Gay Life Lebanon: Bounce Back Beit - GlobalGayz

vida gay en beirut

La pal libana celebra la semana l ullo gay, sentando un precente en la región

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GAY BEIT

Our gay gui to Beit, Lebanon, featurg gay-iendly hotels, gay bars and travel rmatn. * vida gay en beirut *

> Gay Lebanon Gay BeitBeit is home to an ever-growg gay scene. Outsi of Israel, Lebanon is the most gay-iendly untry the Middle East. Although homosexualy is theoretilly illegal, the penal law is rarely ed.

Gay travelers Beit shouldn't face any difficulti, but public displays of affectn are ill-advised. D habacn y apartamentos privados hasta hotel LGBT-iendly, tien la opción alojarte en el meollo los distros gays, así o en otros barrs los lugar que vis. Un tud en el Soho, una habación partida en Barcelona o en el Castro, un hotel gay en Chelsea o en el Le Marais, ¡vive la experiencia misterb&b en todos los stos turístis gay!

BARS & CLUBS GAY BEIT

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Beit’s world fame for war is fally beg overshadowed by s emergg reputatn as the (gay) party pal of the Middle East. 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’. Even gay life is boomg.

The cy’s gay bars – even if most still prefer to be lled ‘gay iendly’– are thrivg. They have ma Beit a visible fol pot of gay tourism 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.

“If the state knows a certa bar is a gay bar, they don’t re.

MAPA GAY BEIT

* vida gay en beirut *

” The last time a gay bar was harassed by the police, Makarem relled, was 2005.

GAY LIFE LEBANON: BOUNCE BACK BEIT

Deja que Menkarta te asista br Gay en Beit nque vivas en Beit. Nutro ampl tálogo lugar ambiente crece todos los días gracias a ti. * vida gay en beirut *

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. That is to say, once si people don’t behave differently om any other gay club the world – wh the possible exceptn of the ocsnal male belly dance. 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.

LA UNIDAD GAY DA S PRIMEROS PASOS PARA SALIR L ARMAR EN BEIT

Still, I was loath to accept such a one-dimensnal image of gay life Lebanon. 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 AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS BEIT

Haig tells me that everyone the band has gay iends and ’s really not an issue. Hamed Sno, the charismatic lead sger of the band, is of a rare speci: a publicly out gay man Lebanon. Some prits are unhappy wh the official stance of the Catholic Church and have ved Helem to talk about the issue of homosexualy to their ngregatns.

GAY EN BEIT

Many prenceived, Wtern ias about polil and relig attus toward homosexualy prove rather els Lebanon. 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. Recently, they ran a big exposé on homosexualy prisons.

Another surprise reveals what is, acrdg to Makarem, a ser mistake on the part of the Wtern media: the assumptn that pro-Wtern polil parti are pro-gay.

BEYROUTH GAY

“The New York Tim, which is supposed to be a ser newspaper, ran an article on gay nightlife that claimed some thgs that were absolutely ridiculo.

For stance, nclud that bee a pro-Wtern majory was elected, that would be a good thg for gays Lebanon. 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.

BEIT, PAL áRABE L ULLO GAY

Ghassan Makarem of Helem told me, “You uld be part of an Islamic movement and be pro gay. Havg said that, when I ntacted the admistrators of the Facebook group lled ‘Gays of Dahiyeh’, took a que a b of persuasn to get them to talk to me.

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. No neighbourhood is that gay. There was nothg particularly gay about the place.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* VIDA GAY EN BEIRUT

Bt Gay Hotels Beit, selected by misterb&b .

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