'I Want People to Know Who I AM' Dr. Nas, Comes Out in Anti Gay Qatar

Dr.Nas Mohamed 

 

David Harding

Independent

The moment Nas Mohamed knew for sure he was gay, he panicked.

“I walked into a gay club and I knew I was 100 percent gay,” he tells The Independent. “I went home and cried – I thought my life is in crisis. I thought I was going to go to hell, my life is damned.

“That was the main thing. And then I thought about the risk of anyone finding out. I genuinely feared I would be killed if anyone knew.” 

Nas, 35 this month, is Qatari.

Homosexuality in the Gulf state is illegal. Same-sex relationships are outlawed and carry a punishment of several years in jail. Qatar is one of almost 70 countries identified by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association which criminalizes consensual same-sex activity. 

Which countries around the world criminalize homosexuality?

 

Gay Qataris live in the shadows in constant fear of their becoming secret public, being detected, entrapped, or harassed by police and security services. If exposed as LGBT+, they face social shaming, permanent ostracisation from friends and family, severe risks to their mental health, the threat of violence, or worse.

Despite all this, Nas has decided to come out in the media, possibly the first Qatari to declare himself as gay to the public and not just a few trusted friends.

Qatar (AFP via Getty Images)

 

“I do not wish to be anonymous,” he says over the phone from San Francisco, where he now lives, and works as a physician. He is seeking asylum because he says he does not feel safe returning to the Gulf.

It is entirely his decision to come out and is something he had considered for some time before taking the plunge.

Nas understands the personal cost that will almost certainly result from going public. Any chance of reconnecting with his estranged family will be lost; his family could be publicly shamed, he claims, but likely to distance themselves from him even further. Any chance of returning home to Qatar ever again is unlikely.

Doctor becomes 'first' Qatari to publicly come out as gay

But he insists he made the right decision.

“I already lost everything – my citizenship, my family, and my financial security in Qatar. For us to change things for LGBT+ Qataris, we need more people to come out.

“Referring to us by anonymous names without faces enforces the view that we are doing something wrong that we need to be ashamed of.

“I would like to share my views with my name, as a physician and as a Qatari citizen that still has parents and siblings in the country. They need to know I am one of their own and am not a ‘western agenda’ as they refer to us,” he says defiantly.

 

A worker is pictured at the Lusail Stadium in Doha, Qatar

(AFP via Getty Images)

 

Among the many charges leveled at LGBT+ Qataris is one which claims they are “pawns” of the west, trying to force “abhorrent” views on an established religious, conservative culture. This is strongly denied, not only by Nas but other gay Qataris who argue they merely want to seek acceptance from their own country.

The issue of homosexuality in the Gulf has long been in the spotlight but has been pushed center stage by the fact that Qatar will host football’s World Cup, arguably the biggest sporting event in the world, starting in six months’ time.

Qatar has come under exceptional criticism, especially for its human rights treatment of migrant workers. And in recent months, there has been an examination of the country’s law on homosexuality and the treatment of its LGBT+ community. Doha has attempted to counter accusations by claiming it is a relatively progressive country in the region.

 

Mikel Arteta not giving up on Arsenal beating Tottenham to top-four finish stay murders: A man is on death row for the brutal killings of a young family found in shallow graves in the desert – but did he really do it?F1 practice today: What time is Spanish Grand Prix and how can I watch?F1 LIVE: Spanish Grand Prix practice times and latest updates as Hamilton and Mercedes show improvement

Inside the recaptured village still under attack from Russian forces

Inside the recaptured Ukrainian village still under attack from retreating Russian forces

Tournament organizers in the Gulf have reassured that the country will welcome all the expected 1.5 million visiting football fans during November, regardless of their sexuality, but have failed to satisfy critics abroad and – crucially – left LGBT+ Qataris furious that others could be accommodated for a month before normal restrictions return after the footballing circus moves on.

It is clear that the issue will provide a friction point up to and throughout the tournament. Protests and gestures are likely from fans and players when the World Cup kicks off.

But for Nas and those like him in Qatar and the wider Gulf, the struggle will continue for far longer than three weeks in front of the world’s TV cameras.

“There’s a lot of gay people in Qatar,” says Nas. “I didn’t realize how many people were gay in Qatar until I moved to the States. They were comfortable coming out to me.”

Nas Mohamed now lives in the US and says he would fear going back to Qatar

(Nas Mohamed)

He adds: “But I haven’t met anyone who is publicly out as a gay person in Qatar.”

Rights campaigner Peter Tatchell calls Nas’s decision to go public “groundbreaking”.

“As far as I know, Nas is the first gay Qatari to identify himself publicly and give a media interview. He is shining a light on the homophobia of the Qatar regime, showing why Fifa should have never given the country the right to host the World Cup,” he says.

“The oppression Nas identifies is the common experience of LGBT+ people living in most Arab and Muslim nations.”

‘I could not conform’

Nas says he grew up “extremely religiously”.

“I memorized the Quran by heart, I was very devout and was very academic.”

It wasn’t until his early teenage years that he started getting “boy crushes”, but this left him confused rather than certain of his sexuality.

“I didn’t have the internet; there were no gay public figures. I was really confused – I didn’t know what was going on.”

This confusion is not something unique to LGBT+ people in Qatar, but the repressive nature of the country is something more particular.

Nas says he could not confide in anyone, nor date. He speaks of gay conversion therapy centers operating in the country, and growing up where a “male, macho, righteous and misogynistic culture” is “celebrated”. It was only on a trip as a medical student to Las Vegas, of all places, in his early twenties and the visit to a gay club that he was certain about his sexuality.

He eventually told his parents, who initially feared, Nas says, he was going to tell them he planned to marry a non–Qatari.

<p>Men and women wearing traditional Qatari clothing walk along the Corniche in Doha</p>

Men and women wearing traditional Qatari clothing walk along the Corniche in Doha

(Getty Images)

“I told them I was gay and that I could not conform to the way other people live in Qatar. They were very upset. Their initial reaction was to try and find treatment for me,” he says.

Nas left for the US in 2011, initially to do residency training, but has worked there since and returned only once to Qatar – in 2014 for a weekend – and says he did not feel safe.

 

By coming out now, Nas hopes, he says, to “bring visibility” and end the “cycle of denial”, not only for LGBT+ Qataris but all those living in the country.

“It’s time to give us rights, we need to be acknowledged and be honest about how we are treated. I don’t think anyone can make a difference except Qataris,” he says.