Sodomy is punishable by ath Sdi Arabia, but gay life flourish there. Why is “easier to be gay than straight” a society where everyone, homosexual and otherwise, liv the closet
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SDI GAY SCENE: 'FORBIDN, BUT I N'T HELP IT'
* gay sex in saudi arabia *
Sodomy is punishable by ath Sdi Arabia, but gay life flourish there. Why is “easier to be gay than straight” a society where everyone, homosexual and otherwise, liv the closetYasser, a 26-year-old artist, was takg me on an impromptu tour of his hometown of Jeddah, Sdi Arabia, on a swelterg September afternoon. Yasser is homosexual, or so we would scribe him the Wt, and the barbershop we vised ters to gay men.
He wasn’t worried about the gay-themed nature of his tour—he didn’t want to be ught alone wh a woman. “It’s a lot easier to be gay than straight here, ” he had said. ) Ask many Sdis about homosexualy, and they’ll wce wh repugnance.
”This legal and public nmnatn notwhstandg, the kgdom leav nsirable space for homosexual behavr.
RULTS FOR : GAY ARAB SDI
Samir, like many gay men the Arab world, guards his sexual orientatn wh a paranoid secrecy. To feel ee he tak long vatns to Thailand, where he has a boyiend, and spends weekends Lebanon, which he regards as havg a more gay-tolerant society. But at home Sdi Arabia, he is vigilant. Samir's parents don't know of his liftyle. He says his mom would kill herself if she found out. They nstantly set him up wh women they nsir potential wiv. At work, Samir watch his words, reful not to aroe the spicn of lleagu. * gay sex in saudi arabia *
As long as gays and lbians mata a public ont of obeisance to Wahhabist norms, they are left to do what they want private. “You n be cised anywhere Sdi Arabia, any time of the day, ” said Radwan, a 42-year-old gay Sdi Amerin who grew up var Wtern ci and now liv Jeddah. ” Talal, a Syrian who moved to Riyadh 2000, lls the Sdi pal a “gay heaven.
But what seems more startlg, at least om a Wtern perspective, is that some of the men havg sex wh other men don’t nsir themselv gay.