Gay Life Lebanon: Bounce Back Beit - GlobalGayz

Contents:

• DISVER THE 5 MOST GAY-IENDLY ARAB UNTRI
• GAY LIFE LEBANON: BOUNCE BACK BEIT
• GAY BARS BEIT - BEIT FOM
• GAY BEIT
• GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS BEIT
• NORTH LEBANON GAY TRAVEL
• GAY LIFE BEIT? - BEIT FOM
• GAY AND LESBIAN HOTELS IN LEBANON
• GAY UPLE VISG BEIT - LGBTQIA+ TRAVEL FOM
• POSHBEITMENUBEIT · HOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSSERVICGAY MAPGAY RIGHTSPOSH
• BEIT GAY MAP
• GAY BEIT · HOTELS
• BEIT GAY BARS
• EGO BEITBEIT · HOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSSERVICGAY MAPGAY RIGHTSSHOW MOREEGO BEIT
• GAY LEBANON

DISVER THE 5 MOST GAY-IENDLY ARAB UNTRI

Through a haze of shisha smoke and somewhat stiflg sexual stigma, the Arab world unveils an unexpected realm of possibili for trepid gay travellers. If you n five the state-approved homophobia and are willg to act wh discretn while out and about, the Arab untri n reem themselv a thoand and one different ways, om the ancient centre of Petra to the glterg ephets of Bahra and to the serts beyond. While by and large closeted kgdoms, the handful of gay clubs the progrsive cy of Beit n allow you to be your te self, while the luxury ternatnal hotels across the regn n ensure your privacy is rpected.

GAY LIFE LEBANON: BOUNCE BACK BEIT

Wh so much do see and do, Mt is bt seen by tour b, allowg you to hop off at untls mms, the Sultan’s Palace and the Mutrah Corniche wateront, before venturg further afield on day trips to the beach and turtle-filled lagoons for divg and of the slightly more tolerant untri the regn, Oman is said to have once had s own gay sultan – Sultan Qaboos b Said al Said – although the state prs is quick to ny this as a pric mour! Neverthels, the unofficial gossip is that the former sultan leads a lavish gay liftyle wh his palace, divorced om his wife and enjoyg the ocsnal English lover. In realy, the laws are rarely upheld except high-profile s, however, and gay Oman remas a perfectly safe place to | Photo: Katera KerdiPetra, particular, is the crowng glory of Jordan, protected wh sandstone cliffs and offerg an unrivalled llectn of monuments, cludg the fg Siq to the Treasury on an ethereal sert se of red rock and dun known as Wadi Rum2.

Now you, avid explorer of gay Arab worlds, get to see the antiqui all their majty, movg om Roman Amphheatre to Csar stle wh a samplg of early Christian art along the way. Jordan crimalised homophobia as early as 1951 and while there remas social stigma and ‘public moraly’ laws that hr LGBTQ+ eedoms, gay Jordan gas tractn thanks to s unrground gay muny (most active on Grdr!

Gay Bahra legalised homosexualy 1976 though this means ltle as an LGBTQ crackdown is still force targetg those that supposedly vlate “public cency”, as Jordan. Tunisian society is viewed posively among the Arab gay muny for s LGBT progrs, as the base for anisatns such as ‘Mawjoud’ which mpaigns for LGBTQ mory rights. On paper, Tunisian law still stat that homosexualy is illegal, yet wh an openly-gay printial ndidate recently nng and ongog activism, ’s lookg more and more likely crimalisatn will e.

GAY BARS BEIT - BEIT FOM

In a strange twist, one gay marriage beme legally regnised Tunisia and though that don’t say much for society as a whole, ’s a small w for gay Tunisia.

GAY BEIT

Avoid the occurrenc and Lebanon will she, thanks to s fantastic beach rorts not far om the pal as well as s mounta vistas, ancient s and more, all urteoly attend by kdly Lebane social stigma rgs te and the ft array of Arabian gays is likely to be found onle (hello Grdr, my old iend) gay Lebanon is perhaps one of the few Arab natns where a tentative gay scene tak shape real life. As well as hostg the regn’s largt gay club, POSH, where gay Arabs and ternatnals n fally dance together whout fear of persecutn, gay Beit also hosts annual queer events such as the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia and Beit Pri.

GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS BEIT

The New York Tim’ travel sectn emed the cy the ‘number one place to vis 2009’, and, another article, raved about the cy’s thrivg gay scene, dubbg ‘The Provcetown of the Middle East’.

