dubai remend that Gay upl should not even risk old hands public. 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. Back 2013 they discsed troducg some form of ttg to prevent gay foreigners om enterg any of those untri.

PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI

They only dropped the proposal bee they feared a ntroversy that might rail the 2022 FIFA World Cup , no: not a gay-iendly regn. There are no gay bars Dubai, but you n rt assured that there is a high gay-quotient every trendy bar. Gay marriage is not regnized Dubai, no matter how married you may be your home untry.

Ironilly, beg sent to prison Eygpt only rults more gay sex. 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.

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

DUBAI: GAY TRAVEL ADVICE (OM A LOL)

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.

GAY BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS - DUBAI FOM

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. “So even if homosexualy is illegal, Dubai don't want to be seen as specifilly anti-gay.

GAY DUBAI

“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. We haven’t yet travelled to Dubai as a gay uple, partly bee we are apprehensive to….

To vtigate further we nnected wh Liam, a gay guy who lived Dubai for most of his life to learn more about the realy of beg gay Dubai and fd out what advice he had for gay travellers thkg about gog. Read our terview wh Liam below to learn more about gay life and gay travel Dubai:.

Sn: And what about beg gay Dubai when you were younger, was this ever talked about?

DUBAI GAY TRAVEL

Liam: When I was younger was difficult to thk about beg gay Dubai.

You did not see any gay reprentatn at all and was not talked about – you were put to the tegory of beg straight no matter what.

I only knew of one gay guy Dubai who worked wh my Mum. Lol attus and laws for Gay people Dubai. Sn: So what are the lol attus and laws towards gay people?

ASIE EXPAT REVEALS WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY DUBAI

Is there a huge difference between beg a gay expat Dubai vs a tourist vs a gay lol Dubai (someone whose fay has lived there for many generatns). Homosexualy is unfortunately still not legal across the entire Uned Arab Emirat (UAE) and there are ser nsequenc if ught. Specifilly, Dubai homosexualy is punishable by prison/or a fe and then subsequently you will be ported.

In terms of beg openly gay Dubai n be dangero if you are not reful. For the majory of the time, lol attus towards gay lol expats livg Dubai and gay tourists are the same. However, lookg at a gay expat vs someone who has lived there for generatns you will see a massive difference.

For a lol whose fay has lived Dubai for generatns, beg gay has to be hidn and has to be secret, pecially strict Mlim fai: beg gay is totally forbidn. Sn: How have you seen attus towards gay people Dubai change over the years?

DUBAI GAY MAP

I know que a few gay people who live and work Dubai. Sn: How about the gay scene Dubai, what uld a gay traveller expect?

Liam: There are plac that are sentially ‘gay bars’ Dubai (and I e the term ‘gay bars’ very loosely), however the are not labelled as such.

The maly e about when someone who owns the ‘gay bar’ holds fluence wh the lol thori and so n operate this (discreet) way. Aga to reerate, not ‘gay bars as such but are popular wh the LGBTQ+ crowd:. The aren’t specifilly gay nights however the tend to attract a queer crowd:.