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Have you gone to Arab countries with another man?


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On 6/23/2023 at 7:36 AM, BSR said:

I think you're making a somewhat false equivalency.  Of the 50 Muslim-majority countries, only 2 have Pride celebrations:  Albania and Kosovo.  Of the ~150 Christian-majority countries, almost all have Pride celebrations, except Uganda and a very few others.  You lump the 2 together in the same "homophobic theocracy" basket only because you hate Christians and Christianity.

Yes, psychological torture is much preferable to physical torture. Can’t see the scars.

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On 6/23/2023 at 6:36 AM, BSR said:

I think you're making a somewhat false equivalency.  Of the 50 Muslim-majority countries, only 2 have Pride celebrations:  Albania and Kosovo.  Of the ~150 Christian-majority countries, almost all have Pride celebrations, except Uganda and a very few others.  You lump the 2 together in the same "homophobic theocracy" basket only because you hate Christians and Christianity.

Can you provide a link where you get this information?  

It seems incorrect.

I can think of Sarajevo and Istanbul that have Pride events.  So that would bring your "2" up to a total of 4 majority Muslim countries with Pride events.

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3 hours ago, TonyDown said:

Can you provide a link where you get this information?  

It seems incorrect.

I can think of Sarajevo and Istanbul that have Pride events.  So that would bring your "2" up to a total of 4 majority Muslim countries with Pride events.

You caught me on Sarajevo.  My ignorance, I didn't know Bosnia was a Muslim-majority country (barely, 50.7% according to Wiki).

Some brave souls did stage a Pride March in Istambul in defiance of a government ban.  40 marchers were detained.  If the government bans Pride and arrests participants, I don't think that counts.  They used to have Pride in Lebanon, but as in Turkey the government banned it.

No source, just working off my knowledge of Muslim-majority countries that hold Pride.  Can you think of any others?

Worth noting that Pride in Muslim-majority countries has relatively few participants and is held only in the biggest city.  In Christian countries, on the other hand, even small towns hold Pride celebrations.  I saw a feature on the cutest Pride march ever in a small town in England.  The town had only 1 gay resident, and the march consisted of this 1 gay guy and all his friends.  The rest of the town stood on the sidewalks and cheered as this "march" went by.  That definitely doesn't happen in Muslim countries.

Whether 2 or 3, my point was you can't lump Christian countries (~150, almost all of which allow Pride) in with Muslim countries (3 out of 50, and it's always precarious).

Edited by BSR
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If you've been to Kosovo and Albania, as I have, you'd also know that they're not exactly the most Islamic countries out there--few people are religious. As our guides told us, most of their mosques were built by the Turks and/or the Saudis, who want to stoke religion into the country. On any given sunny afternoon, you'll see locals filling the bars (including outdoor bars), and few women cover their hair. They may tell people they're Muslim, but most of that is probably lip service. I'd be curious to see what Kosovo or Albania are like during Ramadan. I'm high-tailing it out of our Egyptian trip/cruise before Ramadan hits. I definitely don't want to be in Egypt during Ramadan (much less Qatar). 

Typical scene in Prizren, Kosovo (yes, if people ask me, I can say I've been to Prizren 😄).

bar terrace in Prizren Stock Photo - Alamy

THE 5 BEST Prizren Bars & Clubs (Updated 2023) - Tripadvisor

No photo description available.

347385087_658562516308295_56730202552500
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Corner Bar, Prizren. 11,910 likes · 16 talking about this · 26,233 were here. A lovely place in a heart of capital of Albanian Territory #PRIZREN You can drink a morning...

 

Edited by Unicorn
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23 hours ago, Unicorn said:

If you've been to Kosovo and Albania, as I have, you'd also know that they're not exactly the most Islamic countries out there--few people are religious. As our guides told us, most of their mosques were built by the Turks and/or the Saudis, who want to stoke religion into the country. On any given sunny afternoon, you'll see locals filling the bars (including outdoor bars), and few women cover their hair. They may tell people they're Muslim, but most of that is probably lip service. I'd be curious to see what Kosovo or Albania are like during Ramadan. I'm high-tailing it out of our Egyptian trip/cruise before Ramadan hits. I definitely don't want to be in Egypt during Ramadan (much less Qatar). 

Typical scene in Prizren, Kosovo (yes, if people ask me, I can say I've been to Prizren 😄).

bar terrace in Prizren Stock Photo - Alamy

THE 5 BEST Prizren Bars & Clubs (Updated 2023) - Tripadvisor

No photo description available.

347385087_658562516308295_56730202552500
WWW.FACEBOOK.COM

Corner Bar, Prizren. 11,910 likes · 16 talking about this · 26,233 were here. A lovely place in a heart of capital of Albanian Territory #PRIZREN You can drink a morning...

