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. The 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 there.
Contents:
- GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI
- GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
- WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI
- BEG GAY DOHA
- GAY LIFE QATAR
- DOHA - GAY LIFE - DOHA FOM
- GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
- GAY LIFE DOHA?
- GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
- GAY UPL VISG - DOHA FOM
- DOHA - GAY LIFE - DOHA FOM
- GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS DOHA
GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI
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. * doha gay life *
Text 'GAYTRAVEL' to 1-800-GAY-TRAVEL (1-800-429-8728). — Travel Guis wh a Gay Perspective. Gay Doha.
The Gay Scene Doha.
Quatar remas a very nservative Mlim untry and th there is not really a btlg gay scene.
GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
gay life Qatar, homosexualy Qatar, LGBT Qatar, human rights Qatar, homophobia Qatar * doha gay life *
The bt place to fd both lol and ternatnal gays is at hotel bars of large wtern hotel chas. View the Gay Scene Doha. 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.
WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI
* doha gay life *
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. We go to the beach, " said another gay man, om the Wt, who has lived the wealthy untry for over a . "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.
BEG GAY 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.. I know gay men workers' mps wouldn't be able to live the same way. "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".
I am not tryg to host a bate on gay rights, nor I want to mount polemics. Much like other small Gulf Stat the Arabian pensula fdg recent and -pth stori about gay life is not easy.
GAY LIFE QATAR
The biggt public kerfluffle about homosexualy Qatar recent years has not ncerned any gay executns, wch hunts, persecutn or mands for gay marriage. Completely overlookg the social impact of such a huge ternatnal event such a ty Islamic place as Qatar FIFA got self to hot water om human rights anizatns as well as gay rights associatns. The disptive issue was homosexualy.
Very few are prepared to sudnly surrenr their sexual inty and stop beg gay for a week. However, homosexualy is illegal Qatar and n be punished wh lash and jail, which offends the progrsive agenda of rights groups the Wt. It is unavoidable that a clash of cultur will occur; a llisn of east-vers-wt agast Qatar’s tightly bound sexual and social standards, both straight and gay.
The UK gay football group, The Jt Campaign, as well as activist John Ameechi, said was eply ncerned: “spe their apparent mment to humanarian valu and the promotn of global solidary through football, FIFA is sendg out a msage loud and clear that the rights of the global LGBT muny do not even register on their agenda… Sport should never be allowed to tmp human rights.
DOHA - GAY LIFE - DOHA FOM
Some have lled upon Qatar to crimalize homosexualy by 2022.
GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
) by subsequent ments by the FIFA Print Sepp Blatter who tried to mimize the ncerns of the gay football fans worldwi by sayg that gays, to avoid trouble, should simply not have sex while Qatar: “homosexual fans should rea om any sexual activi that are illegal Qatar”. In Febary 2011, UK PM Cameron was asked about awardg the World Cup to a homophobic untry that crimaliz homosexualy. Meanwhile: Beg Gay Qatar.
Simply put, if a foreigner wants to be openly gay Qatar his life will be very difficult (if not impossible). If they are gog to be gay private should not provoke any reactn. However, even if a gay person is most and discreet he (unlikely she) may be targeted by foul-md lol Qatari men for any number of reasons such as blackmail, money, sexual abe or relig enmy.
For foreigners, beg sgle over the age of 30 is a spic cue; drsg wh some fashn, beg well groomed, sg at others, beg gentle and pole n be nsted as gay tras.
GAY LIFE DOHA?
In the mid-2000’s a Fnish gay man was sced and eventually entrapped by a “geo” Qatari man who at first offered him alhol then hashish and eventually sex–“many tim”. One eveng another geo guy showed up wh him and thgs got out of hand and the expat found himself arrted–bee he was gay?
Later I got to know that the police were all the time behd him, dictatg his actns, so I thk was bee of my gay orientatn I was arrted. That’s how much they hate –and not jt bee of gay sexualy; they envy and hate our eedom.
GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
This mentary me om a rear of Gay Middle East Qatar about the lack of social support and absence of a gay muny.
There are no gay plac here, except one, and my opn, we n’t say that ’s really gay bee ’s the only place where guys n enter whout girls, and a lot of straight guys go there as well. Another big difference here is the lack of gay relatnships.
GAY UPL VISG - DOHA FOM
And ’s not only love relatnships, but iendships are also rare Qatar among gays.
“In Jordan, I knew many people and 90% of my iends were gay, but here, after a long time, I have succeed fdg only one gay iend whom I have met and stayed touch wh by the phone.
I thk that the the reason for this is the lack of gay plac Qatar. I’m sure that if there were a gay fe and everyone went there every week, the bond between guys here would be stronger.
DOHA - GAY LIFE - DOHA FOM
” (Neher of that would happen, but that’s the general reactn towards g out/beg gay. “Deep down, I know he knows I’m gay, but neher of n adm . Beg gay is forbidn Islam and unfathomable to people.
It would be hard to fd a more direct and hont nfsn om a gay Qatari person about his cultural and personal ‘fate’ that untry.
GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS DOHA
Speakg here is a gay heart yearng to be ee yet tied to forbiddg circumstanc that are likely to nfe and fe his entire life cludg marriage to someone he n’t fully love, producg some offsprg and warg a mask behd a closed door to thentic love and timacy.