It’s hard, and sort of meaningless, to wish ill will toward an entire sovereign government structure, but is any one else feeling the teeny, tiniest bit of warm fuzzies hearing Dubai — where being gay is punishable by a 10-year prison sentence — is having trouble paying off $60 billion in debt? Indeed, there are worse places to Live While Gay in the Middle East than Dubai, where police harassment and entrapment might be expected, but torture and death are — usually — not. Well, unless officials want to treat you under the United Arab Emirate’s Federal Penal Code, where Article 354 allows anyone who “commits … sodomy with a male” to be executed.
Cam
It’s a difficult question, they are anti-gay so therefore Ha Ha on their bad fortune, however, they are an example to much of the fundamentalist Middle East that there is another way to run your country outside of a religeous state. So i’m a bit torn on this one. If they fail I’d hate for people there to think that there was no hope of sucess for goverments there outside the courting of religeous extreamists.
schlukitz
This is a hot political button and I am staying as far away from it as I can.
SteamPunk
About 50% of America is pretty anti-gay, it seems, and I’m definitely not laughing at our nation’s financial turmoil.
HiredGoons
No, but any self respecting Gay would look down upon Dubai for being so damn tacky.
Keith Kimmel
Goodbye, Dubai.
(Oh come on, you know someone had to!)
Aaron
Not at all. I loved hearing this.
andy_d
Let’s hope Uganda is next . . .
Scottie
Maybe their “downfall” is actually the wrath of God for the way they treat homosexuals. Just sayin’….
HiredGoons
@Andy: I am actually working on a political machine to defeat the current head of Uganda in their next elections. I am serious.
Glynn
And they’ve have nearly completedthe world biggest phallic symbol (cut for sure)see:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/6662675/A-first-look-inside-Burj-Dubai-the-tallest-skyscraper-in-the-world-as-it-nears-completion.html
It looks a bit gay to me.
I visited a few years ago but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back.
terrwill
It is totally not right to feel glee about the misfortune that has befallen the country of Dubai. What kind of people would we be if we took pleasure in these problems they are facing. Shame on you all!!!
terrwill
#11 TERRWILL: I am sorry I couldn’t resist!!! 😛 (those who know me must have thought I was off my meds!!)
These sub human pieces of filth deserve all the misfortune and misery that can be inflicted upon them. The whole islamic fundamentist culture hates every fiber of our beings and would wish nothing but death and destruction on the Gay community. These scumbags torture a pair of Gay teens ages 14 and 16 for two years and then when they are about to be released from prison they try them on “new charges” and then hang them to a cheering mob of thousands………Financial ruin is the least of my wishes for that entire region.
How can we arrange for a few plauges of locusts???
Taylor Siluwé
“sub human pieces of filth”??!!
Somebody’s got issues, and its not just the homo-haters (the world over).
Keith Kimmel
Although, I do want to go there and see the World Cup one day. Horse racing, not soccer/rugby.
KevinVancouver
@terrwill….
yup in totally agreement… how dare anyone judge me and tell me how I can live my life based on the insane murmurings of an invisible man in the sky.. Religion is evil it is corrupt it is peverse and the cause of almost every societal ill…
just sayin……………….
Natt
I’ve never understood the huge appeal of Dubai. Burqas & building sites don’t do it for me.
terrwill
No. 13 · Taylor Siluwé: OH YEA When it comes to the islamic fundamenlists my issues have issues!! These sub human scum filth have perpetuated the worst hatred and pain on their Gay community how ’bout:
> Sealing their asses up with surgical glue and then giving them dirarrea inducing drugs to basicaly watch the person explode in pain
> Drilling into the bones of the Gays on an on and then one by one slicing off appendeges from their bodies.
> And one of the sickest things I ever read about was the two Gay teens in Iran who were 14 and 16 yrs old and discovered to be Gay. They were sentenced to 200 lashes each. The human body can only withstand approximately 30 lashes because after about 15 flesh and muscle starts to be ripped off the body. These kids were given a sequence of floggings, then forced to lay in a filthy disgusting prison for two to three months for the wounds to heal. Then the sequence was repeated over and over until they were finished. Right after the last set of lashes new charges were “discovered” about them molesting another teen. They were sentenced to hang. They were driven to a town square in front of a cheering mob of thouands, placed upon a flat bed truck. The blindfolds were then taken off and they were able to see each other and the sick depraved mob. Unlike the “humane” form of hanging where a trap door is opened and the person falls breaking the neck pretty much resulting in immediate death, the truck was driven forward slowly so these kids were suffocated a slow, agonizing death in full view of thousands………
I think sub human filth is somewhat appropriate…….what do you suggest?? We open a “dialouge” or find “common ground”?????
Taylor Siluwé
I’d suggest not lumping millions of individual personalities under the umbrella of sub-human filth.
Yes, we all know the horror stories. But horror stories abound in all cultures and countries, yes, even hear in America. Are all Americans “sub human filth” because of the
actions of Westboro Baptist Church? Of course not.
But I agree with you. Those involved in atrocities are filth – regardless of religion or nationality.
scott ny'er
i didn’t know about the horror stories.
that’s terrible.
