An estimated 1.2 million football fans are going to Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
But will openly LGBTQ+ people, whose existence is illegal in the tiny Gulf nation, be among them?
Activists and travel experts doubt it.
What LGBTQ+ people should know about Qatar
The British government’s Foreign Office gets straight to the point.
‘Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar,’ its World Cup travel advice says, ‘private life in Qatar is largely respected but any intimacy between persons in public can be considered offensive, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or intent.’
In its general advice, the Foreign Office says people should be mindful that while the country is making some allowances for World Cup visitors, Qatar is a conservative country and they should be aware of its laws and customs.
So what laws and customs should LGBTQ+ people know about? According to the ILGA, an international LGBTQ+ rights group, there are a fair few.
For a start, same-sex sexual activity is illegal under the penal code, with article 285 slapping a jail sentence of up to seven years for ‘sodomy’ and ‘sexual intercourse’.
While Qatar has denied it has ever happened, under Sharia law, it is technically possible for gay, bisexual and pansexual Muslim men to be sentenced to death.
ILGA Asia says it’s unlikely that the death penalty will be handed to World Cup fans visiting, but safety isn’t a guarantee.
There are next to no gender recognition laws in Qatar either. Trans Qataris can’t change their legal gender or gender markers on their identity documents.
There have also been numerous cases of LGBTQ+ Qataris being arbitrarily arrested, Human Rights Watch says.
Qatari border officials can legally bar LGBTQ+ from entering the nation as well as deport them, ILGA adds. There are no hate crime protections either and LGBTQ+ protests are prohibited.
What has Qatar or FIFA said about LGBTQ+ people going?
A senior Qatari security official, Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Ansari, said rainbow flags might be confiscated to ‘protect’ fans.
Though he insisted LGBTQ+ people ‘would be welcome at the World Cup hosted in Qatar’.
FIFA has played a similar tune. The international governing body says it’s ‘confident that all necessary measures will be in place for LGBTIQ+ fans and allies to enjoy the tournament in a welcoming and safe environment, just as for everyone else’.
Earlier today, though, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino tried to blunt years-long concerns about the World Cup in Qatar by saying Western fans shouldn’t judge.