Now 35 years old, “I remember being 11 or 12 years old and I was thinking about it, but I didn’t really know what it meant to be gay,” he tells BBC Hispanic BBC News Mundo in an interview. -language news service.
“I didn’t have access to anything. There was no internet, no gay community in my city, and I wasn’t exposed to anything. I didn’t know what was happening to me.”
Initially, she decided to ignore and suppress thoughts about her sex and sexual orientation.
He preferred to focus on medical school studies and religion; He was an “extremely religious” person who knew the Qur’an by heart.
So he spent his adolescence and early adulthood – during which time he simply had to ignore advice that he should get a mate.
“Many of us are forced to marry at a very young age, sometimes before our 20s. The hardest thing for me was trying to resist the pressure around me to get married,” she says.
“I had to give them a good reason for not wanting to get married so they wouldn’t be suspicious.”
The 22-year-old confirmed that he is “absolutely” gay during a trip to Las Vegas. She felt truly free for the first time in an LGBT+ nightclub.
“I realized I had no inclination or desire to have straight sex. I was in shock. So I started reading and learning more about myself and what it means to be gay,” he says.
After returning to Qatar, however, he had to completely suppress the sexual desire that aroused in him.
“I lived in constant fear. I thought they would kill me if they knew I was gay and made it public. Honor killings in Qatar are very tribal. Some families do it, some don’t, and the government tries not to interfere.”
After graduating in 2011, at the age of 24, Nas made the decision to “temporarily” move to the United States, residing for three years, to complete his professional training as a doctor.
It never came back.
After completing her residency at a hospital in Connecticut and a research fellowship at the State of Pennsylvania in 2015, she applied for asylum in California, saying she would face persecution in her country for her sexual orientation.
End of relationship with family
But before he applied for asylum, he called his family to explain why he would not return to Qatar.
“I confessed to them that I was gay, that I didn’t feel safe at home, that I thought I couldn’t come back. We had a big fight and talked a few more times, but it never ended well,” explains Nas.
Image: Personal archive/Nas Mohamed
Unfortunately, she says her relationship with her family ended in that first phone call.
“Out of tradition and shame, I imagine they’re making up a story for the rest of the family. I don’t know what they told them, but I think now everyone knows the real reason I broke up, thanks to my interviews.”
Nas Mohamed rose to fame this year after making his homosexuality public.
Many people gave him the title of “the first Qatari to appear” after interviews he gave to different media outlets.
Qatar 2022 World Cup
He explains that he has decided to exit precisely now because the World Cup, which will take place in Qatar at the end of this year, draws attention to this country and all the regularly reported allegations of human and minority rights abuses. Arab state.
Earlier this year, Nasser Al Khater, general manager of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, assured at a press conference that all fans will be welcome in Qatar as long as they respect the country’s traditions.
“I can assure any fan of any gender, (sexual) orientation, religion or race can rest assured that Qatar is one of the safest countries in the world and everyone is welcome here,” he said.
“Public displays of affection are not part of our culture, it’s frowned upon, and that goes for everyone.”
However, some associations, such as the European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation, complained that security guarantees for LGBTQ+ individuals in Qatar were inadequate months before the World Cup began.
Being gay in Qatar
Nas says he came out not to tell his own story, but to tell the story of all members of the LGBT+ community in Qatar.
“It’s very dangerous to come out in Qatar and I’ve been preparing for it for months.”
In her recent work as a spokesperson for the LGBT+ community in Qatar, she says she realized how big the community is in her home country.
But everyone hides their sexuality and is afraid to talk about it or admit it to someone.
According to him, this is because Qatari police have a team dedicated to “hunting” LGBT+ people, and when they find a member of the community, they pick up their phone and examine their contacts to find the others.
“I know gay people who don’t even know that other people close to them are (gay) because it’s very dangerous for an LGBT+ person to meet another person.”
Being gay is illegal in Qatar.
Under section 296 of the penal code, penalties for same-sex relationships range from 3 to 5 years in prison and even the death penalty – but there is no evidence that death sentences were applied for sexual intercourse. same sex.
Nas says censorship reigns within the Qatari gay community and nothing is transparent, but he assures that not everyone will live under the same conditions.
“There are LGBT people who live well. They are the lucky few because they are very rich, have very large families, and are accepted on the assumption that it has to be a family secret.”
But he adds that even these people live with many limitations in what they can do, and some often experience mental health problems.
“Many of us weren’t so lucky and terrible things happened to us.”
still fear for your life
Although he no longer lives in Qatar, Nas says he fears for his life. He received a string of insults and death threats after he made his homosexuality public.
“Even living here in San Francisco[California]I don’t feel safe. Because there is so much hatred and violence against us,” he adds.
Image: Personal archive/Nas Mohamed
Except for an Instagram account, which she uses as a platform for her activism, she has had to shut down nearly all of her social networks to reduce the number of hateful messages she receives every day.
But just as the hate mail arrives, he gets a thank you too.
“I am grateful to be the voice of many who cannot speak. Many people from the LGBT+ community and many allies from all walks of life in Qatar have reached out to me.”
‘My family will kill me’
The US government granted Nas asylum in 2017 after an intense court battle.
He has made San Francisco his home since 2015 and says he will never return to Qatar.
“No doubt I would have been mistreated when I got there. I think my own family would kill me for what I did. There are people on Instagram who say that if I step in, they will help me get to know God,” she says. .
He added that he could be prosecuted for “breaking the law” by the Qatari government.
Nas hopes her story will serve to inform many people about how “backward” Qatari society is in terms of the freedoms and rights of the LGBT+ community.
And he tells foreigners who will visit Qatar during the World Cup not to hide, insisting that visibility is important.
She also hopes this will help other gay and transgender Qataris have documented stories to use as evidence if they plan to seek asylum in other countries where they can live freely.
“We are a people who need help and support. What happens in Qatar affects not only Qataris but also the LGBT+ community around the world,” he says.
“Our rights need to be universally respected, treated as equals and not criminals wherever we go, but as people with rights. We need more voices.”
‘This text was originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-61894518’
source: Noticias
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