Explorg Amman's gay spac | Xtra Magaze

Contents:

• GAY AMMAN TRAVEL GUI
• EXPLORG AMMAN’S GAY SPAC
• WHAT PART OF THE MIDDLE EAST IS A GREAT GAY DTATN?
• GAY JORDAN TRAVEL GUI
• GAY LIFE AQABA - JORDAN FOM
• GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS AMMAN
• JORDAN GAY TRAVEL
• GAY JORDAN NEWS & REPORTS
• EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS AMMAN

GAY AMMAN TRAVEL GUI

At the same time, seeg men holdg hands public is relatively mon – ’s a sign of iendship, and many Jordanian men are que appreciative of male bety even if they’re not gay, so may screw up your gaydar! Even whout any tablished LGBTQ-specific venu, many of the bars and rtrants popular wh Amman's large ternatnal populatn of expats are there are some known hangouts for gay lols and visg tourists. Thanks to tremendo support om the reigng Queen of Jordan, homosexual rights - rather than movg backward - are fally at a stable place the untry.

As one of the more progrsive untri the Middle East terms of protectns for s LGBT populatn, Jordan is a relatively easy place to travel as a gay person, but homophobia fely still exists. While there is not a massive out gay populatn, there are multiple “gay centric” venu that ter to both the lol and ternatnal gay muny.

When 22-year-old Matt, om Wilmgton, Delaware, arrived Jordan last fall, gettg volved a gay scene was “not part of the plan. Although gay sex was crimalized Jordan 1951, “public displays of affectn” and sex work are illegal and perdilly targets of ernment crackdown.

EXPLORG AMMAN’S GAY SPAC

Books @ Cafe On Omar Al Khattab Street near the 1st circle, Madian Aljazeera’s dark, retro rtrant/bar is pecially popular wh gays on Mondays and Thursdays.

The first-floor bookstore has a proment display of gay tl – “I like to shove people’s fac, ” says Aljazeera – while the bar and rtrant is a revolvg door of gay ctomers. Mondays and Thursdays are pecially popular wh gay men, who take up most of the seats around the giant bar so they n eye each other and get a good look at the h meat g . Aljazeera pots out that Jordan don’t have any laws agast homosexualy, but adms that social and relig prsure keeps most gays the closet.

WHAT PART OF THE MIDDLE EAST IS A GREAT GAY DTATN?

Forster went to Alexandria, Egypt, to have his first experience of gay love, and one of the most famo gay poets of the twentieth century, Constante Cavafy, also hailed om that sprawlg metropolis on the sea. Even hotspot Beit, long known for s excg nightlife and hunky men, has bee ls attractive as Helem, the area's only LGBT anizatn reports that Article 534 of the Lebane Penal Co ("sexual terurse ntrary to nature" is punishable for up to 1 year prison) has been ed recently to harass gay and bisexual sce the famo Nile Queen cint ( which 52 gay Egyptian men were arrted and 'examed' for dancg whout women partners on a floatg dis), Egypt is not nearly as open as ed to be.

"Amman, the pal, has some worthy attractns, most notably Roman s, pecially the Roman Theater (at night the cy's ma cisg area for gay men) and Jebel al-Qal'a, the ancient cal which clus s of a temple to Hercul, a mm, and the remas of an Umayyad palace, along wh stunng views of the morn urban sprawl of Amman. You n fd them on any number of gay s, cludg Books@fe, a lightfully stylish fé that uld jt as well be Wt Hollywood, is full of betiful, mcular Jordanian men puffg away on their nargil (water pip).

GAY JORDAN TRAVEL GUI

The cy's streets are filled wh shoppg opportuni: handicrafts and some of the bt valu gold jewelry the key to meetg gay Jordanian men is jt to be open and iendly. Many of them directly seek out teractns wh foreigners, partially out of genue cursy and tert -- be prepared for a barrage of random personal qutns about your life back home -- and also bee many gay Jordanian men feel safer proposng Not MissAs far as sightseeg, the real treasur of the untry are beyond Amman. Royal Jordanian often has disunted tickets and has a ach-class like we ed to have on our domtic is not a typil gay statn like Barcelona, but is fely worth visg.

But gay visors need to remember Forster and that, at one time, the Middle East was a relative refuge for gay men who faced jail-time Europe. So step back, take a ep breath, leave you prupposns on the plane, and open yourself to one of the gay-iendlyt closeted cultur the world. K: A gay-iendly bar lled RGB (which quickly got a reputatn as a gay bar) closed after the owner received a msage threateng that if didn’t shut down, “all s ctomers will be put solary cells.

