Gay Dubai LGBTQ* nightlife and travel 2023

Contents:

• DUBAI GAY TRAVEL
• GAY BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS - DUBAI FOM
• GAY DUBAI
• ABU DHABI GAY TRAVEL
• PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI
• GAY ABU DHABI ABU DHABI CY GUI
• ASIE EXPAT REVEALS WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY DUBAI
• THE 10 BEST AMSTERDAM GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS AMSTERDAM
• NIWEZIJDS GAY SNA
• WHERE TO GO WHEN IM YOUNG GAY? - AMSTERDAM FOM
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
• DUBAI GAY MAP
• DUBAI NIGHTLIFE FOR GAY MALE TOURISTS - DUBAI FOM
• BEG GAY DUBAI AND ABU DHABI

DUBAI GAY TRAVEL

Searchg for Dubai gay travel rmatn onle, ’s easy to unrstand why so many travelers are unsure about visg.

GAY BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS - DUBAI FOM

Some webs talk about massive sweaty gay parti, while others mentn LGBT tourists gog to jail for holdg hands public. In this gui, I’ll help you navigate all the nfg rmatn about gay travel to Dubai, ver sential safety tips, and mentn some of the bt hotels and lol thgs to do. The cy wants to further an image of beg more socially liberal and don’t exactly like beg labeled as anti-gay.

GAY DUBAI

However, there is always the lgerg realy that you mt monor and censor your actns here, pecially a untry where beg gay is illegal.

At the time, I was pretty worried about beg whether I’d be safe as a gay tourist Dubai. Knowg the Middle East is generally nservative, gay travelers might not feel pletely fortable wh the ia of visg Dubai.

ABU DHABI GAY TRAVEL

Many ponr safety preutns like letg their gay apps or removg personal tails om social media. Police are not patrollg the streets lookg for pairs of gay men, but bears to mentn that the law remas archaic disallowg any gay rights. While you won’t fd any specifilly gay hotels Dubai, choosg one of the larger ternatnal hotel chas will have a big impact on your sense of safety as an LGBT traveler.

Both of the hotels are certa to adhere to ternatnal standards, so I’d classify them as some of Dubai’s gay-iendly hotels. While you should be credibly skeptil when browsg misleadg lists of Dubai gay bars, you n still have a fantastic time enjoyg the cy’s nightlife.

Ryan Centner’s fantastic exposé on Dubai’s gay expat nightlife tells the story wonrfully.

PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI

Gay lols Dubai equently change nightlife venu and they munite about the subject extremely privately. Dubai gay lols have been known to equent a few different parti that attract an open-md crowd. Barbary Cocktail Club is another awome spot known as one of the few Dubai gay bars, remend by a iend of me who liv Dubai.

GAY ABU DHABI ABU DHABI CY GUI

While Bar is not officially a Dubai gay club, the space is equented by many gay men. Gay men and transexual dividuals have been taed and prosecuted Dubai before over seemgly harmls gtur. Homosexualy is illegal the UAE and LGBTQ+ dividuals have no rights whatsoever.

Dubai’s thori will certaly not tolerate gay public displays of affectn, so remember that would be dangero to hold your partner’s hand while walkg down the street.

But if you’ve ever met a male flight attendant that works for Emirat, they’ll tell you about all the Dubai gay lols livg this glzy metropolis. How are the “pulsg gay nightclubs” existence while a uple of gay tourists face arrt for holdg hands? You’ll need to e a VPN nnectn to accs gay datg apps the UAE though, sce the ernment blocks them.

ASIE EXPAT REVEALS WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY DUBAI

If you do ci to meet someone on a gay applitn, make sure you’ve pletely vetted them.

THE 10 BEST AMSTERDAM GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS AMSTERDAM

Hello me and my boyiend will be visg May, I know 's a nservative untry but I've also been told 's tolerant - so I was checkg to see if there was a gay scene Dubai?

I've seen a few YouTube vios of the gay scene Dubai but not specific to any areas or bars. That's not to say gay people don't live or vis Dubai as they do but they are not visibly open about. You'll be fe if you vis but no open displays of affectn and don't advertise the fact you're gay.

Homosexualy is illegal, and any gay bar would be quickly closed and s owners arrted. Regardg bars and clubs we did not go but i have a iend livg there that said there are gay clubs where only men go, the only thg is that you nnot kiss there.

NIWEZIJDS GAY SNA

The higher-end hotels realize that makg gay upl jump through hoops is bad bs.

Radisson Blu Hotel Dubais Media Cy has a gay & lbian night lled Bar on Fridays. 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.

WHERE TO GO WHEN IM YOUNG GAY? - AMSTERDAM FOM

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. Although homosexualy is officially forbidn, gays and lbians n enjoy private gay life relative fort pared to other untri the regn. However, showg gay affectn public n lead to penalti or prison, so be reful.

Gay travelers terted visg Abu Dhabi often wonr whether ’s safe, or even a good ia, nsirg how nservative the culture is. It’s imperative for gay travelers to take certa preutns to stay safe Abu Dhabi sce homosexualy or any queer-prentg behavr is not tolerated.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

I vised Abu Dhabi wh my gay llege roommate along wh a few other iends, and we had no issu.

If you’re wonrg why any gay traveler would want to vis a place that opprs LGBTQ people, my answer is that addn to basic cursy, I love Arab culture and language.

Staff at the properti should have enough cultural trag to know how to al LGBT tourists, or even two gay dividuals planng on sleepg the same bed. Novotel Al Btan is at the southern end of Downtown Abu Dhabi and is also owned by Acr Hotels, so I would remend to gay travelers. While ’s not the saft place for gay travelers, Abu Dhabi isn’t the most dangero statn eher.

DUBAI GAY MAP

Providg clear ditns via Instagram lotn tags or by g gay hashtags isn’t a good ia. As you may have gused, there are officially no gay bars or gay clubs Abu Dhabi. Instead of searchg for gay events, stay on the safe si and nform to the lol ctoms.

If you’re seekg to nnect wh another LGBT dividual via gay apps (like Grdr or Scff), remember that you’ll need a VPN nnectn to do so. In the Uned Arab Emirat, there are absolutely no gay rights or protectns and all relatns outsi of a heterosexual marriage are technilly crimal.

Police aren’t patrollg the streets lookg for gay men Abu Dhabi, but ’s worth mentng that the law remas archaic. While I don’t disurage any gay travelers om visg Abu Dhabi, those lookg for Middle Eastern statns that are much more LGBT-iendly should thk about ci like Tel Aviv stead. 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.

DUBAI NIGHTLIFE FOR GAY MALE TOURISTS - DUBAI FOM

“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. 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.

BEG GAY DUBAI AND ABU DHABI

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. “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.