 

Who's the stud in the plaid shirt in the second picture shown on his phone ?

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This whole Pride-parade-proves-tolerance discussion is just a distraction. One day a year a large group of people bands together to be out in public - safety in numbers -  so that country (Muslim, Christian, etc.) is clearly cool with the homos? Ridiculous. 
Two men walking down the street holding hands on a random weekday in almost any town or city anywhere in the U.S., except for a handful of well-known exceptions, will be looking over their shoulders. Or, more likely, not walking down the street holding hands.

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When I was younger, unmarried and identifying as "gay",  I traveled Morocco with an attractive male companion. I hired a professional guide to show us around, who informed us that although Morocco is officially an Islamic country, places like Casablanca, Marrakesh, and Fez have their eye on your tourist dollar not your morality. One eye open/ one eye SHUT as he said. I don't doubt the prevalence of escorts traveling the Middle East are navigating the same attitude.

hear no evil speaknoevil GIF

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50 minutes ago, Act25 said:

The Sunday NY Times has an article in the travel section "Where being gay is illegal, travel is complicated".

There are LGBTQ travel companies that sell tours to these countries. 

In summary; know where you are and use your brain. 

Great point but how many Americans think that American laws will follow them wherever they are. Sad the truth!

Some folks travel to a country without even using Google before you find out more.

 

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20 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

When I was younger, unmarried and identifying as "gay",  I traveled Morocco with an attractive male companion. I hired a professional guide to show us around, who informed us that although Morocco is officially an Islamic country, places like Casablanca, Marrakesh, and Fez have their eye on your tourist dollar not your morality. One eye open/ one eye SHUT as he said. I don't doubt the prevalence of escorts traveling the Middle East are navigating the same attitude.

hear no evil speaknoevil GIF

Now it probably helps that the king of Morocco, Mohammed VI, is gay.

 

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  • 9 months later...

You're over thinking it  - it's fine, as long as you are not overt about it.

Depending on the hotel, they won't care. 

The King of Morocco doesn't actually live in Morocco. Most of the time he's in France living a life that makes him happy ( I'm guessing), outside of Maroc - going back for state occasions and emergencies - like the earthquake last year. 

 

Edited by Alex93108
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I believe that the only majority Muslim country I have ever been to with my partner was Morocco, and it was when a gay friend decided to throw a landmark-birthday bash for himself and friends and family from all over the world, and chose to do it in Marrakesh. He booked a couple of riads for his guests, who naturally included a number of male couples, 2 to a room.  The riad and restaurant hosts seemed fine with that. Of course, the party wasn't exclusively male or gay, and many of the guest couples were middle-aged to elderly,  which may have made a difference in their attitude to the group.

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19 hours ago, Charlie said:

I believe that the only majority Muslim country I have ever been to with my partner was Morocco, and it was when a gay friend decided to throw a landmark-birthday bash for himself and friends and family from all over the world, and chose to do it in Marrakesh. He booked a couple of riads for his guests, who naturally included a number of male couples, 2 to a room.  The riad and restaurant hosts seemed fine with that. Of course, the party wasn't exclusively male or gay, and many of the guest couples were middle-aged to elderly,  which may have made a difference in their attitude to the group.

I need to find new friends.  I get invited to birthday bashes at Chipotle's and Pizza Hut.

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13 hours ago, cany10011 said:

I’ve been to Istanbul and other small Turkish towns with my bf. Had a great time and everyone was so friendly. 

To jump in and redirect this conversation a bit I would interject that there are Muslims and there are MUSLIMS.

Turkey and Morocco for example are primarily populated by a very easy/benign sect of Islam. Other people and cultures are acknowledged and respected. I remember sitting on a beach in Turkey once. Two Muslim women to my right in full burkas and two German women on my left sunbathing topless in their bikinis. Turks are generally not extreme in their views on outsiders.

Morocco especially Marrakesh has a long history of "keeping one eye open and one eye shut" toward the indulgences of non-Muslim tourists

Many other Muslim countries have varying degrees of extremism and although some of the more extreme make space for tolerance toward tourists .(because they bring $$$)...those exceptions are extremely localized in specific hotels and resorts and you could potentially find yourself in trouble quickly by being too "obvious" if you stray too far from acceptable the tourist zone.

I toured Brunei with a lovely gentleman who just happened to turn out to be gay. He explained living there was a matter of being discreet. Officially he could be arrested for being gay...but he said what that really means is getting arrested for BEING OBVIOUS.  Discretion goes a long way in the Muslim world as much as it does in the redneck states of the US.

Edited by pubic_assistance
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