middle east

Gay Amman, Jordan – The Nomadic Boys

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Gay Amman, Jordan - The Nomadic Boys

“I love A-man” Seby says, wistfully staring out the car window as we cruised away from the city. Before my jealous rage could take hold, I realized he wasn’t talking about falling for another man, but the capital city of Jordan…!

Exploring Gay Amman, Jordan

Having spent days traveling around this treasure trove of a city, we can safely say that Jordan has been one of our favorite gay friendly places in the Middle East. Not only is it one of the few Arab countries that has long discarded its anti-gay laws, but it is filled with charming locals, delicious foods, and ancient sites that set our love for history alight!

As well as being the entry point into a very beautiful country, Amman also offered us plenty to see and do – from venturing down the bustling streets of Rainbow Street to visiting the Roman Theater, where crowds of bygone eras would have collected to be entertained, to exploring archaeological sites filled with artifacts and artworks that date back to the Neolithic period.

There are also a few “gay-friendly” (or perhaps “tolerant” is a better phrase to use!) venues to check out along Rainbow Street. For us, Amman delivered an extraordinary experience, blending the old world with the modern. Read on for our take on gay Amman.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Amman Gay Travel Resources

Visiting Gay Jordan – The Nomadic Boys

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Visiting Gay Jordan - The Nomadic Boys

You’ll never run out of things to do whilst visiting gay Jordan – it’s a gorgeous country. Your visit may come to an end, but you’ll never be JorDone!

We loved the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan! It’s such a rewarding place to visit offering a rich mix of experiences – whiz between the sand dunes of Wadi Rum, float along the surface of the Dead Sea, relish in all things pink by visiting Petra, aka The Pink City, and swim through the Red Sea feeling your Little Mermaid fantasy.

We’d go back to gay Jordan in a heartbeat!

The only downside is that this is an Arab country in the Middle East – a place sadly renowned for its awful LGBTQ rights. Thankfully, it

s one of the more gay friendly Arab countries but still a place you need to be careful of as an LGBTQ traveler. We set out for you all our safety tips along with the rest of our firsthand experiences from our travels in here as a gay couple.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Jordan Gay Travel Resources

Gay Abu Dhabi – The Nomadic Boys

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Gay Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and second-most populous city in the UAE after Dubai.

Initially, Abu Dhabi began as a magnet for the oil industry, but over the last decade, it grew massively in popularity as a tourist destination.

Whilst crime is very low in Abu Dhabi and it is a safe destination to visit, for the LGBTQ community, the reality is a lot different. Homosexuality is illegal here, so just like LGBTQ rights in Dubai, you run the risk of being arrested and/or deported if you get caught being open! Despite this, many LGBTQ expats (who are mainly cabin crew for Etihad) live here without any problems and have even created their own underground gay scene.

We visited Abu Dhabi during our travels in the UAE and give our take on whether we think Abu Dhabi is safe for gay travellers based on our first-hand experience. To be clear, we are not advocating Abu Dhabi as a gay haven, simply an honest account of what it was like for us.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Lebanon – The Nomadic Boys

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Gay Lebanon - The Nomadic Boys

Exquisite food, impressive UNESCO sites, crazy nightlife and some of the most handsome guys to walk this planet…on the face of it, Lebanon is a gay man’s wet dream right?
In some ways, it sure is! By Middle Eastern Arab standards, Lebanon is often regarded as a very liberal and progressive place. There’s even a vibrant gay scene in Beirut. We certainly rate Lebanon as one of the most gay friendly countries in the Arab world.

BUT: this is by Middle Eastern standards!

The Middle East is one part of the world where being openly gay can get you into a great deal of trouble (Israel, a gay paradise, being the sole exception). For example, in say, Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Iran it’s a straight-up capital punishment. In places like Lebanon, Dubai or Abu Dhabi, being gay is very much an arrestable offence that can get you a prison sentence, a fine and deportation.

