Doctor becomes ‘first’ Qatari to publicly come out as gay – Details
Despite Qatar’s bitter attempts to hide several facts, they are still shockingly unheard of daily; It has become evident that large numbers of homosexuals are in Doha, as the government tries to hide them and exercise serious violations against them, which prompted them to leave the country, despite the fact that Qatar opened its doors to gays during the upcoming World Cup.
In a video posted on the BBC, a Qatari doctor publicly revealed that homosexuality is present in Qatar, even if we do not recognize it. The website noted that the world celebrates International Day against Homophobia this week, while the LGBT community in the Qatari world is still marginalized and legally persecuted.
The website said that the issue of homosexuality in Qatar is causing confusion recently prior to the country’s hosting of World Cup matches, as the laws adopted to deal with homosexual fans are not yet fully clear.
It continued: “Homosexuality in the Gulf state is illegal; Same-sex relationships are prohibited and punishable by several years in prison. Qatar is one of approximately 70 countries identified by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association, which criminalizes consensual same-sex activity”.
Regardless of illegality, social pressures on any Qatari suspected of being LGBT are many, and LGBT Qataris live in the shadows, in constant fear of being revealed, trapped or harassed by police and security services, while if revealed as LGBT, they face social shame, permanent ostracism from friends and family, severe risks to their mental health, threats of violence, or worse.
Despite all this, Nasser Mohammed made the decision to appear in the media, perhaps the first Qatari to declare himself gay to the wider audience and not just a few trusted friends.
Dr. Nasser Mohammed, a Qatari doctor, spoke about homosexuality in Qatar during an interview with the BBC after he successfully applied for asylum in the United States. He wants to defend the rights of homosexuals in Qatar in the hope that he will make a positive change in the country he was forced to leave.
Nasser Mohammed said: “The moment Mohammed’s knew for certain that he was gay, he panicked”, adding: “I entered a gay club and knew I was 100% gay independent.. I came home and cried, I thought my life was in crisis. I thought I was going to hell, my life is cursed.. That was the main thing. Then I thought about the dangers of discovering anyone. I was genuinely afraid I would be killed if anyone knew”.
He says by telephone from San Francisco, where he now lives and works as a doctor: “I don’t want to remain anonymous”. He is seeking asylum because he does not feel safe to return to the Gulf; He had quite decided to go out, which he thought about for a while before he was drowned.
Nasser understands the personal cost that will almost certainly result from being publicly offered, any chance of reconnecting with his separated family will be missed; his family could be publicly disgraced, he claims, but they are more likely to distance themselves from him, any chance of a return home unlikely.
However, he insists he is making the right decision: “I’ve already lost everything – my nationality, my family and my financial security in Qatar, in order to change things for Qataris from the LGBT community, we need more people to come out.. Referring to us by unknown names without faces imposes the opinion that we are doing something wrong we should be ashamed of… I would like to share my views with my name, as a doctor and as a Qatari citizen who still has parents and siblings in the country. They need to know that I am one of them and not the Western agenda as they point out to us”.
Nasser said: “There are a lot of gays in Qatar.. I didn’t realize how many people were gay in Qatar until I moved to the US. They were comfortable coming out to me.. But I haven’t met anyone who appears in public as a gay person in Qatar”, Nasser Mohammed now lives in the United States and says he fears returning to Qatar.
Human rights activist Peter Tatchell said Nasser’s decision to publicly declare himself a pioneer. “To my knowledge, Nasser is the first Qatari gay man to identify himself publicly and give a media interview. It highlights homophobia in the Qatari system. He explains why FIFA should not have given the country the right to host the World Cup. The persecution that Nasser identified is the shared experience of the LGBT people living in most Arab and Muslim countries”.
Nasser continued: “He couldn’t trust anyone or date. He spoke of gay conversion treatment centers operating in the country, where they are celebrated with a culture of males, masculinity, righteous and mysogonistic”, adding: “He was just on a trip as a medical student to, of all places, Las Vegas in his early 20s and a visit to a gay club that he knew with certainty about his sexuality”, he finally told his parents, who were already afraid, that he would tell them he intended to marry a non-Qatari.
He added: “I told them that I was gay and that I couldn’t agree with the way others live in Qatar. They were very upset.. Their first reaction was to try to find a cure for me”.
Nasser left for the United States in 2011, initially for residency training, but has worked there since then and returned only once to Qatar – in 2014 for the weekend – saying he did not feel safe.
He hopes that by going out now, he will highlight the vision and end the cycle of denial, not only for Qataris from the LGBT community, but all of them in the country, stressing: “It is time to give us rights, we need to be recognized and be honest about how we are treated. I don’t think anyone can make a difference except the Qataris”.
BBC pointed out that among the many accusations leveled at homosexuals and Qataris from the Gulf, there is a charge that they are the pawns of the West, in an attempt to impose repugnant foreign views on a deeply entrenched religious and conservative culture, and this has been strongly rejected, not only by Nasser, but by other gay Qataris who argue that they want to follow Western culture, but only seek acceptance from their country.
The issue of the Gulf and homosexuality has long been in the spotlight, but it has been pushed to the forefront by the fact that Qatar will host the World Cup, arguably the world’s largest sporting event, starting six months ago.
In recent months, this criticism has expanded to examine the country’s law on homosexuality and the treatment of the LGBT community, attempts from Doha to counter accusations that it is a relatively progressive country in the region and has adapted and responded to Western calls for change on issues such as workers’ rights, the founder of the sexual life issue.
The state’s zero-tolerance approach to homosexuality is based on religion and culture as much as it is legal and seems to be entirely consistent and resistant to the growing calls for change. Attempts by the Gulf organizers to assert that it will receive all of the estimated 1.5 million soccer fans during November, regardless of sexual activity, have failed to satisfy critics abroad. Most importantly, it has left Qataris from the LGBT community, angry at the possibility of accommodating others for a month before normal restrictions return after the football circus continues.
Clearly the issue will provide a point of friction even the tournament and its length. It is possible that protests and gestures from fans and players will be at the start of the World Cup, but for people in Qatar and the wider Gulf, the struggle will continue for more than three weeks in front of international television cameras.
