What Its Like to Be Gay and Qatari | SabrangIndia

Contents:

• WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI
• BEG GAY DOHA
• WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI
• WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI
• WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE YOUNG, GAY AND MLIM
• GAY QATARIS PHYSILLY ABED THEN RECED AS AGENTS, MPAIGNER SAYS
• DPE QATAR'S PROMISE TO RPECT GAY COMMUNY IN WORLD CUP, INCEMENT AGAST IT IN QATARI MEDIA CONTU
• 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
• RISTG GAY RIGHTS QATAR
• GAY LIFE QATAR

WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI

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. "The article – by a young man g the psdonym "Majid" – talked of gay Qataris who disguise their sexualy by beg loudly homophobic public and then travel abroad for forbidn pleasur.

BEG GAY DOHA

It was wrong for the topic of homosexualy Qatar to be discsed an article by Doha News, Maadadi said: "I believe that talkg about the media brgs legimacy, be directly or directly, to a topic that is nsired by the law and relign of this untry to be illegimate. "Among the ted class the Middle East this is often seen as a morn or progrsive view, and keeps untls psychiatrists employed even though the scientific evince is that homosexualy nnot be "cured" and attempts to do so may be harmful. Wh the prence of the ter, learng about thgs like this is jt a click away … "I do not believe that children will tomatilly bee gay once they learn about homosexualy.

Even the most proment lol human rights anisatn refed to speak out, fearg that to do so would damage s was a very different picture 2014 when TV reporter Mona Iraqi stigated a police raid on a Cairo bath-hoe and, after boastg about her achievement on Facebook, faced a huge social media change has probably been fluenced part by wtern bat about same-sex marriage and gay clergy but the effect has not always been posive. In that ntext 's worth rellg Print Obama's remark 2011 that the Emir (sce retired) was eager to promote reform and mocracy everywhere the Middle East – except 's TV ternatnal statn, al-Jazeera, behav a siar way wh s gay verage. Search s webse and you'll fd plenty of sympathetic stori about gay people the US, Rsia, Banglash, Turkey, Kenya, etc, but somehow the plight of gay Qataris seems to have ped s relig terms, Qatar is Wahhabi like Sdi Arabia and attus among the more tradnal sectns of s society are very siar.

Although Qatar's crimalisatn of homosexualy has often figured bat about s hostg of the World Cup, "Majid" don't mentn as a major problem his Doha News article; the attus of people around him seem a far more immediate 's history of anti-gay lobbygThe most alarmg aspect is that far om challengg the attus the Qatari regime has a long history of promotg them at an ternatnal level. It do so by makg allianc wh anisatns the wt which oppose gay rights, often unr the guise of protectg "fayvalu" or velopg "ter-fah dialogue"'s latt move this nnectn was to jo the recently-formed "Group of Friends of the Fay" (GoFF). Officially opened by Sheikha Moa bt Nasser al-Misnad, a wife of Qatar's ler at the time, was largely anised by the Mormon church and participants clud the late Cardal Alfonso Tjillo, who mpaigned agast ndoms on behalf of the Catholic church, and Mahathir Mohamad, the dictatorial former prime mister of Malaysia who had sacked and jailed his puty for alleged homosexualy.

WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI

But bis donatg a ln dollars to a chary found by former US print Bill Clton, she tablished al-Aween – Qatar's first centre to bat "viatn om acceptable social behavur" and "provi specialised treatment for all kds of behavural viatn" an article on al-Aween's webse a senr nsultant psychiatry lled Dr Abdul Alim Ibrahim explaed that the velopment of gay rights some untri is the rult of prsure om "powerful homosexuals" and is "not based on scientific studi".

However, Dr Ibrahim did thk the Zimbabwean print, Robert Mugabe, "went too far" scribg gay people as lower than pigs and article was first published on al-bab. “Islam don’t really say that beg homosexual is bad, I’m still tryg to fd one verse the Koran that says you need to kill homosexuals or you need to punish them or anythg.

”Gay rights around the world In 2017, the LGBT muny still fac tense discrimatn and abe around the world: Chechnya, for example, a gay “purge” has seen at least 100 men abducted and beaten - some killed - acrdg to human rights groups. Gay Qataris have been promised safety om physil torture exchange for helpg the thori to track down other LGBTQ+ people the untry, a proment Qatari doctor and gay rights mpaigner has told the Nasser Mohamed, who liv the US but retas ntact wh hundreds of gay Qataris, said that some secret works had been promised after arrts by Qatar’s preventive secury partment.

WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI

“Now there are agents the gay muny that were promised safety om physil torture exchange for workg for the preventive secury partment and helpg them fd groups of LGBTQ+ people. ”Last month Human Rights Watch reported that Qatar’s preventive secury partment forc had arbrarily arrted lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people and subjected them to ill‑treatment tentn.

As Qatar prepar to host for the FIFA World Cup November 2022, a heated bate has been ongog the Arab and ternatnal media regardg s receptn of gay players and fans who will vis the untry for the gam. The bate was sparked after Atralian footballer Josh Cavallo, who is openly gay, told the Brish Guardian that he was ncerned about playg Qatar, bee he had heard Qatar impos the ath penalty on gays. Evadg the qutn of whether gay upl uld live safely Qatar, Al-Khater explaed that Qatar, like many other untri, is nservative and that public displays of affectn, of any kd, are owned upon.

The Internatnal Unn of Mlim Scholars (IUMS), which is based Doha and is supported by Qatar, [1] recently issued a fatwa (relig lg) forbiddg homosexualy and scribg as "viancy and generacy. Many prs articl scribed gays as "perverts, " and exprsed ncern that Wtern mpaigns to promote gay rights would "fect" the Arab and Islamic societi and e moral generatn. Some of the articl rpond to the public outrage that was sparked recently by retired Egyptian footballer Mohamed Aboutrika when he said that homosexualy go agast human nature and is not a matter of human rights.

WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE YOUNG, GAY AND MLIM

As stated, the bate about Qatar's treatment of gays was sparked, ter alia, by the recent statements of openly gay Atralian footballer Josh Cavallo, who said he was aaid to play Qatar bee outlaws homosexualy. “I read somethg along the l of that [they] give the ath penalty for gay people Qatar, so ’s somethg I’m very sred [of] and wouldn’t really want to go to Qatar for that, ” he said.

However, ntrast to the image Qatar projects to the Wt, of a morate untry that chews all forms of discrimatn, the ternal disurse Qatar, as manifted statements by tablishment figur, by anizatns and clerics close to the regime, and the official Qatari prs, is very different and ntas harsh attacks on the gay muny and on any attempts to fluence Qatar's attu towards homosexualy.

GAY QATARIS PHYSILLY ABED THEN RECED AS AGENTS, MPAIGNER SAYS

The IUMS fatwa said: "In the recent years there has been an crease the Wtern mpaigns and prsur aimed at forcg all the peopl of the world, and all human begs, to accept homosexualy, wele , and regard as one of the basic human rights, as though is one of the ndns for happs, civilized [existence] and progrs. The fervent attempts to prent the filthy phenomenon of homosexualy, and the farce of same-sex marriage and same-sex fai, as socially and legally normal pose an existential and cultural threat to humany…. The accatns and slanr directed at the peopl who reject homosexualy, pecially at the Islamic peopl, and the persecutn mpaigns aimed at hobblg whoever criciz and oppos [homosexualy], are a horrible vlatn of eedom of opn and belief and nstute bosss, selfishns, tyranny and patronage directed by the Wt and s servants at the peopl of the world….

As stated, homophobic cement was also manift articl the Qatari prs and tweets by Qatari journalists, which warned agast acceptg homosexualy or promotg gay rights, seeg this as moral anarchy that threatens Qatari society and Islamic society general.

DPE QATAR'S PROMISE TO RPECT GAY COMMUNY IN WORLD CUP, INCEMENT AGAST IT IN QATARI MEDIA CONTU

'Abd Al-'Aziz Al-'Abdallah, a lumnist for the Qatari daily Al-Sharq, warned agast what he scribed as the mpaign to promote homosexualy through mercials, films and even sports events, llg to fight this and protect the children om .

[Homosexualy] is beg ever more visible Wtern societi, and worse, is gag a prence, and has begun to appear almost openly, the Arab and Mlim societi [as well]. Ads for our favore brands feature homosexuals; an athlete we liked and whose talent we enjoyed seeg is llg to accept them, and movi, as well as actors we have been avidly followg for years, have joed their ranks or the ranks of their supporters!

