Links
for Gay Syria
If you find a bad or better link
please contact me
Legal
and Political Info
International
Gay and
Lesbian
Human Rights
Commission
International
Lesbian and
Gay
Association
Amnesty
Intnl
Syria
Info
Embassy
of Syria-USA/
Library
of Congress-Syria
Lonely
Planet-Syria
Syria.Net
Syria
Tourism
Cafe
Syria Info
LGBT
Info Exhange
Lonely
Plant Thorn Tree
Guidebooks
Lonely
Planet Guide to Syria
Spartacus
Gay Guide
Gay
Guides on the Net
Damron
Guides
Gay
Syria
Gay
Middle East Site
Syria
Same Sex Society
Damascus
Bar Association site
'This
is Syria'
web site (story of persecution of gays)
Gay.com
Syria
Books
Cleopatra's
Wedding Present:
Travels
through Syria (Gay and Lesbian)
Travels
Thru Syria (Gay author, not gay story)
GayMuslims
Virtual
Refuge
Al
Fatiha Intnl LGB Org
LGBT
Arab Site
GLAS
Society
Gay
Egypt.com
Gay
Arab.org
Queer
Jihad
Sehakia
Arab Women
Gay
Islam Reports 1998-2002
Gay
Islam Reports 2003-05
Gay
Islam Reports 2006-07
Gay
Muslim Magazine
Huriyah
Magazine
NewsPapers
Syria
Times
Syria Daily
HIV/Health
Aegis -Syria
Other LGBT Travel Links
Lesbigay Travel Info/ News
Rex Wochner Lesbigay News
Gay Reading (webzine)
365Gay.com (webzine)
Gay.com/Planet Out.com News
Gay Today.com
Gay Wired (news/scene/trave/)
Advocate Magazine
Gay and Lesbian Review
Our World Magazine
Out and About Travel Letter (USA)
Out Traveler Magazine
QT Travel Magazine
Gay Travel News
Gay Travel Site
Venturing Out Travel Stories
Passport Magazine
The Grey Gay Guide
Gay Places
Gay Travel Plus
BootsnAll Resources
Queery.com
Fridae.com
Lesbian.com
LGBT Travel Writers
Jan Morris (The Grande Dame)
Jan Morris (BBC Bio)
Martinforeman.com
Peter Tatchell (Activist & Writer)
Bruce Chatwin
Sasha Alyson
LGBT Travel Books (Essays/Stories)
Wonderlands
Lesbian Travels
Gay Travels
Travelers' Journals (mixed)
TravelPod.com
(New LGBT Forum)
Worldsurface.com
Lonely Planet Thorn Tree
Lesbigay Travel Tours
Intnl. G/L Travel Association
Bluway Gay Travel
David Tours
Hans Ebensten Deluxe Tours
RSVP Vacations
Damron Guides and Travel
Gay Travel Plus
Gay.com/Planet Out Travel
Utopia Tours (Asia)
Alyson Adventures
Friends Travel
Gay Away
Venture Out
bGay Travel
Orbitz G/L Travel
Now Voyager
Innovative Gay Travel
Above and Beyond Tours
Pride Holidays
Gay Jet
Purple Roofs Travel
Gay Crawler
Hermes Tours
Gay Family Vacations (with kids)
Olivia Cruises & Resorts
R Family Vacations
Camp Lavender Hill
Camp It Up
Rainbow Family Camp
Worldwide Gay Life,
Sites and Insights Gay Syria A guest writer, a native Syrian man, tells his secret of self-discovery in a very secretive culture. He then proposes three reasons why Syria has little understanding about homosexuality. This is followed by a very different narrative by a gay American visitor about his steamy experience in a bathouse in Damascus. Also see:
March
12, 2004 ================================================ A Personal View of 'Gay Damascus'--Hot Hammams (bathhouses) Winter 2003-04 By a gay American Visitor Damascus itself is really great. Much of it reminds one of a fading, post-communist city such as Budapest, with hideous socialist architecture standing side-by-side with graceful Art Deco buildings from the 20s or 30s that are quaint in their dusty elegance. The fact that you're in a near-totalitarian state is ever apparent: pictures of Bashir Assad (current president) and his father look down from every government building and are displayed in almost every shop, restaurant, and office. And there is internet access, but, frustratingly, access to the mail portions of MSN, Yahoo, etc., is blocked, as are, of course, almost any sex sites. (I was fortunate to have checked www.cruisingforsex.com before leaving Kabul. GST = SADDIE!!!) Also, there has been very little foreign investment in the country. Our hotel,
a Meridien, was elegant in an overdone way, but the furnishings and
fixtures were dated and some parts of the hotel were simply closed
off for lack of activity. It was the type of hotel where
corrupt French politicians and officials would make shady deals with
Syrian arms merchants in the shadow of a belly-dancer's armpits.
But it was clearly the happening place in town, as many elegantly-dressed
men and women were sipping tea and coffee in the atrium lobby along
with, curiously, nice-looking young men late in the evening
who were usually sitting by themselves seemingly waiting. For whom? The hammams
in Damascus are generally clean, well-lit, and very comfortable,
as we found out earlier in the day when we went to an all-male
place that was reputedly the best in town, in the old souq. We
were not disappointed. Not only was the hygiene level very high,
but the crowd was good to look at, including college students
who happened to stop by on the way home from school. Heavy
cruising and wild action were found in the three smaller rooms
off the main hot room where people would wash themselves
and each other out of tiny basins. Two of the three smaller rooms
were dark. The fact that the third was brightly lit didn't seem
to inhibit anything. I don't know why the guys even bothered to
leave their sheets wrapped around them as they walked around, because
they quickly came off in the darkrooms. Even the behavior of the
guys was typical...there were macho guys, quiet types, and screaming
queens who came in groups and whose lilting voices bounced off
the tiles in all directions. If only I could understand
Arabic, I thought... The "kings," let's call them, always boinked the "queens," and never the other way around. Samer would be talking to me, then he would disappear and return no more than 10 minutes later, saying he had just porked another guy (and sometimes even pointing out the guy). Although there was initial hugging and kissing in the Arab way when guys first met, there didn't seem to be much affection in the actual sexual act. It was just, "wham, bam, thank you Alam." Truth
be told, by the end of the evening I didn't like Samer very much,
because in his broken English he said he rather admired Saddam and
Osama Bin Laden, who he said "changed the world." I don't
think my comparison of them with Hitler and Stalin got very far.
But to his credit, he did admit that there wasn't much freedom
of thought in Syria, and that things were probably better
in Western countries where he could "do as he pleased." He
had actually had a relationship with a British guy who worked in
Syria as -- surprise--an English teacher for the British Council.
But the Brit had already gone home and there wasn't really the possibility
of e-mailing. I wonder if the Brit had ever tired of being buggered
constantly without any reciprocation? |