LGBT+ fans at the World Cup will find some are more welcome than others in Qatar

‘Everybody is welcome in Doha,’ the Emir of Qatar said this summer, ‘but we expect and we want people to respect our culture.’ Hassan Al-Thawadi echoed his leader last week: ‘Everyone is welcome.’

He is in charge of the Supreme Committee, the body responsible for fulfilling the host nation’s responsibilities for the World Cup. He should know, right?

Fifa president Gianni Infantino repeated the sentiment when marking a month to go. He got a little more specific than his Qatari colleagues: ‘Everyone will be welcomed to the tournament regardless of origin, background, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or nationality.’

I mean, it’s a bloody World Cup. The biggest sporting event on the planet. How could that be in doubt?

Well, a number of people don’t feel very welcome.

Sex outside marriage is prohibited for Muslims in Qatar, as is the case across most of the Arabic-speaking Middle East. Specific penalties of up to seven years’ imprisonment are in place for anyone having intimate same-sex relations, Qatari, Muslim, or not.

The version of Sharia law in place in Qatar also criminalises sex between men, which in theory could be punishable by the death penalty, though there is no evidence of this ever having been applied.

When I lived in Qatar, I knew gay people from all over the world who had chosen to live and work there, some of whom had married people of the opposite sex.

I also had a number of British friends who chose not to visit as a result of Qatar’s attitude towards homosexuality. With so many other places in the world LGBTQ+ people can spend their money, my pals reasoned, why bother trying their luck in Gay Doha.

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