Kuwait and other Gulf States to ban gay visitors.

[aussiejohn]

Did a quick search but cannot see if this has been posted before.

Recent news articles are reporting that Kuwait and other Gulf States, including UAE (ie Dubai) are planning to implement some sort of test to reject gay visitors.

We have had discussions here before with members indicating they would boycott Dubai because of that country's appalling stance on gay and lesbian people.

Should this rather nasty new initiative from our friends in the Gulf get up, what implications does that have for Qantas in Dubai - and more importantly for Joyce himself, given that his sexuality is no secret. Going to be interesting, as it means he WILL NOT be able to fly to Dubai to negotiate with Emirates, and maybe not even transit there on one of his many jaunts to London.

I have visions of this turning into a nightmare.

 

[lovestotravel]

I am happy to be tested to see if I am gay

Upon arrival into Dubai please arrange for 20 x 18-24 year old females in bikini's and a hotel room please............ You get the idea..

 

[harvyk]

Well I for one would like to know what sort of gay detection test they actually have and how accurate it really is.

 

[JessicaTam]

I am planning to transit DXB next year, so I hope they haven't developed the test by then.

Besides - I haven't studied for it.

 

[bam71]

What if you're just sort of Bi-Curious?

 

[Austman]

From Kuwait's Gaydar: Gulf States Develop Medical Screening Tool For Gay And Lesbian Visitors

 

[casanovawa]

I am happy to be tested to see if I am gay

Upon arrival into Dubai please arrange for 20 x 18-24 year old females in bikini's and a hotel room please............ You get the idea..

Hmmm, pass the test but expire from exhaustion shortly after....

 

[Daver6]

I'm surprised Putin and his cronies aren't using this for the winter Olympics.

 

[casanovawa]

At least Joyce stands to be impacted directly by his companies decision on bedfellows rather than just its passengers, but something tells me money will win out???

Is Qatar also in on this, that might raise some eyebrows at FIFA, but again i think brown papers bags trump everything in their eyes and i'm sure enough was paid to secure it come what may...

 

[Hvr]

I am happy to be tested to see if I am gay

Upon arrival into Dubai please arrange for 20 x 18-24 year old females in bikini's and a hotel room please............ You get the idea..

So we can assume from this that you're a bloke. But frankly whose business is your (or my) sexuality? I agree that the state has the right to limit sexual interaction to consenting adults noting that teenagers will of course always do the deed with each other. Non-consent must, of course always be addressed. The terms, consent and adult are properly legally defined so no problems there.

But for people who are attracted to another person of the same gender why is it any of my business and how dare the state try and prohibit that attraction etc?

Any such test will be easy to defeat or otherwise fail. To take the humorous example shown above, what would happen if the women in bikinis were of a body shape that didn't excite you? Would that prove you're homosexual? Of course not. Yet they are using your test.

What about people who are asexual? They too would fail the attraction test.

These tests are just publicly setting out their homophobia and ignorance. Let's hope they don't eventuate.

 

[markis10]

Hmmm, pass the test but expire from exhaustion shortly after....

You would never get to take the test since that also is illegal!

 

[JessicaTam]

You would never get to take the test since that also is illegal!

What if you married them all first?

 

[markis10]

What if you married them all first?

It would be an expensive test!

 

[Hvr]

What if you married them all first?

Then you've failed the common sense test.

 

[SeatBackForward]

There are no merry people in Dubai?

 

[codash1099]

Well I for one would like to know what sort of gay detection test they actually have and how accurate it really is.

Come on. Everyone knows what gay people look like. It's easy.

 

[samh004]

Well I for one would like to know what sort of gay detection test they actually have and how accurate it really is.

I'm surprised Putin and his cronies aren't using this for the winter Olympics.

I was thinking they're probably in partnership on this one.

Is Qatar also in on this, that might raise some eyebrows at FIFA, but again i think brown papers bags trump everything in their eyes and i'm sure enough was paid to secure it come what may...

It's mind boggling really, but the World Cup is so far away that things could change several times over before then. At the very least I'd hope the West is even more liberal with sexuality by then, several major countries boycott the tournament and it all blows up (pun?) in their faces. Russia seems to be getting crazier by the day, so I wonder if the Winter Olympics might also have some boycotting by the time it rolls around.

As for Joyce, if it happens it'll be very interesting. That said, I'm sure it'll just be the stricter countries that go nuts with the law, while UAE will recognise that turning around passengers for their sexuality, or worse, locking them up, wont be good for business.

 

[Daver6]

I think the bigger issue here is that any company would willingly go into partnership with a country with cough like this, is a disgrace. It is a stain on QF to be even remotely associated with such an attitude.

 

[Joshua]

I can only imagine their brains explode if you turn up with a transgender AUS passport. Maybe DFAT can issue an alert reminding Australians to only take young children of the opposite sex to avoid doing anything illegal there.

More seriously, I personally think we can expect change to come but need to apply gentle pressure and let the grass root movements do their thing there. Western culture took a long time to achieve its current position and we can at least appreciate it may take a generation for similar outcomes elsewhere. This would be extremely quick but globalisation, mass media etc. has hastened such changes. For now we can focus on our own house and lack of legal recognition and quietly gawk at the supposedly medical test. It sure is persecution but some dopey test may be more posturing to the conservative extremities.

So obviously some random medical test developed by a bunch of hacks will have plenty of false positives... then what happens?

 

[dfcatch]

All I'm going to say - is that those who gush and gush about these countries perhaps might view this as a slap-around-the-head reality check.

This is why I, (unlike many others in another thread), am incredibly tolerant and accepting of those who were less than impressed by QF's partnership with EK and the subsequent transit arrangements.

Lucky for me - as a single, white, straight, childless male - I'm safe

(And of course the most discriminated against in western countries when it comes to the welfare teat )