Gay Travels in the Muslim World

Travel beyond the fear and paranoia of 9-11 to experience Muslim culture

Gay Travels in the Muslim World journeys where other gay travel books fear to treadMuslim countries. This thought-provoking book tells both Muslim and non-Muslim gay men's stories of traveling in the Middle East during these difficult political times. The true, very personal tales reveal how gay men celebrate their lives and meetings with local men, including a gay soldier's story of his tour of duty in Iraq. Insightful and at times sexy, this intelligent book goes beyond 9-11 and the present political and cultural divides to illustrate the real experiences of gay men in trouble zonesin an effort to seek peace for all.

After the collapse of the Twin Towers, fears about terrorism and Muslim culture went hand in hand. Gay Travels in the Muslim World enters the current war zones to bring real and very personal stories of gay men who live and travel in these dangerous areas. This book challenges readers' preconceptions and assumptions about both homosexuality and being Muslim, while showing the wide range of experiencesgood and badabout the regions as well as the differences in attitudes and beliefs.

Excerpts from Gay Travels in the Muslim World:

From I Want Your Eyes by David Stevens
Men by themselves are rare. I pass a handsome Omani man sitting on the Corniche wall with a cigarette between his long brown fingers. He wears his colourful cuma cap at a jaunty angle and his mustard-coloured dishdasha has risen up to reveal tantalizingly hairy calves. I note the carefully made holes in his earsnot in his ear lobes but deep inside the cartilagesa pre-Islamic custom still practiced on some male babies to ward off evil spirits. I decide it suits him.

From It All Began with Mamadou by Jay Davidson
Drawing definitive conclusions about a society after living here for a little more than a year is not a wise, safe, or responsible action on my part. If a society's culture is a mosaic of thousands of little tiles, then I like to think that what I have been able to piece together has been a tableau in which certain aspects have become discernable, some are a little...read more...