in the glass and marble shopping malls of this cosmopolitan and

comparatively laid-back city on the red sea, young saudi arabian men are
taking advantage of the emergence of an increasingly tolerated
western-oriented gay scene.
certain malls are known as cruising areas, and there are even gay-friendly
coffee shops. a big gay disco takes place at a private villa in the north
of the city once a week. and young saudis who frequent these venues, many
returnees from the united states after the 11 september 2001 attacks, say
that they get to know one another through the internet.
the paradox of saudi arabia is that while the executioner�s sword awaits
anyone convicted of the crime of sodomy, in practice homosexuality is
tolerated.
�i don�t feel oppressed at all,� said one, a 23-year-old who was meeting
in one of the coffee shops with a group of self-identified �gay� saudi
friends dressed in western clothes and speaking fluent english. �i heard
that after 11 september, a saudi student who was going to be deported on a
visa technicality applied for political asylum because he was gay,� he
added, provoking laughter from the others. �what was he thinking of? we
have more freedom here than straight couples. after all, they can�t kiss
in public like we can, or stroll down the street holding one another�s
hand.�
saudi arabia�s domestic reform initiative, combined with the kingdom�s
eagerness to shed an international reputation for fostering extremism and
intolerance, may even have some benefits for this strict islamic society�s
gay community. shortly after the attacks on america�most of the
suicide-hijackers were saudi nationals�a saudi diplomat in washington
denied that the kingdom beheads homosexuals, while openly admitting that
�sodomy� is practised by consenting males in saudi arabia �on a daily
basis�. even the head of the notorious religious police has since
acknowledged the existence of a local gay population.
the treatment of gay men here received international attention when an
interior ministry statement reported in january 2002 that three men in the
southern city of abha had been �beheaded for homosexuality�. the report
provoked widespread condemnation from gay and human-rights groups in the
west�and a swift denial from an official at the saudi embassy in
washington, dc. tariq allegany, an embassy spokesman, said the three were
beheaded for the sexual abuse of boys. he said: �i would guess there�s
sodomy going on daily in saudi arabia, but we don�t have executions for it
all the time.�
a riyadh-based western diplomat, aware of the details of the case,
confirmed the men were beheaded for �rape�. �the three men seduced a
number of very young boys and videoed themselves raping them. then they
used the recordings, and the fear the boys had of being exposed, to get
the youngsters to recruit their friends,� he said. while homosexuality is
illegal in saudi arabia, doubt surrounds specific punishment for it. some
gay foreigners were deported in the 1990s, �but no saudi has ever been
prosecuted for �being a homosexual�. the concept just doesn�t exist here,�
the western diplomat said. since the uproar over the beheadings, the
kingdom�s internet services unit, responsible for blocking sites deemed
�unislamic� or politically sensitive, unblocked access to its home page
for gay saudi surfers after being bombarded with critical e-mails from the
us.
as getenio, manager of gaymiddleeast.com, said saudi arabia seemed
concerned about the bad publicity blocking the site would bring, �at the
time it was involved in a multi-million dollar advertising campaign in the
us to improve its image�.
ibrahim bin abdullah bin ghaith, the head of the religious police (the
committee for the prevention of vice and the promotion of virtue)
acknowledged, in unusually tempered language, that there are gay saudis,
while also speaking of the need �to educate the young� about this �vice�.
but he denied media reports that gay and lesbian relationships were the
norm in the strictly segregated schools and colleges, that homosexuality
�is spreading�.
in an unprecedented two-page special investigation, the daily newspaper
okaz said lesbianism was �endemic� among schoolgirls. it justified the
article with a saying of the prophet�s wife ayeshathat �there should be no
shyness in religion�. the article told of lesbian sex in school
lavatories, girls stigmatised after refusing the advances of their fellow
students, and teachers complaining that none of the girls were willing to
change their behaviour.
mr ghaith dismissed a suggestion that he should send his �enforcers� to
investigate. armed with sticks, they routinely hunt down men and women in
public they suspect may not be directly related. �this perversion is found
in all countries,� he toldokaz. �the number [of homosexuals] here is small
...� that assessment is contradicted by teachers and students who say
that, in the absence of other outlets, a �gay� subculture has inevitably
flourished among youth.
�a particularly beautiful boy always gets top marks in the exams because
he�s some teacher�s favourite,� said mohammed, an english teacher in a
government high school in riyadh. �on the other hand, i know many older
boys who deliberately flunked their final exams so they can stay ... with
their younger sweethearts.�
ahmed, 19, a student at a private college in jeddah, said there was no
shame in having a boyfriend in his private high school. although he firmly
rejected the label �gay�, he admitted that he now has a �special friend�
in college, too. �it�s those who don�t have a boy who are ashamed to admit
it. we introduce our boy to our friends as �al walid hagi� [the boy who
belongs to me]. at the beginning of term, we always check out the new boys
to see which are the most �helu� [sweet] and think of ways to get to know
them.�
the independent, february 20, 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=493196
by john r bradley in jeddah