In November 2021, the Australian footballer Josh Cavallo, the league's only currently openly gay player, said he would be afraid to travel to Qatar to play, to which Nasser Al Khater, head of the tournament's organizing committee, replied that Cavallo would be "welcome" in the country. He is now offering LGBT services in his medical practice Osra Medical in San Francisco. However, he took political asylum in 2015 and is now based in San Francisco citing poor living conditions and prosecution of LGBT individuals in Qatar. Born and raised as a Qatari, the physician initially trained in primary care sports medicine with hopes to help Qatar host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Nasser Mohamed came out as an asylum seeker from Qatar. However, the GCC backtracked, possibly due to concerns over the effect on Qatar's hosting of the 2022 World Cup. In 2013, Kuwait proposed banning gay foreigners from entering any of the Gulf Cooperative Countries, and the GCC agreed to discuss it. "Public display of affection is not part of our culture and tradition", he said. In 2013, the head of Qatar's World Cup bid team, Hassan al-Thawadi, said that everybody was welcome at the event, so long as they refrained from public display of affection. In 2011, a member of the Dutch Parliament for the Party for Freedom (PVV), proposed that the Dutch football team play in pink, instead of the country's national colour, orange, to protest the gay rights situation in Qatar.
What we want to do is open this game to everybody, and to open it to all cultures, and this is what we are doing in 2022". In 2010, shortly after Qatar was selected to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, FIFA President Sepp Blatter was asked about the political reality for gay people in the country, and he responded by joking that gay football fans in Qatar "should refrain from any sexual activities." After being criticized for this joke, Blatter added that: "we don't want any discrimination. Hence, cohabitation is illegal and no legal recognition exists in Qatar for same-sex marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships.įurther information: GCC homosexuality test and List of 2022 FIFA World Cup controversies Qatari law concerning marriage, divorce and other family matters are influenced by traditional Islamic morality. The Polish embassy claim he was arrested for extortion. He spent two months in custody before he was released. In 2016 Polish Instagram star King Luxy was arrested in Qatar for allegedly being homosexual. This was in response to several mass arrests and deportations of Philippine workers in Qatar for homosexuality. In the 1990s, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration informed Philippine workers that gay workers were prohibited in Qatar. In 1998 an American citizen visiting Qatar was sentenced to six months in prison and 90 lashes for homosexual activity.
However, there is no evidence that the death penalty has been applied for consensual same-sex relations taking place between adults and in private.
Also, the death penalty is applicable only to Muslims, for extramarital sex regardless of the gender of the participants. This is a slight revision of the original law that stipulated up to five years' imprisonment for male homosexuality.
Since 2004, Article 296 of the current Penal Code (Law 11/2004) stipulates imprisonment between one and three years for sodomy between men. 2 Recognition of same-sex relationships.In November 2008 British performer George Michael performed at a successful concert in Qatar, making him the first openly gay musician to perform in Qatar. The Qatari government does not recognize same-sex marriage or civil partnerships, nor does it allow people in Qatar to campaign for LGBT rights. There is also prevailing cultural mores which view homosexuality and cross-dressing negatively. Male homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, with a punishment of up to three years in prison and a fine and the possibility of death penalty for Muslims under sharia law however, there are no known cases that the death penalty was enforced for homosexuality. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ( LGBT) persons in Qatar face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. The death penalty is applicable only to Muslims, for extramarital sex regardless of the gender of the participants (no known cases that the death penalty was enforced for homosexuality).