NORTH LEBANON GAY TRAVEL

Acrdg to Ghassan Makarem, executive director of Helem Lebanon’s gay rights anisatn (the first and only of s kd the Arab world), the ernment don’t object to this image. At the cy’s two ma gay clubs, Milk and Acid, a mix of Lebane, Syrian, Jordanian, Kuwai and even some Iraqi men disprove any remag theory of cultural relativism.

That is to say, once si people don’t behave differently om any other gay club the world – wh the possible exceptn of the ocsnal male belly dance. But acrdg to Bertho Makso of Lebtour, a Beit-based travel agent that promot gay tourism to Lebanon and anis very popular Bear Arabia events, that is exactly what his clients are lookg for. On a stroll across the universy grounds he explaed that the ‘gay’ song our mutual iend referred to, Shem el Yasme (Smell the Jasme), plays wh a tradnal property of Arabic poetry and lyrics: love is always directed to a man.

GAY LIFE BEIT? - BEIT FOM

Some prits are unhappy wh the official stance of the Catholic Church and have ved Helem to talk about the issue of homosexualy to their ngregatns.

One rehg surprise is that Al-Akhbar, a newspaper that is half owned by Hezbollah, has ma homosexualy part of s reportg agenda and wr que posively about the issue. Another surprise reveals what is, acrdg to Makarem, a ser mistake on the part of the Wtern media: the assumptn that pro-Wtern polil parti are pro-gay. “The New York Tim, which is supposed to be a ser newspaper, ran an article on gay nightlife that claimed some thgs that were absolutely ridiculo.

This was nsistent wh stori of a large flux of gay men om Dahiyeh the cy’s gay bars and clubs, and the experience of a woman who told me she got ls flack for wearg a miskirt Dahiyeh than the smopolan shoppg street of Hamra, where the men would ‘accintally’ bump to her and stare at her cht. What was even more remarkable to me – g om a part of the world where Mlims are generally perceived as the most nservative and homophobic group society – was that a lot of people seemed to agree that Mlims Lebanon were more open to discsg homosexualy on the street (albe never the media) than Christians.

GAY AND LESBIAN HOTELS IN LEBANON

Havg said that, when I ntacted the admistrators of the Facebook group lled ‘Gays of Dahiyeh’, took a que a b of persuasn to get them to talk to me. Whoever was I talked to, before he signed off he told me that the past few years thgs had changed a lot Dahiyeh and that there had been an enormo crease visible homosexualy the neighbourhood – he claimed that some 30% of the men were now gay. The same people anise very popular Bear Arabia-events twice a year: check They’re very knowledgeable and fun and have big plans for Beit: the owner Bertho Makso exprsed his visn to anise a (gay) love pri para the near future.

The Gefor Rotana is one of the most nveniently loted hotels Beit, wh walkg distance om the Corniche (the seasi promena) and s beach clubs, the shops and rtrants of Rue Hamra and Downtown Beit, and some of the most popular gay-iendly plac town.

GAY UPLE VISG BEIT - LGBTQIA+ TRAVEL FOM

Other plac to check out: Behd the Green Door (porn spired bar Gemmayzeh); Barometre (very atmospheric, very tellectual leftist Arab bar near the Amerin universy Hamra – great cheap food, too, and Acid (somewhat tacky, but still… you n’t miss the biggt gay club the Middle East).

POSHBEITMENUBEIT · HOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSSERVICGAY MAPGAY RIGHTSPOSH

Sr of gay men — most of them “bears, ” a term ed the world over for heavyset, hairy guys ually olr than 30 — were g om across Lebanon and the Arab world, as well as Argenta, Italy, Mexi, the Uned Stat and elsewhere.

In his 40s, wearg a whe T-shirt and khaki shorts, Roberto said he was surprised by the br of Beit pared wh gay life Rome, and said he was gog to spread the word back home.

BEIT GAY MAP

”While homosexual activy (technilly, sexual relatns that officials em “unnatural”) is illegal Lebanon, as most of the Arab world, Beit’s valy as a Mederranean pal of night life has fueled a flourishg gay scene — albe one where men n be nervo about public displays of affectn and where secury guards at clubs n terce if the good tim turn too isky on the dance floor. But even more than the partyg, Beit reprents a different Middle East for some gay and lbian Arabs: the only place the regn where they n openly enjoy a social life nied them at, a 35-year-old gay man visg om Damasc — who, like many men terviewed Beit, asked that his surname not be published — said that only two close iends Syria knew that he was gay and that there were no bars, clubs or f Damasc where gay Syrians felt at ease.

