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

Contents:

• GAY QATARIS PHYSILLY ABED THEN RECED AS AGENTS, MPAIGNER SAYS
• CONFN, EXASPERATN AND DATG APPS – MY MONTH AS A GAY REPORTER AT THE QATAR WORLD CUP
• GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI
• GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP
• ONLY ACTIVE OUT GAY PLAYER JOSH CAVALLO SAYS HE'S SRED TO GO TO QATAR WORLD CUP
• WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI
• DIPLOMATIC TENSN REPORTEDLY RISG BETWEEN UNED STAT AND JAMAI OVER GAY AMERIN DIPLOMAT
• GAY FURRY HACKERS ARE TARGETG US STAT FOR PASSG ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATN

GAY QATARIS PHYSILLY ABED THEN RECED AS AGENTS, MPAIGNER SAYS

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

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

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.

GAY DOHA TRAVEL GUI

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 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.

GAY PEOPLE LIVG UNR RADAR QATAR PREPARE WARILY FOR WORLD CUP

“A lot [of gay Qataris] don’t know about each other, ” Mohamed said. “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. ”Mohamed told the Guardian that foreign gay fans Qatar would not be persecuted while at the World Cup fals tournament.

”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.

I was a gay reporter Qatar for four weeks. I was fortunate, too, that The Athletic’s football edor is a gay man who felt the issue should be explored. And, this suatn at least, to be gay affords a blsg not granted to other mory groups: n be hidn.

ONLY ACTIVE OUT GAY PLAYER JOSH CAVALLO SAYS HE'S SRED TO GO TO QATAR WORLD CUP

It meant tailg and unrstandg how and why LGBT+ people — and that bloody armband — beme one of the them of the here is a gay guy’s acunt of the past month, reportg the World Cup Qatar. Grdr, however, is more of a hook-up app and is often the most direct wdow to the lol gay muny.

There were gay or bisexual men om across the Gulf regn. Gianni Infanto speaks ntroversially ahead of the tournament (Photo: Christopher Lee/Getty Imag)Homosexual behavur is illegal Qatar, as is sex outsi of marriage, regardls of sexual orientatn, so some of what I am scribg may e as a surprise. “I go to a hook-up bee I crave pany and nnectn, even if is fleetg, ” says one gay man, whose inty is ncealed to protect his inty.

WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND QATARI

Some gay men said they lead secretive liv wh partners. Several gay men scribed their fear of police entrapment, as well as s of btal sexual abe.

The hostily is worse for those nsired feme, or trans, unrlg that so much about homophobia is unrpned by warped perceptns of the tournament, many Wtern journalists had obssed over whether men would be able to hold hands Doha. Several gay men were rigned to unfulfilled personal liv, forced to marry women to su society, whether Qatar or neighbourg stat. They explaed that fay and relign do the job of the state, imposg a cloak of shame over homosexualy.

DIPLOMATIC TENSN REPORTEDLY RISG BETWEEN UNED STAT AND JAMAI OVER GAY AMERIN DIPLOMAT

One said he was prepared to set asi his own happs bee he feared his father would be stigmatised by his fay if he was known to have a gay person shared so many of the same terts as me.

He has enjoyed gay sexual enunters but never his own untry, for fear of reprisals.

GAY FURRY HACKERS ARE TARGETG US STAT FOR PASSG ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATN

He said he had no gay iends wh whom he uld share his feelgs. I was shown, for example, s of psychologists speakg out agast homosexualy on social media. But if he thks that (he is gay), then I would talk to him and te him about .

”Brighton is often scribed as England’s gay pal, which mak the nversatn untentnally funny — to me, fd some mon ground: “It’s not somethg you n ntrol, ” he says. Instead, was a multi-loured pattern that stopped short of clarg self as a statement relatg specifilly to LGBT+ people or gay rights Qatar.

A 959-word statement on the English FA’s webse scribed the armband as a mpaign to “stop discrimatn” but did not mentn the words “gay” or “LGBT” relatn to the FA chief executive Mark Bullgham scribed the armband “as a visible show of support for cln football — somethg we strongly believe and have nsistently supported”.