APPARENTLY … Surviving inside a region where being gay is illegal, Beirut earns the title as "the Provincetown of the Middle East," where men cruise the streets, enjoy early mornings with oonce-oonce music at nightclubs (albeit hidden away), and meet up with guys they chat with on Manhunt Manjam. Oh, and there are cute cafes and art galleries, too.

Hell, this could be P-town:

While meeting men on the Internet is widely popular here, the Saint-Georges Yacht Club and the rooftop pool at the Palm Beach Hotel — only about 150 feet from each other, near the Corniche seaside promenade — have gained reputations as popular daytime cruising places for gay men, especially on Saturday afternoons. Saint-Georges charges $20 for a day pass, while the Palm Beach pool can be easily visited free.

One Saturday afternoon, the enormous square pool at Saint-Georges was full of a mix of groups of men and parents with children. Many more men lay out on lounge chairs and ordered bar service; one of them multitasked by applying pomade to his hair and suntan oil to his chest while answering his cellphone, which had the “Sex and the City” theme music as its ring tone.