Dubai Detains Foreigners Accused Of Being Gay

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Police in the Gulf tourist hub of Dubai say they've detained 17 foreign men for allegedly being gay and wearing women's clothing in malls and other public places.

Police spokesman Zuhair Horoun says the men were either visiting or working in Dubai. He says they were detained Wednesday but would not elaborate.

Dubai's Gulf News reported Thursday that police detained "40 cross-dressing tourists." The discrepancy in the numbers couldn't immediately be explained.

The paper quotes Dubai's police chief as saying the arrests are part of a campaign against "transvestites."

Despite Dubai's Western outlook, homosexuality is illegal in the Muslim city-state.

Comments

[lvdragonlady]

Pay attention America. This is the SAME place that has been buying up both American companies and American buildings.

[mbrownNY]

Gays and lesbians are put to death in many Islamic countries, and god knows what is happening to these people who were just detained. I know it's not politically correct to say so, but any country/religion that kills homosexuals, and women who are unfaithful to their husbands, is ass-backwards. There is no defending this on cultural/religious grounds. If these countries want to be on the world scene, then they must play by the world rules in terms of human rights (that goes - especially - for China as well).

[Buddly]

looks like the repugs lost a hiding place when the Bush house falls

[Amennyc]

Been to Dubai. Done that. If Dubai has a problem with gay people, then 75% of their population will disappear. Most of the single Arabs from Lebanon, Jordan, etc.., go to work in Dubai to be away from family and have gay affairs. Not to mention all the foreign workers. Middle East must have more gay men than any other area traveled.

[moAb]

"I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay,
I work all night and I sleep all day.
I love to put on women's clothing........
And hang around in bars."

[mbrownNY]

"I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspenders and a bra.
I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear Papa!!"

[AnnArky]

Headlines: Huge Deposits of Crude Discovered Beneath Dubai

Buried in the 2nd section: U.S. Gears up for Invasion and Liberation of Dubai.

[sharonh]

Isn't that where Michael J lives now?

[nanoscare]

Starring Will Farrel, John C. Reilly and Casha Baroon as super secret spies trapped behind enemy lines, leading an elite team of cross dressers currently on the outs at the Pentagon.

[Destin]

Obviously, no repercussions from the Bush administration about this. And what could we do? If we protest it, they'll shutdown all our ports, cause UAE still owns our ports, remember?

What goes around, comes around. ;)

[AgentMacGyver]

That deal was cancelled, wasn't it?

[Destin]

You're partly right, hehe, and I'm partly wrong, lol. After lots of protesting, DP World ended up selling to AIG. So I stand corrected.

[wdw101]

follow the laws in the country you visit....

[JohnJames]

Wearing women's clothes? I doubt it. Were they recruiting at the same time?

[darthmaul]

Look behind giant skyscrapers and economic power house, and you will see glimpses of the Bedouin tribesmen. This is not a mature civilized society and won't be until it sheds it's puritanical intolerance of the sexual mores of others.

[wdw101]

So you are looking for them to shed puritanical intolerance of the sexual mores of others. Let us break that statement down now.........

puritanical adhering to strict morals.......I don't see a problem there yet

Tolerance does not mean acceptance. Tolerance is the act of putting up with somebody irritating or otherwise unpleasant. Acceptance is the willingness to accept somebody as a member of a group or Social circle. Just because I Tolerate you does not mean I will have you over for dinner. As long as a person puts up with another they are not being intolerant.

sexual mores of others .......sexual morals of others, sexual norms that differ from your own.

Just as I don't knowingly accept or associate with thieves and murders as they don't share my moral beliefs.....I don't feel an need to knowingly accept the homosexual life style in my house for dinner or around my family as they don't share my moral beliefs.

so you object to people judging you has aberrant people with morals not worthy of acceptance.

[CitizenGeek]

If this news got more publication and people actually saw the grotesqueness of this law, I'm sure Dubai would start losing tourists - at least from Europe, anyway.

[darker]

After Dick Cheyney's HALLIBURTON CORPORATION moved to Dubai recently, Republicans took over the DUBAI FAMILY VALUES COALITION. They can screw anybody they want! But don't let them catch YOU doing it. That's the Republican Way.

We want the rest of THE PICTURES of the Bush & Sheiks HOLDING HANDS.
What did they do after THAT?

[OldSchoolLiberal]

The dislike or mistreatment of people beacuse of their heritable traits like skin or eye color or hair texture is bigotry simple and plain. Fearign or hating immigrants simply because they are such is wrong.

However, nalyizing the meaning of religious and political ideologies and their suitability to particular cultures is neither racist nor bigoted but sane in a world where freedoms are not universal and where the West still leads the way in rights for women, minorities and gays.

Liberals have been paralyzed by a sense of duty to not be "bigoted," a good instinct, fro anylizing and criticizing the aspects of Islam that are clearly counter to what we in America and Europe have decided is the best society, a society which has religious freedom and protects individual rights such s the right to act on feeling for the same sex.

I hope this changes. Born Muslims who want to take full advantage of the modern world are the first victims of sharia dogma.

[laborgrunt]

"Sharia Dogma"? Calm down. The sight of cross-dressing transvestites would probably result in trumped up charges in places like Utah and South Carolina, etc. So this incident in Dubai isnt a Muslim thing, its a ppl being freaked out thing.

[mbrownNY]

Gays and lesbians are put to death in many Muslim countries (not to mention the severe oppression of women)... sorry to say, but it is a "Muslim thing."

[galateadoro]

Homosexuality is a heritable trait just like skin or eye color or hair texture. No one chooses to be gay.

Religion, the greatest exponent of human ignorance, can't accept that simple truth.

[jpopphan]

Dubai is not now nor has it ever been a democracy. There is no real precedent for the level of personal freedom that we enjoy in the West. We in the West also are very ignorant about what is Islam and what is just a cultural prejudice.

Attacking the religion of Muslims is exactly the WRONG thing to do when dealing with them. Making arguments for freedom by claiming that the problem is with Islam will yield nothing.

Instead of taking the issue to them directly, the best way to promote change in a place like Dubai is to cut off revenues from tourism and trade. Get the word out. Tell Westerners what is going on there. Remind them of the freedom that they enjoy and take for granted. Remind them that while they're enjoying the sun and surf in Dubai, they are helping to support a backwards regime that shares none of the values we do in regards to liberty and freedom.

Money is what matters to the leaders of Dubai and other ultraconservative countries. Take their money away and watch how quickly nonsense such as this arrest of gay men stops.

[wdw101]

guess what they have oil.......we need oil........

[hypnotoad72]

Well, that's their culture. If you're going to travel abroad, read up on the customs. Seems common sense for most people, surely?

[jpopphan]

If this were about Afghanistan or another country that didn't rely so much on tourism and foreign investment, you'd be absolutely right.

But Dubai promotes itself to the world as a destination for tourism and travel. It invites foreigners to visit. If they're going to insist that visitors confirm to local cultural standards, then they should inform potential visitors of that.

[Eric8869]

It's not "their culture" if they are taking money from the U.S. and U.S. companies. We can't be a "global businessplace" and allow them to be homophobic.

They want to do business with the U.S. and have our tourists? Then they have to adjust to our standards.

[wdw101]

The term "homophobia" is often used to describe a person who objects to homosexual life style on moral, psychological or medical grounds. However, technically the term actually denotes a person who has a phobia--or irrational fear--of homosexuality. Therefore a principled disagreement cannot be labeled "homophobia."

[KeysDan]

No, Bahrain.