Many prcipl have been vlated and red l crossed, and the greatt problem is that people fend [the homosexuals]… The problem is that fai and uned societi are beg harmed…. Another homophobic statement which sparked reactns Qatar and beyond was ma by Mohamed Aboutrika, a retired Egyptian footballer who now liv Qatar and appears as a mentator on the Qatari BeIN SPORTS channel.

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

He went on to say that some people suggt that durg the 2022 Qatar World Cup, alhol and homosexualy should be permted, but that jt as Arabs and Mlims rpect laws abroad, foreigners will have to rpect the laws and tradns of Qatar when they e to the World Cup. They want to e sports to fect wh promiscuy and make accept homosexualy and regard as a [natural] right… Homosexuals are perverts that vlate human nature… Every vout Mlim mt promote good and forbid evil… We mt support Aboutrika and others like him so as to uphold our relign and silence the Wtern mpaigns. Al-Sharq lumnist 'Abd Al-'Aziz Al-'Abdallah wrote a siar ve: "The virtuo footballer and mentator Mohamed Aboutrika… voiced his rejectn of homosexuals, referrg to the efforts of Wtern untri to support them and to e ternatnal sports events to spread [their views] and prent them as a normal group and as part of society, [a genr] no different om men and women!

He also remd the viewers of Allah's punishment to the people of Lot, and warned about the way which [the promoters of homosexualy] try to filtrate the mds of the children our Arab and Islamic societi and among the Mlim immigrants the Wt. "It is sadng that some among speak of engagg dialogue wh the supporters of homosexualy and explag the harm ed by this phenomenon to the fay and to society – as though this is a myster issue that is not evint to everyone. This dit that the Wtern approach has perated ep to many sectors our society, which have begun to speak of the need to nvce the Wt by prentg scientific and social arguments [agast homosexualy], rather than relig on… This cerebral and scientific approach is an openg that may grow wir!

GAY

Al-Sharq lumnist Salwa Al-Mulla also exprsed support for Aboutrika, sayg that sports events are no place for behavrs aimed at promotg homosexualy, and that such behavrs should be curbed and even banned by law. E., the gay muny] e the [sports] events to engage certa actns and behavrs, which they spread on social media orr to show that is possible to engage them eely and safely and that no one ters them or forbids this.

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. The article – by a young man g the psdonym "Majid" – talked of gay Qataris who disguise their sexualy by beg loudly homophobic public and then travel abroad for forbidn pleasur.

Among the ted class the Middle East this is often seen as a morn or progrsive view, and keeps untls psychiatrists employed even though the scientific evince is that homosexualy nnot be "cured" and attempts to do so may be harmful. Search s webse and you'll fd plenty of sympathetic stori about gay people the US, Rsia, Banglash, Turkey, Kenya, etc, but somehow the plight of gay Qataris seems to have ped s attentn.

RISTG GAY RIGHTS QATAR

Although Qatar's crimalisatn of homosexualy has often figured bat about s hostg of the World Cup, "Majid" don't mentn as a major problem his Doha News article; the attus of people around him seem a far more immediate ncern. In an article on al-Aween's webse a senr nsultant psychiatry lled Dr Abdul Alim Ibrahim explaed that the velopment of gay rights some untri is the rult of prsure om "powerful homosexuals" and is "not based on scientific studi".

GAY LIFE QATAR

For ee real time breakg news alerts sent straight to your box sign up to our breakg news emailsSign up to our ee breakg news emailsDegree-ted, bi-lgual and wh a well-tablished reer at one of the untry’s leadg pani, Hamad is, to all appearanc, the very epome of morn-day, outward-lookg he harbours a secret, one which he says he has no choice but to keep hidn at all tim; Hamad is gay – a untry where homosexualy is illegal. A nservative, relig, thorarian state which appli Sharia law, theoretilly Qatar uld apply the ath penalty for homosexualy, although no such punishment has been is one of almost 70 untri intified worldwi by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA), which crimalis nsensual same-sex activy. But one voice has been nspicuoly quiet – that of lol gay Inpennt has spoken to several lol LGBT+ people about their day-to-day liv, about existg a society where their sexualy is not only a crime, but also clash agast wily-held societal and relig beliefs.