The purpose of this article is to describe our experience of travelling in Lebanon as a gay couple, present a balanced perspective and give advice for LGBTQ travellers who want to explore it. It is a stunning country, one that you won’t regret visiting…but this is still very much an Arab country where being gay is against the law. You will need to go back into the closet, avoid all PDAs, set all your social media to private and never post anything gay related online before or during your trip.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Dubai Gay Life – The Nomadic Boys

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Dubai Gay Life - The Nomadic Boys

“How dare you promote travel to countries where being gay is illegal Nomadic Boys, you should be ASHAMED!”

…is the typical comment we receive on social media each time one of our posts about gay Dubai, gay Abu Dhabi or gay Iran gets shared. But before you judge, remember that whilst a country has anti-gay laws, that same country still has an LGBTQ community who you risk turning your back on, right when they need you the most.

We have always been adamant that just because a country has spurious LGBTQ laws, this should not prevent us from visiting. We instead believe that it is far more productive to get out there and be a visible and positive representation of our community to show to that society that we are not some freak perversion that needs to be persecuted. Doing this is going to do so much more for the local LGBTQ community’s struggle for visibility against an oppressive government, than boycotting them is going to achieve.

Dubai Gay Life

But look, we get it! We also used to feel this way. After all, the United Arab Emirates is no different than its Middle Eastern neighbours when it comes to LGBTQ rights. In short, there are none. Being gay here is a crime, full stop! Officially it’s punishable by imprisonment, deportation, a fine, and worse, death. Whether or not these are strictly enforced, the very existence of these laws is so insulting that it simply serves to conjure up natural feelings of intense hatred within us – “how can such a government be so loathsome of us that it wants to eradicate and kill us? How dare they?!”

Yet we disagree that boycotting them is the solution. That is what these oppressive governments want us to do: ignore and turn our backs on them so they can continue crushing any LGBTQ visibility and pretend we don’t exist! Instead, from our travels in countries with anti-gay laws, we’ve learnt that the more productive way forward is to get out there and support gay friendly businesses in that country as much as we can and use our platform to give a voice to the local LGBTQ community.

Therefore, for this article, we are super proud that our buddy, Zayed, was happy for us to interview him about what gay life is like in Dubai and what it’s like growing up gay in the UAE. Zayed has however asked that he is anonymous in this interview using ‘Zayed’ as his alias.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Beirut – The Nomadic Boys

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Lebanon is one of the most liberal, progressive and gay friendly places in the Arab world. This is saying a lot for a country where homosexuality is still a crime. However, by comparison to its Arab neighbours, Beirut has the best (albeit quite underground) gay scene, including one of the largest gay clubs in the Middle East called POSH.

We visited gay Beirut from Cyprus to celebrate Stefan’s birthday over a long weekend and absolutely loved the food, the people and of course the many gay parties. This is our gay guide to Beirut featuring the best gay bars and clubs, events, gay friendly hotels and best things to do.

Gay Rights in Lebanon

Lebanon doesn’t have the best track record with regards to LGBTQ rights. Homosexuality is illegal, there are no anti-discrimination laws, there is absolutely zero recognition of same-sex partnerships and the LGBTQ community are banned from openly serving in the Lebanese army.

On the plus side, proactive steps are being taken by judges and some politicians to decriminalise homosexuality and it was declassified as an illness in 2013. In addition, the right to change legal gender was introduced in 2016. From our experience travelling in the Middle East, Lebanon definitely ranks as one of the most gay friendly Arab countries, but remember, this is an extremely conservative region of the world when it comes to LGBTQ rights.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Middle East Gay Travel Resources

Jerusalem Museums – Globetrotter Girls

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Jerusalem Museums

Visiting Israel is always a wonderful idea. You’ll want to see as many historic sites as you can while you are there, and specifically in the holy city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem packs a huge punch in the tourist department – from ancient architecture to modern structures. But the Jerusalem museums are don’t-miss outings. Here are my favorites.

