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

Contents:

• THE UAE'S POSN ON GAY RIGHTS IS ACTUALLY SURPRISGLY PROGRSIVE – AND I SHOULD KNOW
• CAN I BE GAY DUBAI?
• DUBAI GAY TRAVEL
• PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI
• ONE OF THE MOST ANTI-GAY UNTRI IS ABOUT TO HOST A NFERENCE ON LGBTQ RIGHTS
• TRAVEL SAFETY REPORT: 20 WORST PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2021

THE UAE'S POSN ON GAY RIGHTS IS ACTUALLY SURPRISGLY PROGRSIVE – AND I SHOULD KNOW

Homosexualy⚢✖ Illegal (ath penalty as punishment)Censorship✖ State-enforcedNon-bary genr regnn✖ Not legally regnizedDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsDonatg Blood✖ Banned (fe ferral)Conversn Therapy✖ Not banned.

By The Numbers45% of Emiratis strongly or somewhat agree that beg LGBTI should be a crime32% of Emiratis strongly or somewhat disagree that beg LGBTI should be a crime23% of Emiratis neher agree nor disagree that beg LGBTI should be a crimeHistoryHomosexual activy Uned Arab Emirat?

CAN I BE GAY DUBAI?

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.

Sign up for the View om Wtmster email for expert analysis straight to your boxGet our ee View om Wtmster emailRecently, I was asked to fend my support of the UAE and expla why I am so enthiastic about a natn that is perceived to enforce torture, lengthy prison terms and even the ath penalty agast gay people. And spe what some might thk, the ath penalty has never been voked or rried out as a punishment for homosexualy or sodomy the whole history of the there are thgs that are not nuanced at all.

DUBAI GAY TRAVEL

Dpe state-sponsored reprsn and social stigma, lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people the Middle East and North Ai are fdg ways to speak out. They are tellg their stori, buildg allianc, workg across borrs, velopg natnal and regnal movements, and fdg creative ways to bat homophobia and transphobia. They relied on a “bchery” law that had been ed the early 2000s agast gay men and transgenr women and was revived wh a vengeance followg the 2013 up, when the ernment, led by Print Abl Fattah al-Sisi, appeared to embrace persecutn of gays and trans people as a polil strategy.

PERIL AND PRIVILEGE: GAY EXPAT NIGHTLIFE DUBAI

The majory of the terviewe intified as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or queer, while a few intified as heterosexual and cisgenr (see glossary) but were eply engaged activist work supportg LGBT people. One terviewee, om Bahra, intified as gay but did not intify as an activist; he spoke wh Human Rights Watch about the relative absence of an LGBT rights movement Bahra.

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

The report also builds upon prev rearch nducted by Human Rights Watch wh LGBT activists and other LGBT people Lebanon, Tunisia, Moroc, Egypt, Kuwa, Iraq, and the Uned Arab Emirat, and on Human Rights Watch’s prev reportg on vlatns agast LGBT people the regn, cludg the reports Digny Debased: Forced Anal Examatns Homosexualy Prosecutns (2016); “It’s Part of the Job”: Ill-treatment and Torture of Vulnerable Groups Lebane Police Statns (2013); “‘They Hunt Down for Fun’: Discrimatn and Police Vlence Agast Transgenr Women Kuwa (2012); “They Want Us Extermated”: Murr, Torture, Sexual Orientatn and Genr Iraq (2009); and In a Time of Torture: The Asslt on Jtice In Egypt's Crackdown on Homosexual Conduct (2004).

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

[7] Egypt is a serial offenr terms of systematic e of such provisns agast LGBT people: a law prohibg “bchery, ” ially promulgated 1951 for the purpose of crimalizg sex work and then replaced by Law 10/1961 on the Combatg of Prostutn, has been ed by the thori sce the 1990s to prosecute homosexual nduct between men, rultg hundreds of arrts.

Acrdg to one report, 127 people were arrted at an alleged “gay party” 2011, some drsed drag, spe of there beg no law that clearly punish beg gay or drsg drag.

However, Egypt, a provisn on “cement to bchery” the 1961 law on batg prostutn was ed September 2017 agast young people spected of raisg the rabow flag at a Mashrou’ Leila ncert, and agast other people who were prosecuted after g gay datg apps or chat rooms. Acrdg to an analysis by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr and Intersex Associatn (ILGA), laws regulatg non-ernmental anizatns Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Moroc, Bahra, Jordan, Kuwa, Oman, Qatar, Sdi Arabia, and the Uned Arab Emirat make virtually impossible for anizatns workg on issu of sexual orientatn and genr inty to legally register.

In Libya, the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi rulted a power vacuum which ias wield signifint power; several of them have nducted arbrary arrts of men on spicn of homosexualy.