Using proxy servers men can get around the bans to the blocked sites, connecting with potential dates and building a knowledge base for gay life in the Arab world.
Web forums like and are inaccessible in many Arab countries, blocked by state-run web filtering software. Gay Web Sites Blocked in Many Arab Countries "They're more comfortable with being tops, because it's easier to negate. "The more masculine you are, the more likely you are to label yourself as a 'top.' It re-enforces this feeling that you're not really gay," said Ahmed*, a gay Palestinian born in Kuwait. Some of the users there surf with screen names that specify their sexual role: "top" or "bottom." Among Arabs, it seems, a mix of stigma and machismo steers gay men toward the former. I met him in one such forum, called Arab Gay Love, e-cruising for new friends and partners.
#East indian gay videos Offline
Online Freedom but With Entrapment Risksįor Samir, the dozens of emerging Web forums for gay Arab men are a freer alternative to the offline Saudi society. It's the perfect solution," says Samir, adding that he wouldn't mind a lesbian wife of his own. "There is a gay group of girls in Saudi looking for gay men to marry. In line with sex-segregated social norms, gay lovers can often spend intimate time together without arousing suspicion.īut gays and lesbians in Saudi Arabia still need to accommodate the pressures of public life, in some cases pairing off to accommodate a freer lifestyle. Gay men can go cruising - a term for picking up partners - and socialize in male-only sections of cafes and restaurants. In Saudi Arabia, where men and women are strictly separated, there is some space for gay life. "Unless it's a VIP house - if the party is at the home of one of the princes or one of the sheiks then you're protected." "I've been invited to private parties for gay men in Jeddah, but I never go because I know what would happen if we were caught," Samir told ABC News. In a recent case they apprehended one man at a Jeddah shopping mall, suspecting he was gay from his tight jeans and fitted shirt. Arrests by the religious police are far more arbitrary. Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia, but the charge calls for four witnesses to make a case. He and his friends are constantly wary of officers from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the kingdom's religious police, who patrol for and punish men they suspect of being gay.
Samir occasionally goes to Saudi cafes known to be popular gay hangouts, but his public engagements stop there. "Before you make a move you have to think." "You can't let a word slip that makes you seem gay-friendly or gay," he says. At work, Samir watches his words, careful not to arouse the suspicion of colleagues. They constantly set him up with women they consider potential wives. He says his mom would kill herself if she found out. Samir's parents don't know of his lifestyle.
#East indian gay videos free
To feel free he takes long vacations to Thailand, where he has a boyfriend, and spends weekends in Lebanon, which he regards as having a more gay-tolerant society.īut at home in Saudi Arabia, he is vigilant. Samir, like many gay men in the Arab world, guards his sexual orientation with a paranoid secrecy. But I know that I'm gay and I'm living as one, so I can't see a clear vision for the future." But it was only today, after the media reported on the shocking incident, that the police arrested six men for the attack on the teens."I pray to God to help me be straight, just to avoid hell. The police was quick to file a case of robbery against them - and place them in a juvenile home, since they can't be arrested because they are under age.
"They started beating us, then the police came and took us away," said one of the teens, whose identity must be concealed for legal reasons. The assault was filmed by a witness on Saturday.Īfter they were accused of stealing a motorcycle belonging to a man from an upper caste, the teens, all Dalits, were tied to a tree, thrashed, stripped and then paraded naked in the Chittorgarh area of Rajasthan, 350 kilometres from the capital of Jaipur. Teens accused of robbery, put in juvenile homeįor nearly 30 minutes, the three young boys can be seen shaking with fear as a mob slaps them over and over.6 arrested for attacking them, parading them naked in Rajasthan.Three Dalit teens assaulted by mob for allegedly stealing motorbike.