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

Contents:

• GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI
• DOHA - GAY LIFE - DOHA FOM
• GAY LIFE QATAR
• 5 SAFT PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2019 (AND THE MOST DANGERO)
• 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
• GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
• GAY QATAR TRAVEL GUI
• CONFN, EXASPERATN AND DATG APPS – MY MONTH AS A GAY REPORTER AT THE QATAR WORLD CUP
• CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTS SOCIAL STUDI TEXTBOOKS THAT CLU GAY RIGHTS AFTER WARNGS OM ERNOR

GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI

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.

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.

DOHA - GAY LIFE - DOHA FOM

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. Qatar FIFA World Cup ambassador and former footballer Khalid Salman has said homosexualy is “damage the md, ” an terview wh German broadster ZDF on Monday. 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.

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.

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. 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.

5 SAFT PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2019 (AND THE MOST DANGERO)

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”. 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. 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”.

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. 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.

WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI

“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.

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.

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

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.

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. In an attempt to help terme the worst plac for gay travelers, the duo created the 2019 LGBTQ+ Danger Inx, rankg the world’s most dangero—and saft—untri for gay travelers. The journalists looked at the top 150 most-vised untri the world by the number of g tourists, then ranked them g eight factors, cludg laws agast gay relatnships, legal protectn agast discrimatn and more.

GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP

“In 2018, India managed to annul Sectn 377, a Brish lonial-era law prohibg ‘unnatural acts, ’ orr to legalize nsensual gay sex, ” says Fergson, who pots out that ancient Indian lerature such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana have many referenc to LGBTQ+ hero cludg transgenr warrrs and two queens who ma love orr for one queen to get pregnant wh an heir for their kgdom. “Long story short, this pots to the fact that was likely the Brish fluence that largely led to Indian homophobia the first place, ” she says. “We found this to be a b ironic as the reason for many of the harsh homophobic laws untri throughout the world is largely leftover om laws created durg Brish le, ” says Fergson.

GAY QATAR TRAVEL GUI

Ci like Lisbon and Porto have the bt gay scen the untry and Portugal is hopg to host the 2022 Europri, the world's biggt event celebratg gay pri Europe.

Wh an overall natnal attu that is relaxed and acceptg towards homosexualy, Belgium is known for havg a vibrant gay and lbian scene, particularly Bssels, ” says Fergson. It was ranked so highly largely due to the extreme penalti for simply beg gay, which clu up to 14 years prison and the ath penalty stat unr Sharia law, ” says Fergson. “This oil-rich Middle Eastern untry enforc up to three years prison, floggg and the ath penalty unr Sharia law for any acts of homosexualy.

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

“In Yemen, the punishment for beg gay for both men and women is prison time and 100 lash, wh ath by stong for married men, ” says Fergson.

“Sdi Arabia is another of the untri on our list which implements the ath penalty for nsensual homosexualy unr their terpretatn of Sharia law, ” says Fergson. “In Tanzania, any homosexual acts rult 30 years to life prison, and there has been a recent ernment crackdown on LGBT activy wh the untry. “Iran ma #6 on the x, due part to s extreme punishments for homosexualy, which clu 100 lash for homosexual terurse or the ath penalty, and 31 lash for same-sex acts other than terurse, ” says Fergson.

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTS SOCIAL STUDI TEXTBOOKS THAT CLU GAY RIGHTS AFTER WARNGS OM ERNOR

“Publicly, homosexualy is a taboo topic, so LGBTQ+ travelers choosg to vis Sudan should proceed wh utn and rema discreet wh regards to their sexualy.

“Historilly, Barbados and some other Caribbean islands have had poor anti-LGBTQ+ legislatn and practic, largely left over om the Brish occupatn which put the laws place and rerced anti-gay attus. Unfortunately, imposed punishment for homosexualy is severe and the existence of gay people Malaysia was nied by their tourism mister as recently as March 2019, ” says Fergson. That said, the LGBTQ+ muny is margalized this untry and there are heavy nsequenc for beg homosexual, which clu seven years to life prison for any same-sex act, ” says Fergson.

Unfortunately, thgs may soon be gettg even worse for the LGBTQ+ muny, as the Ugandan ernment has recently lled to retroduce an anti-homosexualy bill, which would clu the ath penalty for same-sex acts, the midst of the recent murr of a gay Ugandan activist. “In the Paltian terrori of Gaza and the Wt Bank, the anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is taken very serly, wh homosexual acts rultg up to 10 years prison, ” says Fergson.