THERE ARE NO GAYS IN DUBAI... WINK... WINK...
I’ve had multiple layovers in DXB airport, I have seen the tallest building in the world Burj Kalifa and all the artificial islands from the plane (that’s how they look the best), but I’ve never had my passport stamped and actually entered the country. This time on my way to Sydney I thought I must have a long layover to explore Dubai.
All shopping malls and tall buildings are impressive and every guidebook will tell you about those. However everywhere I go I also try to see the gay nightlife. I was searching online for such and oh well - not many resources are available. The first thing you would find in your search results is the warning:
UAE is the country where same sex sexual activity is illegal and punishable by prison time, chemical castrations and deportation for foreigners.
Sounds pretty scary I must say. I changed my Grindr and other apps profile pics to the typical chest or mountain pics to be safe. After arriving as usual those apps was the first source for gathering the information - chatting to locals, asking them about the nightlife.
As in all the homophobic countries responses were the usual - all they want is hook ups and that’s basically the only way imagine the fun (people do that in Western world too, but not to such extent, they do hit the bars and clubs once in a while). I could have gotten laid every 15 minutes if I wanted to (using my mountain pic only), but that’s not why I’m here. Also some of the boys said they heard about gay clubs, but never been there, right… I was told that there are many private parties, but that’s basically orgies. Well Grindr research results were pretty disappointing.
I was glad I knew a gay boy who was working for Emirates Airlines. He was definitely my best chance. He didn’t look like a party boy to me, but I thought he must know where the magic happens.
After meeting him for a delicious dinner (local cuisine is amazing!) we ended up drinking cocktails in the roof top bar - LEVEL 43 SKY LOUNGE - while staring at the beautiful Dubai skyline. Yes - in the country where the god forbids drinking alcohol our brain was sinking deep in it. Apparently here you need a license to buy alcohol in the shop, you can’t get alcohol in the restaurants, but in the hotel bars feel free to drink as much as you want. Just a side note - alcohol here is not really cheap.
After multiple Espresso Martinis and some other adult beverages, I couldn’t stay still - I needed to dance, dance, dance. So here we started our conversation about boys’ parties. There’s just one place that throws a semi-public gay party. Obviously no rainbow flags or word - gay. Every Monday night at the club in one of the international hotels the magic happens (I’m not putting the club/hotel name here for the security reasons - feel free to contact us for it’s name). The venue gets absolutely packed. What else would you expect with 25,000 cabin crew staff at Emirates? They even have a 50% discount for drinks - drunk gay heaven in a Muslim country!! Make friends with those boys or get ready to max out your credit card - mixed drinks $15.
It was Wednesday, but the club was walking distance away and I simply had to check it out. We found it’s girls night… oh well - still, let’s try. The bouncer said I have to pay the cover as I’m not a cabin crew member, but after some small talk, we were inside without paying any cover. The room was not busy at all: a few female hookers, straight men and a dozen of gays. And yes - you could clearly see who is gay in the room.
We both were pretty tipsy at that stage, so we kept on drinking, started dancing. I did not feel like I’m in a country where I risk my life (or my genitalia) while partying. We were dancing in the way I would do that in Amsterdam or San Francisco - sexy movies, grinding, touching was not a taboo. I was told there’s just one rule - no kissing. All the foreigners were having a ton of fun. For some reason the local boys were not dancing - all they did was standing in a big circle around us and winking. That did feel weird, but we attentions sluts were ok with Arab fans and all the winking.
Definitely a fun night to remember - so much better than anyone could expect in an Islamic country that follows Sharia Law. Of course gay rights is a big issue in Dubai (other parts of UAE it’s even worse), but there are still ways to have fun in this city. I will come back soon on Monday night and will tell you more about the biggest gay night in UAE.
DUBAI GAY FRIENDLY PARTY* 🍭🍭🍭
hotness of the crowd ---------🍭🍭
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coolness of the venue --------🍭🍭🍭