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Lesbian Tel Aviv – Go Girlfriend

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Lesbian Tel Aviv - Go Girlfriend

If Tel Aviv isn’t on your radar as a destination you need to visit, think again. The city is buzzing. It’s vibrant and artsy. It also has great shopping and a growing culinary scene. It’s happens to be Israel’s fastest growing city and its second largest after Jerusalem. Plus, over the past decade, Israel in general has become much safer in terms of security and you can travel without worry.

We consider Tel Aviv to be one of those gateway cities where flights are frequent and plentiful. Like Iceland is a stopover opportunity for many trans-atlantic flights, adding Tel Aviv as a stopover to a Mediterranean vacation can introduce you to a new cultural experience pretty easily.

Tel Aviv may seem far from where you live, but with a bit of planning and foresight, you can plan a trip there quite easily and go for a few days, or even a week, if you have the time. Tel Aviv makes for a great girl’s getaway with your girlfriends or sisters. Or go on a multi-generational trip with one, or both, of your parents and children. While it’s in the Middle East, Tel Aviv is more like New York City than Cairo. It’s modern, with skyscrapers and large buildings, plenty of hotels, and so much to see and do.

By Holly Rosen Fink – Full Story at Go Girlfriend

Lesbian Tel Aviv Travel Resources

 

Gay Beruit – The Nomadic Boys

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Gay Beruit - The Nomadic Boys

Lebanon is one of the most liberal, progressive and gay friendly places in the Arab world. This is saying a lot for a country where homosexuality is still a crime. However, by comparison to its Arab neighbours, Beirut has the best (albeit quite underground) gay scene, including one of the largest gay clubs in the Middle East called POSH.

We visited gay Beirut from Cyprus to celebrate Stefan’s birthday over a long weekend and absolutely loved the food, the people and of course the many gay parties. This is our gay guide to Beirut featuring the best gay bars and clubs, events, gay friendly hotels and best things to do.

A word of warning to gay travellers to Lebanon, although the country is more progressive than places like Iran, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, it is still a largely Islamic influenced country where homosexuality remains illegal. Therefore, be careful with public displays of affection and avoid posting anything online that is LGBTQ related before/during your trip to prevent any problems at the airport immigration. Also, avoid having an Israeli stamp in your passport as Lebanon has an outright ban on anything related to Israel/Israelis. Be sure to check out our article about gay life in Lebanon for more practical safety tips.

Gay bars in Beirut

As homosexuality is still illegal in Lebanon, places are careful not to advertise themselves as being openly “gay bars“, preferring “gay friendly” instead, in order to prevent having any problems with the police. These are the main gay friendly bars in Beirut that are thriving despite the anti-gay laws:

Bardo: this is one of the oldest and famous gay bars of Beirut. It is popular with twinks (and their fans) especially at the “Powerpuff Queens” party every Thursday. Generally it doesn’t get busy until after 11pm. But if you come before, it’s a lot quieter, which makes it great for a few cocktails, especially during the week when they have 2 for 1 happy hour offers. Bardo is open every day until 2am and is located in downtown Beirut on Mexico Street, just off Hamra Street.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

Gay Beruit Travel Resources

 

Ten Things to Do in Bahrain – Keep Calm and Wander

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Bahrain - Keep Calm and Wander

Riches are the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind when most people think of the Arab world. However, I’d like to add here that besides all of its oil reserves, luxury hotels, glittering gold, and everything expensive, I found Bahrain rich in culture, too. Wandering through the following 8 locations like the intrepid tourist that I am, I could sense the wisps of Arabian culture and the evolution of Bahrain to be just as fresh as anyone would think.

Let’s get down to the list of my top 10 things to do in Bahrain, shall we?

1. Say hi to the history at the Bahrain National Museum

Hitting on its cultural fabric, I first managed to visit a museum. Not just any museum, but the most popular and diverse museum of all the museums in Bahrain. Its postmodern building had much in store for me and I was literally dazzled by the type of landscaping that’s been done here. My favorite sights from the museum are the archeological relics from Dilmun Civilization and the temporary exhibits on tales.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander