Guest Privileges by Gaar Adams
Weaving memoir with unprecedented reportage, Guest Privileges is a decade-long journey of discovery through the clandestine queer communities of the Gulf States, and into the very nature of home and belonging
When journalist Gaar Adams first arrives in the Gulf States—where four out of five residents are non-citizens, and where the penalties for queer acts include deportation, imprisonment, torture, and death—he approaches the LGBTQ+ immigrants who choose to live there with one seemingly simple question: Isn't it harder for you to make a life here?
From the UAE to Bahrain and Oman to Saudi Arabia, Adams finds himself drawn to liminal spaces. The Bengali barbershops with men laughing over Bollywood movies. The street acrobats doing parkour along the Corniche promenade, which becomes a cruising ground for solo men after midnight. To his surprise, Adams finds queer communities all across the Gulf States—clandestine, resilient, and forever welcoming.
From the uproarious Filipino salon workers throwing secret drag parties, to a courageous Pakistani farmhand helping his compatriots smuggle themselves across borders, a kaleidoscope of unforgettable characters challenges his assumptions on finding a place in the world—for others, and for himself.
Publication Date: September 16, 2025
Hardback: 302 pages
ISBN: 9781938603303
Weaving memoir with unprecedented reportage, Guest Privileges is a decade-long journey of discovery through the clandestine queer communities of the Gulf States, and into the very nature of home and belonging
When journalist Gaar Adams first arrives in the Gulf States—where four out of five residents are non-citizens, and where the penalties for queer acts include deportation, imprisonment, torture, and death—he approaches the LGBTQ+ immigrants who choose to live there with one seemingly simple question: Isn't it harder for you to make a life here?
From the UAE to Bahrain and Oman to Saudi Arabia, Adams finds himself drawn to liminal spaces. The Bengali barbershops with men laughing over Bollywood movies. The street acrobats doing parkour along the Corniche promenade, which becomes a cruising ground for solo men after midnight. To his surprise, Adams finds queer communities all across the Gulf States—clandestine, resilient, and forever welcoming.
From the uproarious Filipino salon workers throwing secret drag parties, to a courageous Pakistani farmhand helping his compatriots smuggle themselves across borders, a kaleidoscope of unforgettable characters challenges his assumptions on finding a place in the world—for others, and for himself.
Publication Date: September 16, 2025
Hardback: 302 pages
ISBN: 9781938603303
Weaving memoir with unprecedented reportage, Guest Privileges is a decade-long journey of discovery through the clandestine queer communities of the Gulf States, and into the very nature of home and belonging
When journalist Gaar Adams first arrives in the Gulf States—where four out of five residents are non-citizens, and where the penalties for queer acts include deportation, imprisonment, torture, and death—he approaches the LGBTQ+ immigrants who choose to live there with one seemingly simple question: Isn't it harder for you to make a life here?
From the UAE to Bahrain and Oman to Saudi Arabia, Adams finds himself drawn to liminal spaces. The Bengali barbershops with men laughing over Bollywood movies. The street acrobats doing parkour along the Corniche promenade, which becomes a cruising ground for solo men after midnight. To his surprise, Adams finds queer communities all across the Gulf States—clandestine, resilient, and forever welcoming.
From the uproarious Filipino salon workers throwing secret drag parties, to a courageous Pakistani farmhand helping his compatriots smuggle themselves across borders, a kaleidoscope of unforgettable characters challenges his assumptions on finding a place in the world—for others, and for himself.
Publication Date: September 16, 2025
Hardback: 302 pages
ISBN: 9781938603303
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR GUEST PRIVILEGES
“Beautifully written, meticulously researched, and deeply felt, Guest Privileges is an exhilarating journey through unfamiliar terrain. It is a story of queerness in the context of the Middle East, but it will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has yearned to feel at home.”
- Susan Orlean, author of THE ORCHID THIEF
“An eye-opening tour de force account skillfully examining how queer people not only build community under threats of imprisonment and death, they live and celebrate and love. An important and necessary contribution to queer literature and an essential one.”
- Alex Espinoza, author of CRUISING
“A tender and insightful book that weaves memoir into a chronicle of queer lives in the Gulf States. Gaar’s writing recognises that the West doesn’t get to dictate what queerness looks like, and illustrates with nuance how queer migrant communities in the Gulf States subvert expectations of what it means to find your home elsewhere.”
- Mohamed Tonsey, author of YOU MUST BELIEVE IN SPRING
“A charming exploration of queer life in the Gulf, filled with years of research, intimate interviews, and personal reflection. Guest Privileges is clear, thoughtful, tender writing about the multi dimensions of places and people. I was captivated and carried.”
- Adam Zmith, author of DEEP SNIFF
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gaar Adams is an American writer and journalist whose work has been published by The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, NPR, Slate and VICE among others. He is a Penguin Random House WriteNow Grantee and former London Library Emerging Writer. He teaches creative writing on the Master of Arts program at the University of Hull. Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Adams received his Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Glasgow and currently lives in London, UK.
