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

Contents:

• 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 PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
• GAY LIFE QATAR
• GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI
• CONFN, EXASPERATN AND DATG APPS – MY MONTH AS A GAY REPORTER AT THE QATAR WORLD CUP
• GAY QATARIS PHYSILLY ABED THEN RECED AS AGENTS, MPAIGNER SAYS
• WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI

OPN: DR. NASSER ‘NAS’ MOHAMED SOUGHT ASYLUM THE US AFTER G OUT AS GAY. HERE’S WHAT HE WANTS PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT 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. 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. What are the laws on gay sex Qatar?

Qatar, officially regnis Islam as the state relign, and unr Sharia law Mlim men n be sentenced to ath by stong for homosexualy. Four transgenr women, one bisexual woman and one gay man were reportedly imprisoned whout charge, legal unsel, or trial, and forced to sign pledg promisg they would “cease immoral activy”. 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. TIME: As a gay Qatari, do you feel that hostg the World Cup n brg change?

GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP

Is there an unrground gay scene or is that too dangero? 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.

But even the most powerful gay [person] Qatar is powerls some ways.

They uld gaybash and get away wh wh no nsequenc at all. And if such an attack happens on a gay fan, I don’t know of the [secury] rourc to help them. 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

Nasser “Nas” Mohamed appeared The Inpennt and on the BBC, where he beme what many lled the first Qatari to e out publicly as gay. Based on the terpretatn of the law Qatar, the way is wrten, technilly allows punishment up to the ath penalty for homosexual relatnships between men, based on Sharia law. When did you accept or fully unrstand that you were gay?

My beg gay sunk , of all plac, Las Vegas.

GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI

I looked up same-sex attractn and saw the terms “gay” and “homosexual. ” I began readg all about the topic and need to know if I was gay.

So, I found a gay club on the strip.

And then through that work, I got to learn about some of the gay people that were still livg Qatar. The existg nversatn was about whether gay fans were gog to be OK durg the 28 days of the tournament.

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

And so did other gay Qatari refuge who’d taken asylum the UK, Canada and across the US. 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.

GAY QATARIS PHYSILLY ABED THEN RECED AS AGENTS, MPAIGNER SAYS

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 .

WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI

"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. 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".