Karanis
I would not smile upon that.
When a country’s economic situation turns to turmoil, it’s the citizens who suffer, not the government. They’ll have nice, cozy, well-paying jobs regardless of their economy, and they’ll still be enforcing anti-gay laws.
The people are not always necessarily anti-gay. I remember seeing in Out Traveler a snippet on Dubai actually having a somewhat rather lively underground gay scene, and (especially for tourists), the capital punishment for homosexuality is almost never enforced. I could be wrong on that point, though, as I only read it in a magazine a couple of years ago.
Orthodox Islam itself is extremely intolerant of homosexuality, but I’m not sure how close to Wahhabi Islam the U.A.E. actually approaches. Turkey is a majority Muslim country with a very lively gay scene in the larger cities, and its version Islam is extremely relaxed, compared with Saudi Arabia and Iran.
And honestly, the U.A.E.’s economic misfortune won’t cause it to change its anti-gay policy. There’s no use in smiling at their fall, especially because, as Steampunk mentioned, the U.S. is largely anti-gay, but are we smiling at its economic situation?
romeo
@ Karanis @20: “almost never” is good enough for me to NEVER go there. Are you nuts!?
My motto is “give as good as you get.”
B
No. 6, Aaron wrote, “Not at all. I loved hearing this.”
You’d love it less if you read the Wall Street Journal and then thought about the implications for your 401K.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703499404574559452437253122.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125936720204567249.html
Rodrigo
Uhm I’m torn on this issue. As mentioned, the government of the UAE is not going to suffer from it, but when you think about it , neither are the people. Just for being an emirati citizen, they each get like $55,000 a year!!that’s why they are all worth millions a piece. The only people I feel bad for are the Asian and African low wage workers that the lazy emiratis hire to build their city and pamper them, just because they at direactly impacted by a bad economy.However, Dubai is a good example of separation of mosque and state can do!
For all you that think that Dubai is the goody two shoes of the middle east, think about the case of the guy (2006?) that was raped there, and he went and sued, but because he was gay, then the law (sharia ie Islamic law) covered the rapist for some dumb reason! Also, there’s a lot of raids in gay places in Dubai and many gays are encarcerated without trial , and if they are, it’s usually in Arabic…
What land of contrasts!-grins-
Chuck
Dubai is home to a large number of gay men, especially men from India, and their livelihoods depend on those jobs, so I am not laughing at their problems.
Muscato
Chuck has hit the nail on the head. The downturn in Dubai is having a devastating effect on the city’s large and flourishing gay population, much of it made up of Arab men from far more repressive countries and subcontintental men who may or may not be able to be as free as they like back home. As jobs dry up, they have to go home, where often they will face enormous family pressure to marry as pretty much the best-case scenario.
Despite the usually not terribly well-informed bad press Dubai has gotten on gay issues, it has in recent years been a major destination for men (and likely women; I just don’t know many) looking to lead lives independent of their families, which is a huge challenge in the Arab world.
The appalling ignorance shown by so many commentors here makes me realize how little many know about daily life in the Middle East. It makes me feel all the more privileged to live and work here – as an out gay man living in a neighbor of Dubai, where in four years I can honestly say I’ve not had one negative moment.
Transracial
@Muscato
Finally a voice of experience and reason.
The Middle East, the Persian Gulf, the Levant, the Maghreb — these are all ancient complex, multi-faceted cultures. Evaluating them via the lens of Queerty kinda just doesn’t work.
Hotshot_1
I think it’s wrong and rude to laugh at anybody’s misfortune!
ousslander
no. 18 The westboro people are crazies who call for us to burn in hell which comes with free speech but they have not hung gays, stoned any gays, etc. neither are such things sanctioned by the government.
Taylor Siluwé
You’re correct No. 28, Westboro never did those things.
However the things they have done and continue to do qualify them as American “sub human filth” — which was my original point, and that the rest of us Americans should not be lumped together with them (as is the case with Islamic crazies and good Muslims).
romeo
As has been noted above about Muslim countries, the thing that grates my ass the most is the hypocrisy about homosexuality in Muslim countries. It thrives there in spite of all, just like it did in the West in spite of all. Muslim fundies are just blind to reality, and fighting a losing battle.
My best wishes to my gay Muslim brothers and sisters. Persevere and endure. Your place in the future is assured. Nature wills it, and no man-made scheme can withstand that.
But in the meantime, learn foreign languages and get the fuck out of there until the fanatics run out of steam. LOL
Taylor Siluwé
Very well said, Romeo. I couldn’t agree more.
schlukitz
@ no. 28 – ousslander
Then I guess it goes without saying that you have never heard Fred Phelps’calling for the government to make homosexuality a federal crime, punishable by death, just like the madman President of Uganga is calling for?
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MrDivaBitch
Dubai is not only anti-gay but its whole prosperity was constructed on modern day slavery, bringing people from poor countries like Sudan and Filipines, taking their passport and making them slaves.
Also every person there has 5 times the carbon footprint of someone in USA or China.
Dubai sucks.