Nasser Al Khater, the CEO of the organization committee for this year's Public Cup in Qatar, has reassured the world that "Nobody feels threatened [there], nobody feels unsafe."
Try explaining that to the six LGBTQ individuals who were interviewed for a recent Human Rights Watch report.
As the country of Qatar prepared to host the 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup in November, and even as the government came under intense scrutiny for its treatment of LGBT people,
LGBT people interviewed said that their mistreatment occurred as recently as September 2022, according to the research and advocacy organization's report published on Monday.
Qatar has positioned itself on the international scene as a welcoming location for all players and supporters despite its long history of hostility toward LGBTQ people.
The interviews in the report, in sharp contrast, present a devastating portrait of how the nation genuinely views queer people.