FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar puts the country’s discrimination against the LGBTQ community under the spotlight.

A group of Arab friends living in Qatar's capital Doha met up over cocktails and snacks last week, exchanging opinions as they flicked through profiles of gay men on dating-apps Tinder and Grindr. 

The phone of one flashed with a message from a suitor around the corner. The man in his 20s leapt up from the table, leaving to meet his date face-to-face.

The friends, who met up days before the soccer World Cup kicks off in Qatar on Sunday, are part of a Doha gay scene that is managing to fly under the radar in a nation where same-sex relations are illegal and punishable by up to three years of jail time. 

"We socialize together. We go out for dinner. We go to parties. We go to the beach," said another gay man, from the West, who has lived in the wealthy country for over a decade. "We don't make-out with our boyfriends in public or wave rainbow flags, but we certainly don't lower our voices."

Reuters spoke to four gay men in Doha -- the Westerner, two Qataris plus an Arab from elsewhere in the region -- who said they lived in the country, a magnet for foreign workers, because they had well-paid jobs, plus friends or family there.

All four spoke on condition of anonymity due to concern over possible punishment from authorities. But they said they could live out their lives to some extent, meeting potential partners at private parties or via dating apps typically blocked in Qatar, which they accessed via a VPN.

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