Confn, exasperatn and datg apps – my month as a gay reporter at the Qatar World Cup - The Athletic

Contents:

• GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI
• GAY LIFE QATAR
• DOHA - GAY LIFE - DOHA FOM
• WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI
• GAY QATAR TRAVEL GUI
• GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
• GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
• OPN: DR. NASSER ‘NAS’ MOHAMED SOUGHT ASYLUM THE US AFTER G OUT AS GAY. HERE’S WHAT HE WANTS PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT QATAR
• GAY QATARIS PHYSILLY ABED THEN RECED AS AGENTS, MPAIGNER SAYS
• CONFN, EXASPERATN AND DATG APPS – MY MONTH AS A GAY REPORTER AT THE QATAR WORLD CUP
• JOSH CAVALLO: ONLY OPENLY GAY TOP-FLIGHT MALE FOOTBALLER SAYS FIFA’S ‘ONELOVE’ ARMBAND BAN HAS MA HIM FEEL ‘EXCLUD’
• THE OUTSPORTS GAY-IENDLY WORLD CUP RANKGS OF ALL 32 TEAMS

GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI

As the first and currently only Qatari to publicly e out as gay, Mohamed­—a doctor who has lived the U.

But given homosexualy is crimalized Qatar, he is likely to rema s only member for the foreeable future. 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. 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.

Bee you uld be harmed, you n be gay bashed, you n be beaten, and people may not be able to help you.

GAY LIFE QATAR

(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.

Human Rights Watch terviewed six LGBT Qataris, cludg four transgenr women, one bisexual woman, and one gay man. Doctor Nasser Mohamed, an openly gay Qatari activist, helped nnect Human Rights Watch to five of those terviewed. “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.

DOHA - GAY LIFE - DOHA FOM

Much like other small Gulf Stat the Arabian pensula fdg recent and -pth stori about gay life is not easy.

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. However, homosexualy is illegal Qatar and n be punished wh lash and jail, which offends the progrsive agenda of rights groups the Wt.

WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI

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. ) 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.

GAY QATAR TRAVEL GUI

Simply put, if a foreigner wants to be openly gay Qatar his life will be very difficult (if not impossible). 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.

GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP

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. 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. 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.

GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP

“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’m sure that if there were a gay fe and everyone went there every week, the bond between guys here would be stronger. 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.

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. In 2004 a potential sndal was supprsed and th avoid when the Qatar’s 25 year old Crown Prce Tamim B Hamad Al-Thani was allegedly seen at a London gay bar and was volved an altertn. To make this suatn even more bizarre, the prs quoted Dr Yuf al-Qaradawi, a Mlim fundamentalist scholar based Qatar, as sayg homosexual behavr is servg of rporal punishment cludg beg stoned to ath.

” Obvly homosexualy is among the viatns Qatar although the universy has sisted that human rights would be rpected any of their operatns and programs.

OPN: DR. NASSER ‘NAS’ MOHAMED SOUGHT ASYLUM THE US AFTER G OUT AS GAY. HERE’S WHAT HE WANTS PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT QATAR

Another dark si of hidn homosexualy Qatar is revealed recent reports of sex-traffickg of poor gay Kenyan male stunts who have been lured to Qatar wh the promise of good jobs only to fd they’ve bee entrapped by wealthy Qatar lols to e for their sexual pleasure. Not necsarily a bar bee i know Qatar don't have gay bars, but jt a place that is unofficially a gay hang out place. In the terpretatn of Sharia law that Qatar follows, sex outsi of marriage, cludg homosexualy, is punishable by jail time and, as a maximum sentence, ath by stong, though there isn’t available evince that such a punishment has ever been ed.

GAY QATARIS PHYSILLY ABED THEN RECED AS AGENTS, MPAIGNER SAYS

Mohamed left Qatar his 20s for medil school “wh the tentn of never g back” bee of the limed life he led as a gay man there.

“If you’re an expat, you’re able to live your life like you want, ” a gay Arab man livg Doha told Rters. 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.

CONFN, EXASPERATN AND DATG APPS – MY MONTH AS A GAY REPORTER AT THE QATAR WORLD CUP

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.

N/A There are no specific laws or bans around MSMs donatg blood Qatar, however, homosexualy is illegal the untry.

JOSH CAVALLO: ONLY OPENLY GAY TOP-FLIGHT MALE FOOTBALLER SAYS FIFA’S ‘ONELOVE’ ARMBAND BAN HAS MA HIM FEEL ‘EXCLUD’

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.

It found that only 33 did not object to bookg same-sex upl, while 20 others said that “they would acmodate same-sex upl as long as they did not publicly show that they were gay. REUTERS/Fabriz Bensch/ Acquire Licensg RightsDOHA, 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.

THE OUTSPORTS GAY-IENDLY WORLD CUP RANKGS OF ALL 32 TEAMS

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.