The kgdom’s ultranservative laws neverthels crimalize sodomy and other same-sex relatns, makg them punishable by imprisonment, floggg or ath. Dpe the dangers of gay Sdis, Sdi Arabia still boasts a large yet secretive LGBTQ muny.
Contents:
- SDI GAYS FLNT NEW EEDOMS: 'STRAIGHTS N'T KISS PUBLIC OR HOLD HANDS LIKE '
- “IT IS EASIER TO BE GAY SDI ARABIA THAN BE STRAIGHT”
- EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
- GAY SDI ARABIA 2007-16: THE KGDOM THE CLOSET
SDI GAYS FLNT NEW EEDOMS: 'STRAIGHTS N'T KISS PUBLIC OR HOLD HANDS LIKE '
* gay saudis *
By way of explanatn, one official told the BBC, “the ems ntradict the Islamic fah and public morals, and promote homosexual lors targetg the younger generatn” Human Digny Tst, a pro-gay anizatn, not “nsistent reports of discrimatn and vlence agast LGBTQ people. ”Bolsterg Tourism In Sdi Arabia Is The GoalGay travel is a lucrative part of the tourism dtry, so mak sense that STA is tryg to tap to Travel wr, “[gay upl] spend more money a statn than heterosexual upl, and tend to travel more tim a year.
Homosexualy, however, remas illegal the untry, though the laws are not always Sdi Tourism Authory’s webse has an updated sectn unr s Frequently Asked Qutns page statg “Are LGBT visors wele to vis Sdi Arabia? Easy, Crimalized LGBT muny make sure that your lgbtq cizens are prison and the same time wele to Internatnal LGBT… — Wajeeh Gay Lnوجيه المثلي الأسد (@WajeehLnn) April 26, 2023Background: Like most Mlim-majory untri the Middle East, same-sex relatnships are prohibed by law Sdi Arabia.
For ee real time breakg news alerts sent straight to your box sign up to our breakg news emailsSign up to our ee breakg news emailsIn the glass and marble shoppg malls of this smopolan and paratively laid-back cy on the Red Sea, young Sdi Arabian men are takg advantage of the emergence of an creasgly tolerated Wtern-oriented gay the glass and marble shoppg malls of this smopolan and paratively laid-back cy on the Red Sea, young Sdi Arabian men are takg advantage of the emergence of an creasgly tolerated Wtern-oriented gay scene. And young Sdis who equent the venu, many returne om the Uned Stat after the 11 September 2001 attacks, say that they get to know one another through the paradox of Sdi Arabia is that while the executner's sword awas anyone nvicted of the crime of sodomy, practice homosexualy is tolerated.
“IT IS EASIER TO BE GAY SDI ARABIA THAN BE STRAIGHT”
Some LGBTQ Sdis felt they had to flee their home untry, as gay rights rema a social taboo the Gulf kgdom erned by sharia law, where homosexualy is an offence potentially punishable by ath. * gay saudis *
"Sdi Arabia's domtic reform iative, bed wh the kgdom's eagerns to shed an ternatnal reputatn for fosterg extremism and tolerance, may even have some benefs for this strict Islamic society's gay muny.
Shortly after the attacks on Ameri - most of the suici-hijackers were Sdi natnals - a Sdi diplomat Washgton nied that the kgdom beheads homosexuals, while openly admtg that "sodomy" is practised by nsentg mal Sdi Arabia "on a daily basis". Even the head of the notor relig police has sce acknowledged the existence of a lol gay treatment of gay men here received ternatnal attentn when an Interr Mistry statement reported January 2002 that three men the southern cy of Abha had been "behead for homosexualy". Sce the uproar over the beheadgs, the kgdom's Inter Servic Un, rponsible for blockg s emed "unIslamic" or polilly sensive, unblocked accs to s home page for gay Sdi surfers after beg bombard wh cril e-mails om the US.
Ibrahim b Abdullah b Ghah, the head of the relig police (the Commtee for the Preventn of Vice and the Promotn of Virtue) acknowledged, unually tempered language, that there are gay Sdis, while also speakg of the need "to te the young" about this "vice". But he nied media reports that gay and lbian relatnships were the norm the strictly segregated schools and lleg, that homosexualy "is spreadg" an unprecented two-page special vtigatn, the daily newspaper Okaz said lbianism was "enmic" among schoolgirls.
EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEG GAY MLIM UNTRI
When you thk of gay-iendly statns, New York, San Francis, the Netherlands and other such plac e to md. Now, an effort to make to make the untry palatable, the Sdi Tourism Authory (STA) says LGBT+ tourists are wele. In the FAQ sectn of STA’S webse, somebody quired whether or not LGBT+ visors were… Contue readg The Sdi Tourism Authory Says LGBT+ Visors Are Wele In Sdi Arabia * gay saudis *
LGBTQ+ travelers are a lucrative market, acrdg to Darren Burn, CEO of Out Of Office, a luxury travel planng service for the muny, and of Travel Gay, the world’s largt LGBTQ+ travel platform. “In Dubai there are a lot of gay fluencers, and as long as you unrstand the ntext of the area you’re and rpect the tradnal culture and not show your queerns any way, you’re OK, ” she said. Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love.
'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022. Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage".
Admtedly several Gulf untri have a lot of laws that aren’t actually enforced, and this go way beyond beg gay; this clus laws around public displays of affectn, laws around unmarried people stayg the rooms, laws around sex, example, until 2020 was technilly illegal for unmarried people to share a hotel room the UAE; yet how many tens of lns of unmarried upl vised the UAE over time, shared a hotel room, and had no issu? Sdi Arabia has amb tourism goals, and ’s clear that the untry is slowly and subtly liberalizg, om allowg women to drive, to allowg unmarried upl to share hotel rooms, to now welg gay travelers.
GAY SDI ARABIA 2007-16: THE KGDOM THE CLOSET
The official fictn, Brian Whaker explas, is that gay people don’t exist the Middle East. They do – and for many of them, attus of fay and society are a bigger problem than fear of beg persecuted * gay saudis *
(Tip of the hat to rear Is, who oddly asked if I’ll “have the tegry to report on this or willfully ignore ” — have I ever really shied away om the topic of travelg to the Middle East as a gay person?
No gay rights Sdi Arabia. * gay saudis *
Earlier this year, Luxembourg’s prime mister, Xavier Bettel (who is married to a fellow man) nonted Arab lears over the reprsn of gay rights, tellg them his same-sex marriage would nmn him to ath some of their untri. Acrdg to the kgdom’s relig police, the school was fed 100, 000 riyals ($26, 650) for displayg “the emblem of the homosexuals” on s buildg, one of s admistrators was jailed and the offendg parapet was swiftly repated to match a blue rabow-ee se of the gaily pated school shows how progrs one part of the world n have adverse effects elsewhere and serv as a remr that there are plac where the nnectn between rabows and LGBT rights is eher new or yet to be Afghanistan, only a few years ago, there was a craze for ratg rs wh rabow stickers – which Che factori were only too happy to supply. It wasn’t until the Afghan Pajhwok news agency explaed how they might be misterpreted that the craze me to a sudn on the ter and you will also fd pi of the “Rabow Qur’an” for sale – an unnscly gay edn of the holy book wh tted pag of every hue and remend on one webse as “an ial gift for Mlims” there are two sis to this cross-cultural misunrstandg.
Genr segregatn, which go to extreme lengths the more nservative Mlim untri, enurag homosocial behavur, creatg a suatn where men are often more fortable the prence of other men and where placg a hand on another man’s knee is a sign of iendship, not an vatn to sex. Historilly, Mlim societi have often acknowledged this – toleratg to some extent even if they the 19th and early 20th centuri, men who had been persecuted for their sexualy Europe often sought refuge Moroc and, long before same-sex marriage was dreamed of the wt, male-on-male partnerships were regnised – and marked wh a ceremony – the remote Egyptian oasis of some Mlim untri, whole towns have bee the butt of jok about the supposed homosexualy of their habants.
In Egypt, for example, an old law agast “bchery” is often laws have a tastrophic effect on the liv of people who are unlucky enough to get ught but, spe ocsnal crackdowns, the thori don’t, on the whole, actively seek out gay people to arrt them. In England 1952, there were 670 prosecutns for sodomy, 3, 087 for attempted sodomy or cent asslt, and 1, 686 for gross problem wh such laws, even if not vigoroly enforced, is that they signal official disapproval of homosexualy and, upled wh the fulmatns of relig scholars, legimise discrimatn by dividuals at an everyday level and may also provi an exce for actn by vigilant.