Interesting report from Jeddah on the emergence of gay culture in Saudi Arabia, which incidentally mentions a subgroup within the community, Filipino foreign workers: “Queer Sheik.” By the way, I suppose The New Republic thought themselves clever in using a homophone (har har, homophone) for “chic,” but at first I thought the article was actually going to be about an openly gay sheik. Anyway. (Link via Arts & Letters Daily.)
In recent months… Jeddah’s malls have become meeting places for another group: homosexuals. Gay Saudi men now cruise certain malls and supermarkets, openly making passes at each other, and one street in Jeddah is said to have the most traffic accidents in the city because it is the most popular place for Saudi drivers to pick up gay Filipinos, who strut their stuff on the sidewalk in tight jeans and cut-off t-shirts. (Filipinos are one of the larger groups of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia.) Meanwhile, gay and lesbian discos, gay-friendly coffee shops, and even gay-oriented Internet chat rooms are now flourishing in some Saudi cities; in the chat rooms, gay and lesbian Saudis discuss the best places to meet people for one-night stands. “We talk about places that aren’t gay cruising areas, because they’re now in the minority,” says one young gay Saudi, only half-jokingly.