Even hotspot Beit, long known for s excg nightlife and hunky men, has bee ls attractive as Helem, the area's only LGBT anizatn reports that Article 534 of the Lebane Penal Co ("sexual terurse ntrary to nature" is punishable for up to 1 year prison) has been ed recently to harass gay and bisexual sce the famo Nile Queen cint ( which 52 gay Egyptian men were arrted and "examed" for dancg whout women partners on a floatg dis), Egypt is not nearly as open as ed to be. You n fd them on any number of gay s, cludg Books@fe, a lightfully stylish fe that uld jt as well be Wt Hollywood, is full of betiful, mcular Jordanian men puffg away on their nargil (water pip).

GAY LIFE AQABA - JORDAN FOM

The worldwi directory wh lks to webs about gay bars, clubs, dance clubs, f, rtrants, snas, bath, gyms, hotels, gut ho, bed and breakfasts, apartments, rooms, acmodatn, tour guis, travel agenci, cisg, book shops, groups, anizatns, media, events, gay pris. Sorry to butt , but homosexualy is not illegal Jordan - non-mercial homosexual acts between nsentg adults are not an offense. Jordan isn't hostile to Gays, however utn should be exercised if an dividual is blatantly and obvly mp or if one is lookg to solic.

GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS AMMAN

My advice is - if you a seekg the Gay scene type holiday - then Jordan wouldn't live up to your expectatns and better to e your hard earned money and go to where that scene prevails. Here's a lk to a se discsg this issue the ntext of refuge (uld someone claim refugee stat om Jordan bee homosexualy was illegal). Competive pric - Gay-owned bs - Support for LGBTQ+ NGOsmost bookedcheaptmisterb&b munySee how the search rults are rankedW Amman Hotel★ 4.

To the ntrary, as a gay man who mak my livg through travel wrg, I have always been weled wh pecially enthiastic love and hospaly, as most Middle Easterners separate polics om people and are happy to meet and turn dispel myths about their own untri. As Ramadan—the holit month of the Mlim lendar—ntu throughout the Islamic world, I beg a seri of reports on my recent travels through the Middle East, wh a gay twist. I like the mystery of the unknown, pecially as regards a nearly all-male public culture that is clearly homo-social, even if not gay our sense of the word.

JORDAN GAY TRAVEL

I read that I would also meet gay people at Books@Café (011-962-6-465-0457;), a ffee shop and bookstore loted appropriately off Rabow Street.

The waer there, a Paltian, immediately assured me how safe and open Jordan was, and as an example, volunteered that the fé had a gay reputatn the owner was happy to mata. The prs agent need to know what kd of publitns I wrote for to learn if I were worthy of an troductn, so even though beg gay Jordan is technilly agast the law, I mentned, wh no small amount of anxiety, my work for the gay prs. Hse knew that unr Islamic law, he had got off lightly: He uld be stoned to ath for mtg homosexual acts, or murred by his fay an honour killg.

GAY JORDAN NEWS & REPORTS

He ma a succsful refugee claim and is now starrg a documentary by Filmblanc productn pany on Canada’s gay refugee claimants tled ‘Glorly Free‘, after words the Canadian natnal anthem. The documentary, to be aired on OMNI Televisn this fall, will also have ttimonials om four more gay refuge: a Jamain man who was beaten; a Brazilian sger whose father forced him to have an operatn on his vol rds to cure his "effemate" voice; a former U.

"Canada has bee a haven for gay refuge and we are tappg to why this is, " said Noemi Weis, print of Toronto-based Filmblanc.

Hse’s life story is one of wealth and privilege, as well as secrecy and shame, as he stggled to f to a tradnal Arab culture that nsirs homosexualy the greatt s. Regnn for Aswat’s work me earlier this year when Ms Mors won the 2006 Felipa Souza award om the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn.

EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS AMMAN

Mlim clerics nmn homosexualy no uncerta terms, though siar statements n be heard om Arab Christian lears too, such as the Coptic Pope Egypt who once clared that "so-lled human rights" for gay people were "unthkable".

Wh a few exceptns here and there, this is the prevailg attu all the Arab untri, but Paltian society the issue of gay rights is further plited – and ma much more polil – by the nflict wh Israel.

A seri of urt s then put the theory to practice – for example, when El Al was forced to provi a ee ticket for the partner of a gay flight attendant, as the airle already did for the partners of s straight employe. At the same time, highlightg Israel’s associatn wh gay rights has ma life more difficult for gay Arabs, addg grist to the popular notn that homosexualy is a "disease" spread by foreigners. Lkg the tw enemi of Israel and homosexualy provis a double whammy for Arab propagandists, as n be seen om sectns of the Egyptian prs.