Is it safe to travel to UAE (Dubai)?

[mikat]

Hi,
I would like to ask you If it's safe to travel to Dubai? I am from Prague and many of my straight friends had a vacation there and I was asked to travel there with them many times. The thing is, even though they are saying it looks very cool there, no restricitons really - I don't know? I am naturally soft looking and anyone can tell or wonder that I am gay. What do you think ? Is it safe to trave there? thanks a lot!

[meridannight]

never been there myself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_right...b_Emirates

nobody's gonna know you're gay just from looking at you. it's when you engage in same-sex activities in their territory that can get you in trouble:

In 2005, twenty-six young men were arrested at an Abu Dhabi hotel after police discovered the men engaging in cross-dressing and homosexual practices.[4] In discussing the raid, Mohammed bin Nukhaira Al Dhahiri, Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Auqaf stated, “There will be no room for homosexual and queer acts in the UAE. Our society does not accept queer behaviour, either in word or in action”.

In 2008 two lesbian tourists were given a one-month jail sentence and then deported for engaging in public displays of affection while visiting a beach.[12] The trial, reportedly the first of its kind, prompted the police to create a special task force to combat homosexuality and other "indecent acts" from taking place on the beaches.

In 2011, two men were caught having sex in a car and were sentenced to a year each in prison. Both men were to be deported following their prison terms.

In 2012, police arrested two Indian men for having consensual sex in a public toilet at a bus station. Both were jailed for six months each and will be deported following their prison terms.[16]

In the same year, a 28-year-old British man who drunkenly had sex with another man in public were both sentenced to three years in jail followed by deportation.[17]

On 21 March 2012, Police raided and broke up a gay party consisting of 30 men.[18]

On 7 June 2012, a Belgian man admitted to police that he was in a homosexual relationship with a Filipino. He was arrested and jailed for a year to be followed by deportation.[19

i don't care how ''good'' it looks. i'm not going there.

[5sigma]

I'm changing at Dubai on my way to Australia in July and am not too happy about it.

I know I won't be going through customs there so technically I won't be entering the country and am not planning on doing anything they consider illegal anyway but I'm uncomfortable with even the idea of being on their soil.

[ShiftyNJ]

I have a friend, not particularly close although we've known each other a long time, who lives there with his partner and works at an American university which has a campus there. I would be unlikely to accept an offer to visit, not just because of that (I would not be doing anything that would get me in trouble, but as @5sigma said, it would make me uncomfortable. I went to Egypt with my dude and things are equally bad for LGBT ppl there. I don't know if our hosts knew we were together or what, but I was on edge about what would happen if someone figured it out.

The other thing is, I just read about how Indian and Bangladeshi men are lured there with the promise of abundant work and good pay, and end up stuck in servitude, living in shitty conditions with no way to escape. I'd hate to see that; it's bad enough knowing it goes on.

[Lexington]

Dubai is like Las Vegas run by slave labor. I have no idea why people would want to go there.

Lex

[phillyboy1234]

Dubai is like Las Vegas run by slave labor. I have no idea why people would want to go there.

Lex

It's been in quite a few Hollywood flicks lately, looking very lavish and definitely like the type of place someone would want to visit. It comes off as the Vegas of the Middle East.

We really could create a list of LGBT "safe" nations, LGBT welcoming places, and then the not-so friendly places. The travel section of this board needs reviving!

[ShiftyNJ]

It's been in quite a few Hollywood flicks lately, looking very lavish and definitely like the type of place someone would want to visit. It comes off as the Vegas of the Middle East.

We really could create a list of LGBT "safe" nations, LGBT welcoming places, and then the not-so friendly places. The travel section of this board needs reviving!

Which someone? Not this someone. I don't like Vegas and they don't even HAVE indentured servitude, that I know of.

[phillyboy1234]

Which someone? Not this someone. I don't like Vegas and they don't even HAVE indentured servitude, that I know of.

I never said anything about indentured servitude. But so far as popularity, CNN named Abu Dhabi in its top ten list of places to see in 2015.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/16/travel...ions-2015/

[ShiftyNJ]

I never said anything about indentured servitude. But so far as popularity, CNN named Abu Dhabi in its top ten list of places to see in 2015.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/16/travel...ions-2015/

I know you didn't; Lexington did. But it's also been in the news lately.

Workers at NYU's Abu Dhabi's campus had their passports confiscated

Workers at NYU's Abu Dhabi site face harsh conditions - New York Times

I'd have a hard time enjoying myself in the face of that (it isn't just NYU, either, from what I understand; that is how the cities were built.

I was very uncomfortable in Egypt because our hosts had a servant who we weren't supposed to acknowledge and who wasn't permitted to speak to us. I try to learn more about places before I go there now.

[Rareboy]

Dubai is everything that is wrong with the 20th century. Bloated. Backward. Evil.

I would eat broken glass before I would set foot in that shithole.