Gay Pakistan: Where sex is available and relationships are difficult

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Gay Pakistan: Where sex is available and relationships are difficult

 

Pakistan is not the kind of place that most people would associate with gay liberation. But some say the country is a great place to be gay - even describing the port city of Karachi as "a gay man's paradise".

 

Underground parties, group sex at shrines and "marriages of convenience" to members of the opposite sex are just some of the surprises that gay Pakistan has to offer. Under its veneer of strict social conformity, the country is bustling with same-sex activity.

 

Danyaal, as he's asked to be known, is a 50-something businessman who lives in an affluent part of Karachi, and uses his smartphone to organise Karachi's gay party scene.

 

"One of the first things I did online, maybe 12 years ago, was type in G - A - Y and hit search. Back then I found a group and made contact with 12 people in this city," he says.

 

"These days there are smartphone apps that use GPS to tell you how close you are to another gay person with an online profile. There are thousands of gay men online in Pakistan at any one time."

 

The party scene is big - so big, he jokes, that he rarely gets time to himself.

 

"If you want sex too, it's a gay man's paradise. If you want a relationship, that may be more difficult."

 

These invitation-only parties are a rare opportunity for gay men to be open about their sexuality.

 

Pakistani is fiercely patriarchal. Pakistanis are expected to marry a member of the opposite sex, and the vast majority do.

 

The result is a culture of dishonesty and double lives, says researcher Qasim Iqbal.

 

"Gay men will make every effort to stop any investment in a same-sex relationship because they know that one day they will have to get married to a woman," he says.

 

"After getting married they will treat their wives well but they will continue to have sex with other men."

 

Source and full article: BBC News

 

I'd love to read what the Pakistani members of the Neowin community think of this article.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Thought this was a spam ad going by the title :p

[Xahid]

haha, I think the report is ######,

1st thing Most of the people don't use Smart Phone here,

& whoever have smart phone, they don't actually use smart phone as smart phone, (only for voice & sms), because Internet is not cheap & we still don't have 3G.

anyways, the report is biased.

Gay is a course word here, I don't know about the law but it's not a acceptable thing here.

[+Zlip792 MVC]

From social point of view, gay thingy is not looked as something great but with saddened thingy,

This article nothing but crap and mind illustration of an author. I personally suggest him that being gay for him might not be the society melodrama but don't make and present to other in totally different meaning what you are and your priorities.

 

There are more interesting stories in Pakistan than these nowadays.

[WAQT]

Being from Karachi, and having the privilege to live in a good locality (means I get to know more things like this), I'd say the Gay scene here is rolling.

 

A few months ago we had our first gay wedding (there may have been many previously), but this was the biggest underground gay wedding with an invitation list reaching thousands, the attendees were artists, musicians, politicians, high profile businessmen, and many known celebrities.

 

There are at-least 3 gay groups that I know of, each having about 500~1000 members, and they meet actively.

 

PS: I am NOT gay.

[V9s]

There are men who engage in homo activities. In fact, a particular ethnicity in Pakistan is generalized to engage in such acts :D

 

They're just made fun of. No one takes a gay man seriously, nor are they accepted much.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

Homosexuality has an interesting twist in the Muslim world. Since the women there are forbidden from engaging in premarital sex, but the men still want some, but cannot get any, some of them turn to homosexual acts as a result.

[Growled Member]

Before long the Muslim conservatives will put an end to this.