TIME speaks to Dr. Naser Mohamed, the first and currently only Qatari to publicly e out as gay, ahead of the World Cup.
Contents:
- GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI
- GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
- 5 SAFT PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2019 (AND THE MOST DANGERO)
- WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI
- GAY, TRANSGENR FANS ‘WELE’ AT 2022 WORLD CUP, SAYS QATAR
- GAY QATARI'S ARTICLE PROVOK BACKLASH OVER WORLD CUP 'VALU'
GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI
Qatar Preventive Secury Department forc have arbrarily arrted lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people and subjected them to ill-treatment tentn, Human Rights Watch said today. LGBT people terviewed said that their mistreatment took place as recently as September 2022, as Qatar prepared to host the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup November and even as the ernment me unr tense scty for s treatment of LGBT people. * lgbt in doha *
(Beit) – Qatar Preventive Secury Department forc have arbrarily arrted lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people and subjected them to ill-treatment tentn, Human Rights Watch said today.
“I saw many other LGBT people taed there: two Morocn lbians, four Filipo gay men, and one Nepale gay man, ” she said. A Qatari gay man who has experienced ernment reprsn, cludg arbrary arrt, said that secury forc surveilled and arrted him based on his onle activy.
GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
LGBT Rights Qatar: homosexualy, gay marriage, gay adoptn, servg the ary, sexual orientatn discrimatn protectn, changg legal genr, donatg blood, age of nsent, and more. * lgbt in doha *
Homosexualy⚢✖ Male illegal, female uncertaCensorship✖ State-enforcedNon-bary genr regnn✖ Not legally regnizedDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsConversn Therapy✖ Not banned. Homosexual activy Qatar is male illegal, female illegal, female uncerta Qatar is a nservative Mlim untry and homosexualy is illegal. The untry's laws and cultural norms heavily discrimate agast LGBTQ+ dividuals, and homosexualy is punishable by imprisonment or f.
As a rult, gay marriage is not possible or regnized Qatar and LGBTQ+ dividuals are not afford the same rights and protectns as heterosexual upl.
In the months sce, Mohamed lnched the non-prof Alwan Foundatn to advance LGBTQ+ rights across the Middle East and pecially Qatar, where he says that secury operativ filtrate gay muni orr to torture and erce members to rm on others.
5 SAFT PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2019 (AND THE MOST DANGERO)
* lgbt in doha *
There are some people om really affluent fai that are gay and ’s almost public knowledge—but they’re really wealthy, affluent, and very nnected, so people jt don’t say anythg. REUTERS/Fabriz Bensch/DOHA, Nov 19 (Rters) - A group of Arab iends livg Qatar's pal Doha met up over cktails and snacks last week, exchangg opns as they flicked through profil of gay men on datg apps Tr and phone of one flashed wh a msage om a suor around the rner. The man his 20s leapt up om the table, leavg to meet his date iends, who met up days before the soccer World Cup kicks off Qatar on Sunday, are part of a Doha gay scene that's managg to fly unr the radar a natn where same-sex relatns are illegal and punishable by up to three years of jail-time.
"Rters spoke to four gay men Doha - the Wterner, two Qataris pl an Arab om elsewhere the regn - who said they lived the untry, a mag for foreign workers, bee they had well-paid jobs, pl iends or fay four spoke on ndn of anonymy due to ncern over possible punishment om thori. "It's not all sufferg, " said a 30-year-old gay Arab man who has lived and worked Doha for nearly 10 fact, the four exprsed worri about the wave of ternatnal cricism about gay rights Qatar brought by the World Cup, fearg they uld lose the eedoms they do enjoy should the opprobrium lead to a public backlash agast the LGBT+ muny once global attentn mov on.
"The men prent jt one snapshot of life for gay people the Gulf natn - and the four regnise their relative eedoms are a product of privilege; they n afford to live alone, host parti and meet partners high-end rtrants or nightclubs, where the strict l of Qatari society are often more 's not like that for members of Qatar's LGBT muny have reported beg taed, some as recently as September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. A Qatari official cricised the HRW report as ntag false rmatn and said the untry do not license or operate nversn Mohamed, a gay Qatari physician who has lived the Uned Stat for about a , weled the attentn the tournament has drawn to Qatar's rights rerd, sayg prompted him to speak out wily about his sexualy.
WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI
A group of Arab iends livg Qatar's pal Doha met up over cktails and snacks last week, exchangg opns as they flicked through profil of gay men on datg apps Tr and Grdr. * lgbt in doha *
9 ln populatn, wh the rt foreign workers, rangg om low-e nstctn workers to high-powered four men terviewed by Rters said that there were strong fancial and reer centiv to ridg the untry, addg that life for gay people there was better than some other plac the Middle ced Sdi Arabia and Iran, where men have been sentenced to ath for beg gay.. "Qatari anisers of the World Cup have warned visors agast public displays of affectn but say that everyone, no matter their sexual orientatn or background, is wele at the the tournament, medil practners will not ask patients about their extramaral sex, relign or any other stat, acrdg to the Yoef Al Maslamani, the healthre spokperson for the FIFA World the 12 years sce Qatar was named host of the 2022 tournament, the untry has faced tensifyg cricism over s rights rerd on laborers, women and the LGBT furore has been fuelled by ments om public figur cludg former Qatar player and World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman who told a German broadster that homosexualy was "damage the md". Homosexualy is illegal the nservative Mlim untry, and some soccer stars have raised ncerns over the rights of fans travellg for the event, pecially LGBT+ dividuals and women, whom rights groups say Qatari laws discrimate agast.
"Freedom of exprsn and nondiscrimatn based on sexual orientatn and genr inty should be guaranteed, permanently, for all rints of Qatar, not jt spectators gog to Qatar for the World Cup, " HRW said a anisatn said had terviewed six LGBT Qataris, cludg four transgenr women, one bisexual woman and one gay man, who reported beg taed between 2019 and 2022 and subjected to verbal and physil abe, cludg kickg and were taed whout charge an unrground prison Doha, HRW said, and one dividual was held for two months solary nfement. In an attempt to help terme the worst plac for gay travelers, the duo created the 2019 LGBTQ+ Danger Inx, rankg the world’s most dangero—and saft—untri for gay travelers.
The journalists looked at the top 150 most-vised untri the world by the number of g tourists, then ranked them g eight factors, cludg laws agast gay relatnships, legal protectn agast discrimatn and more. There, people n be put prison for up to 14 years jt for beg gay, and some stat even have the ath penalty unr Sharia law. In almost all s, the laws outlawg nsensual gay sex were put to place unr Brish le and were left place followg pennce.
GAY, TRANSGENR FANS ‘WELE’ AT 2022 WORLD CUP, SAYS QATAR
In November the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup opens Qatar, a untry that reprs the rights of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people and punish same-sex relatns wh up to seven years prison. * lgbt in doha *
“In 2018, India managed to annul Sectn 377, a Brish lonial-era law prohibg ‘unnatural acts, ’ orr to legalize nsensual gay sex, ” says Fergson, who pots out that ancient Indian lerature such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana have many referenc to LGBTQ+ hero cludg transgenr warrrs and two queens who ma love orr for one queen to get pregnant wh an heir for their kgdom. “Long story short, this pots to the fact that was likely the Brish fluence that largely led to Indian homophobia the first place, ” she says.
“We found this to be a b ironic as the reason for many of the harsh homophobic laws untri throughout the world is largely leftover om laws created durg Brish le, ” says Fergson. Prime Mister Jt T promoted clivy by marchg Toronto’s Pri Para and beme the untry’s first Prime Mister to vis a gay bar.
Ci like Lisbon and Porto have the bt gay scen the untry and Portugal is hopg to host the 2022 Europri, the world's biggt event celebratg gay pri Europe. Wh an overall natnal attu that is relaxed and acceptg towards homosexualy, Belgium is known for havg a vibrant gay and lbian scene, particularly Bssels, ” says Fergson.
GAY QATARI'S ARTICLE PROVOK BACKLASH OVER WORLD CUP 'VALU'
It was ranked so highly largely due to the extreme penalti for simply beg gay, which clu up to 14 years prison and the ath penalty stat unr Sharia law, ” says Fergson. “This oil-rich Middle Eastern untry enforc up to three years prison, floggg and the ath penalty unr Sharia law for any acts of homosexualy.
“In Yemen, the punishment for beg gay for both men and women is prison time and 100 lash, wh ath by stong for married men, ” says Fergson. “Sdi Arabia is another of the untri on our list which implements the ath penalty for nsensual homosexualy unr their terpretatn of Sharia law, ” says Fergson. “In Tanzania, any homosexual acts rult 30 years to life prison, and there has been a recent ernment crackdown on LGBT activy wh the untry.