“I thought I would meet other gay men at universy Syria, but didn’t happen, and then I thought as an adult man livg Damasc that would happen, but hasn’t, ” said Asu, who was nursg a club soda at Wolf, a gay-iendly bar near the Amerin Universy Beit. ”While homophobia is not a rampant problem Jordan, acrdg to Abdul-Azeem, a gay man om Amman, he has not found enough openns to start a relatnship wh a man.

” Gay life this cy is still chg out of the shadows, to be sure, but seems to have veloped a steady forward momentum sce the end of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war 1990 — and pecially the lm that has followed the brief 2006 war between Hezbollah forc and have opened, and old on are to their fifth or sixth year of sponsorg annual parti and mic ftivals.

GAY BEIT · HOTELS

Inter chat s like Manjam (), self-scribed as “a gay social work for datg, work and travel, ” have taken off; several gay men here had no hibns tellg me their Manjam profile screen nam. And, by anecdotal acunts, gay men and women om other Arab untri and the Wt are creasgly vatng here — a choice that is all the more sexy and thrillg for some bee they feel they are livg on the edge and disverg a gay culture that is hly the mid-1990s, a few small f Beit beme popular gatherg plac for gay men — not only for groups of iends, but also for men who had chatted on the Inter and wanted to arrange a safe place to meet. One such spot, Café Sheikh Mankoh the Hamra district, also stalled puters that gay men ed to chat onle wh others Beit, Bertho the years sce, Lebanon has bee one of the most liberal Arab unti when to sexualy and sexual behavr, acrdg to Michael T.

Luongo, the edor of the 2007 book “Gay Travels the Mlim World, ” which was translated and prted Arabic this summer by a Beit publishg hoe, Arab Diffn.

BEIT GAY BARS

(Travel guis to Beit are not plentiful, particularly on that might be helpful for gay and lbian travelers, but one eful publitn is “A Hedonist’s Gui to Beit, ” published by Hg2 Guis.

)“What’s tertg is that the Arab areas that were once ntrolled by the French, like Lebanon, are the on wh laws agast homosexualy, bee the French felt fortable talkg about sex, ” Mr. In March, a 44-year-old gay man the Yemeni cy of al-Hisn was shot to ath, one of several gay men reported killed sce Beit, a wily publicized beatg of two gay men by police officers spurred the Lebane anizatn Helem — the most visible gay rights group of any Arab natn — to hold the first major gay rights rally the regn memory.

EGO BEITBEIT · HOTELSBARSDANCE CLUBSSERVICGAY MAPGAY RIGHTSSHOW MOREEGO BEIT

The rally, Febary, drew several dozen gay men and lbians, and straight iends and supporters, to a downtown Beit square, where they waved rabow flags and banners llg for gay rally — as well as Lebanon’s electns June, won by morate polil parti — has buoyed the spirs of gay men and lbians Beit, yet still they have hardly turned valier about their public behavr. Raed, a young gay man who works Beit, poted out that a police booth is loted close to Bardo, one of the most popular gay gatherg spots on most nights of the week.

”But Bassil scribed Beit as fairly relaxed about sexualy and said that his iends who me om overseas were routely surprised to fd “a shockgly big and open gay culture” there. OUT Adventur now books tours Egypt and Moroc, he said, and has been eyeg Beit for some time to terme if the cy is reasonably safe and sufficiently appealg for gay visors.

A Bardo waer told me about another gay spot, Life Bar, the Ashrafieh sectn of Beit a uple of away; the directns he gave me were, “Tell the b driver to go jt past the S. One of the bartenrs, who cled to give his name, said that the Life Bar did not publicize self as a gay bar bee dog so might attract extra scty om the hotspot that the thori — and gay Beitis — know plenty about is Acid, the cy’s bt-known gay club, about 15 mut wt of Ashrafieh the S El Fil neighborhood.

GAY LEBANON

” Anton and his iends changed hotels the next meetg men on the Inter is wily popular here, the Sat-Ge Yacht Club and the rooftop pool at the Palm Beach Hotel — only about 150 feet om each other, near the Corniche seasi promena — have gaed reputatns as popular daytime cisg plac for gay men, pecially on Saturday afternoons. As wh many bars and clubs Beit, taxi drivers may know the spot simply by (961-3-714-678), a large gay dis Beit, S El Fil next to the Futurospe exhibn hall. It’s on Mankhoul Street, Hamra, very close to the Amerin Universy of Yacht Club (), well marked near the InterContental Phoenicia, is a popular hangout for gay men on Friday and Saturday afternoons (as is the rooftop pool of the Palm Beach Hotel).