Is being gay in dubai illegal

United Arab Emirates

Terrorism

There is a high threat of terrorist attack globally affecting UK interests and British nationals, including from groups and individuals who view the UK and British nationals as targets. Reside aware of your surroundings at all times.

UK Counter Terrorism Policing has communication and advice on staying safe abroad and what to do in the event of a terrorist attack. Detect out how to reduce your uncertainty from terrorism while abroad.

Terrorism in the UAE

Terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in the Together Arab Emirates (UAE).

Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreign nationals.

Terrorists continue to issue statements threatening to carry out attacks in the Gulf region. These include references to attacks on western interests, including against UK citizens. Targets may include:

residential compounds
military sites
oil
transport
aviation interests
crowded places
restaurants
hotels
beaches
shopping centres
places of worship

Maintain a high level of security understanding, particularly in common places and at public events.

Crime

Protecting your belongings

Take sensible precauti is being gay in dubai illegal

https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/07/12/dignity-debased/forced-anal-examinations-homosexuality-prosecutions https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/10/one-photo-gay-man-drag-lands-death-row-abu-dhabi/ https://www.towleroad.com/2015/12/gay-british-man-fearing-torture-dodges-extradition-united-arab-emirates-video/ https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/07/12/dignity-debased/forced-anal-examinations-homosexuality-prosecutions https://web.archive.org/web/20190516235023/https://genderidentitywatch.com/2014/01/23/karen-mke-and-kamilla-satto-united-arab-emirates/ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/11/world/middleeast/dubai-crimes-united-arab-emirates-jail.html https://www.thejournal.ie/same-sex-rights-across-the-world-4222149-Sep2018/ https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/10/one-photo-gay-man-drag-lands-death-row-abu-dhabi/ https://www.refworld.org/docid/4a30b4f42.html https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/07/12/dignity-debased/forced-anal-examinations-homosexuality-prosecutions https://database.ilga.org/united-arab-emirates-lgbti https://queerintheworld.com/lgbt-rights-in-the-united-arab-emirates/

Which countries impose the death penalty on gay people?

Around the world, queer people continue to face discrimination, violence, harassment and social stigma. While social movements have marked progress towards acceptance in many countries, in others homosexuality continues to be outlawed and penalised, sometimes with death.

According to Statistica Research Department, as of 2024, homosexuality is criminalised in 64 countries globally, with most of these nations situated in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In 12 of these countries, the death penalty is either enforced or remains a possibility for confidential, consensual same-sex sexual activity.

In many cases, the laws only apply to sexual relations between two men, but 38 countries include amendments that include those between women in their definitions.

These penalisations represent abuses of human rights, especially the rights to freedom of expression, the right to develop one's own ego and the right to life.

Which countries enforce the death penalty for homosexuality?

Saudi Arabia

The Wahabbi interpretation of Sharia law in Saudi Arabia maintains that acts of homosexuality should be disciplined in the sa

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History

Homosexual activity in Dubai

Homosexual activity in Dubai is illegal (death penalty as punishment).

Illegal (death penalty as punishment)

LGBT activities are illegal in the UAE. Punishments (under sharia law) include death, life in prison, floggings, fines, deportation, chemical castration, forced psychological treatments, honor killings, beatings, forced anal examinations, forced hormone injections, and torture.

Same-sex marriage in Dubai

Same-sex marriage in Dubai is banned.

Censorship of LGBT issues in Dubai

Censorship of LGBT issues in Dubai is imprisonment as punishment.

Current status

Imprisonment as punishment

In the United Arab Emirates, access to many websites discussing LGBTQ+ topics is blocked by ISPs. The 2012 Law on Combating Cybercrimes criminalises the "condoning, provoking, or promoting of sin through the comput

How can a sense of belonging be forged in a setting where one’s existence is forbidden? That is the question that LSE’s Dr Centner and his co-author Harvard’s Manoel Pereira Neto explore in their groundbreaking research into Dubai’s expatriate gay men’s nightlife.

But it was not an easy topic to research. Dr Centner explains: “It's an illegal, or criminalised, identity and fix of behaviours and practices, so in a very general sense, it's a taboo. And taboo subjects are very often under-researched, sometimes because people possess a hard time gaining access, gaining that confidence, but also because, even if people gain that access, there could be significant repercussions for themselves as researchers, or for the people who are the research participants.

“As two queer researchers, we were able to enter the worlds of relatively privileged Western gay expatriates. Secrecy is often the norm, but the field was familiar to us, through previous visits and investigate projects.”

These were indeed ‘parties’ ...[but] not bars identified as gay. Not a single venue’s webpage uses the word ‘gay’ or related euphemisms, nor carry out they hint at targeting

Old Value	New Value
Value	Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)	Illegal (death penalty as punishment)