Everyone is wele: the only gay hangout the Arab world | LGBTQ+ rights | The Guardian

Contents:

• GAY BARS BEIT - BEIT FOM
• GAY LIFE LEBANON: BOUNCE BACK BEIT
• GAY NIGHTLIFE BEIT
• DISVER THE 5 MOST GAY-IENDLY ARAB UNTRI
• GAY BARS & CLUBS - BEIT FOM
• EVERYONE IS WELE: THE ONLY GAY HANGOUT THE ARAB WORLD
• FOR BEIT'S GAY MUNY, CHEMIL BLAST SHATTERED A SAFE SPACE
• BEIT GAY BARS
• BEIT GAY MAP
• GAY LEBANON
• POSHBEITMENUBEIT · HOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSSERVICGAY MAPGAY RIGHTSPOSH

GAY BARS BEIT - BEIT FOM

I was tryg to set up a walkg tour wh a gay travel se Beit and got an ial quiry of tert to help, but they have failed to rpond to all my follow up emails. The New York Tim’ travel sectn emed the cy the ‘number one place to vis 2009’, and, another article, raved about the cy’s thrivg gay scene, dubbg ‘The Provcetown of the Middle East’.

Acrdg to Ghassan Makarem, executive director of Helem Lebanon’s gay rights anisatn (the first and only of s kd the Arab world), the ernment don’t object to this image.

GAY LIFE LEBANON: BOUNCE BACK BEIT

At the cy’s two ma gay clubs, Milk and Acid, a mix of Lebane, Syrian, Jordanian, Kuwai and even some Iraqi men disprove any remag theory of cultural relativism. But acrdg to Bertho Makso of Lebtour, a Beit-based travel agent that promot gay tourism to Lebanon and anis very popular Bear Arabia events, that is exactly what his clients are lookg for. On a stroll across the universy grounds he explaed that the ‘gay’ song our mutual iend referred to, Shem el Yasme (Smell the Jasme), plays wh a tradnal property of Arabic poetry and lyrics: love is always directed to a man.

GAY NIGHTLIFE BEIT

One rehg surprise is that Al-Akhbar, a newspaper that is half owned by Hezbollah, has ma homosexualy part of s reportg agenda and wr que posively about the issue.

This was nsistent wh stori of a large flux of gay men om Dahiyeh the cy’s gay bars and clubs, and the experience of a woman who told me she got ls flack for wearg a miskirt Dahiyeh than the smopolan shoppg street of Hamra, where the men would ‘accintally’ bump to her and stare at her cht. What was even more remarkable to me – g om a part of the world where Mlims are generally perceived as the most nservative and homophobic group society – was that a lot of people seemed to agree that Mlims Lebanon were more open to discsg homosexualy on the street (albe never the media) than Christians. Whoever was I talked to, before he signed off he told me that the past few years thgs had changed a lot Dahiyeh and that there had been an enormo crease visible homosexualy the neighbourhood – he claimed that some 30% of the men were now gay.

DISVER THE 5 MOST GAY-IENDLY ARAB UNTRI

The same people anise very popular Bear Arabia-events twice a year: check They’re very knowledgeable and fun and have big plans for Beit: the owner Bertho Makso exprsed his visn to anise a (gay) love pri para the near future.

GAY BARS & CLUBS - BEIT FOM

The Gefor Rotana is one of the most nveniently loted hotels Beit, wh walkg distance om the Corniche (the seasi promena) and s beach clubs, the shops and rtrants of Rue Hamra and Downtown Beit, and some of the most popular gay-iendly plac town. Other plac to check out: Behd the Green Door (porn spired bar Gemmayzeh); Barometre (very atmospheric, very tellectual leftist Arab bar near the Amerin universy Hamra – great cheap food, too, and Acid (somewhat tacky, but still… you n’t miss the biggt gay club the Middle East). It drew 400 people and ran for hours as dozens of young Beitis, cludg Hamed Sno, lead sger of the ternatnally succsful Mashrou Leila, stood up to tell their g-out Grand FactoryThe gay sger and dancer Moe Khansa is big news, too: at the Beit Art Fair an Iranian artist’s portra of him embracg another man sold for $8, 000.

EVERYONE IS WELE: THE ONLY GAY HANGOUT THE ARAB WORLD

In orr to obta one of the chillt and off the beaten path Gay Nightlife Beit you n look wh the elements listed below at 2023For the Gay Nightlife Beit g the top dancg you may beg your search by searchg si the ponents below which were disvered by Menkarta. Gay meetg plac Beit by Category There is certaly Cisg to sue your sir the event you appear si the products listed below at Menkarta where they've piled lots of tails.

If you n five the state-approved homophobia and are willg to act wh discretn while out and about, the Arab untri n reem themselv a thoand and one different ways, om the ancient centre of Petra to the glterg ephets of Bahra and to the serts beyond. While by and large closeted kgdoms, the handful of gay clubs the progrsive cy of Beit n allow you to be your te self, while the luxury ternatnal hotels across the regn n ensure your privacy is rpected. Wh so much do see and do, Mt is bt seen by tour b, allowg you to hop off at untls mms, the Sultan’s Palace and the Mutrah Corniche wateront, before venturg further afield on day trips to the beach and turtle-filled lagoons for divg and of the slightly more tolerant untri the regn, Oman is said to have once had s own gay sultan – Sultan Qaboos b Said al Said – although the state prs is quick to ny this as a pric mour!

Neverthels, the unofficial gossip is that the former sultan leads a lavish gay liftyle wh his palace, divorced om his wife and enjoyg the ocsnal English lover. In realy, the laws are rarely upheld except high-profile s, however, and gay Oman remas a perfectly safe place to | Photo: Katera KerdiPetra, particular, is the crowng glory of Jordan, protected wh sandstone cliffs and offerg an unrivalled llectn of monuments, cludg the fg Siq to the Treasury on an ethereal sert se of red rock and dun known as Wadi Rum2. Now you, avid explorer of gay Arab worlds, get to see the antiqui all their majty, movg om Roman Amphheatre to Csar stle wh a samplg of early Christian art along the way.

FOR BEIT'S GAY MUNY, CHEMIL BLAST SHATTERED A SAFE SPACE

Jordan crimalised homophobia as early as 1951 and while there remas social stigma and ‘public moraly’ laws that hr LGBTQ+ eedoms, gay Jordan gas tractn thanks to s unrground gay muny (most active on Grdr! Gay Bahra legalised homosexualy 1976 though this means ltle as an LGBTQ crackdown is still force targetg those that supposedly vlate “public cency”, as Jordan. Tunisian society is viewed posively among the Arab gay muny for s LGBT progrs, as the base for anisatns such as ‘Mawjoud’ which mpaigns for LGBTQ mory rights.

BEIT GAY BARS

On paper, Tunisian law still stat that homosexualy is illegal, yet wh an openly-gay printial ndidate recently nng and ongog activism, ’s lookg more and more likely crimalisatn will e. Avoid the occurrenc and Lebanon will she, thanks to s fantastic beach rorts not far om the pal as well as s mounta vistas, ancient s and more, all urteoly attend by kdly Lebane social stigma rgs te and the ft array of Arabian gays is likely to be found onle (hello Grdr, my old iend) gay Lebanon is perhaps one of the few Arab natns where a tentative gay scene tak shape real life. As well as hostg the regn’s largt gay club, POSH, where gay Arabs and ternatnals n fally dance together whout fear of persecutn, gay Beit also hosts annual queer events such as the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia and Beit Pri.

BEIT GAY MAP

Beit, Lebanon – In an enomilly troubled, nservative untry where homosexual behavur is taboo, a growg number of men are prostutg themselv to scrape together a livg. The fact that one n anonymoly e gay social works such as Grdr or Manjam to meet clients a matter of mut – or look for potential on Beit’s gay bars, clubs or hammams – mak easier for the male prostut to stay safe and to keep their job a secret.

Before the vlence and stabily Lebanon turned them away, wealthy gay men om the Gulf untri were pecially proment, ready to pay up to a few thoand dollars – sh, jewellery or signer cloth – for a night wh an rt. Sr of gay men — most of them “bears, ” a term ed the world over for heavyset, hairy guys ually olr than 30 — were g om across Lebanon and the Arab world, as well as Argenta, Italy, Mexi, the Uned Stat and elsewhere. In his 40s, wearg a whe T-shirt and khaki shorts, Roberto said he was surprised by the br of Beit pared wh gay life Rome, and said he was gog to spread the word back home.

”While homosexual activy (technilly, sexual relatns that officials em “unnatural”) is illegal Lebanon, as most of the Arab world, Beit’s valy as a Mederranean pal of night life has fueled a flourishg gay scene — albe one where men n be nervo about public displays of affectn and where secury guards at clubs n terce if the good tim turn too isky on the dance floor. But even more than the partyg, Beit reprents a different Middle East for some gay and lbian Arabs: the only place the regn where they n openly enjoy a social life nied them at, a 35-year-old gay man visg om Damasc — who, like many men terviewed Beit, asked that his surname not be published — said that only two close iends Syria knew that he was gay and that there were no bars, clubs or f Damasc where gay Syrians felt at ease.

GAY LEBANON

“I thought I would meet other gay men at universy Syria, but didn’t happen, and then I thought as an adult man livg Damasc that would happen, but hasn’t, ” said Asu, who was nursg a club soda at Wolf, a gay-iendly bar near the Amerin Universy Beit. ”While homophobia is not a rampant problem Jordan, acrdg to Abdul-Azeem, a gay man om Amman, he has not found enough openns to start a relatnship wh a man.

” Gay life this cy is still chg out of the shadows, to be sure, but seems to have veloped a steady forward momentum sce the end of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war 1990 — and pecially the lm that has followed the brief 2006 war between Hezbollah forc and have opened, and old on are to their fifth or sixth year of sponsorg annual parti and mic ftivals. Inter chat s like Manjam (), self-scribed as “a gay social work for datg, work and travel, ” have taken off; several gay men here had no hibns tellg me their Manjam profile screen nam. And, by anecdotal acunts, gay men and women om other Arab untri and the Wt are creasgly vatng here — a choice that is all the more sexy and thrillg for some bee they feel they are livg on the edge and disverg a gay culture that is hly the mid-1990s, a few small f Beit beme popular gatherg plac for gay men — not only for groups of iends, but also for men who had chatted on the Inter and wanted to arrange a safe place to meet.

POSHBEITMENUBEIT · HOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSSERVICGAY MAPGAY RIGHTSPOSH

One such spot, Café Sheikh Mankoh the Hamra district, also stalled puters that gay men ed to chat onle wh others Beit, Bertho the years sce, Lebanon has bee one of the most liberal Arab unti when to sexualy and sexual behavr, acrdg to Michael T. Luongo, the edor of the 2007 book “Gay Travels the Mlim World, ” which was translated and prted Arabic this summer by a Beit publishg hoe, Arab Diffn. (Travel guis to Beit are not plentiful, particularly on that might be helpful for gay and lbian travelers, but one eful publitn is “A Hedonist’s Gui to Beit, ” published by Hg2 Guis.