What are the dangers if you respect the laws of that country? You are in danger in any country if you entry it with the intent of breaking the laws.
It's objectively wrong to punish people for being gay.
https://dohanews.co/report-qatar-fifth-highest-proportion-sl... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Qatar#Slavery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehabilitation_%28penology%29
In general I don't think punishments work. I can't imagine one goes back to being a productive, and wholesome person after 100 lashes in public. And other first world leaders seem to think the same.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment#Internatio...
Why this condescending tone and sense of moral superiority?
The problem is that then leads you to a strange place where you're ok with a government persecuting / murdering its own people because it's the law of the land.
In order to do that you'd need to know the laws of the country because ignorance of the law is not a defence. I imagine very few football fans are reading up on Quatar's legal system. So, really, trying to stay within the law is probably very hard, especially if you go there with a set of Western values.
As a simple example, Qatar has law about "public morals" where showing too much skin is considered indecent, which technically means wearing shorts or your country's football shirt is a criminal offence. Are you suggesting football fans don't wear their team's shirt out of "respect for the country's laws"?
It's very unlikely that the Qatar authorities will enforce that law, but they certainly could use it as a basis to question someone. If they then find out that person is gay, or if that person can't prove they're not gay, then you're in very murky "respect the law" water.
Maybe that's just a bad example, but without knowing exactly how much skin is tolerated, that's just a normal law pretty much everywhere.
Does your country allow public nudity on stadiums and on public streets? If not, you've got the same law in your country... without knowing the "threashold" it's hard to say the Qatar law is unusual even compared to the most liberal western democracies.
I'll counter that. I think it is a really good example. Everyone has public decency laws - but we probably don't think about looking them up. It is entirely possible many of us are currently breaking the law on that front without knowing it.
By handing the government a list of everything we have worn over the past X years, we are giving them the ability to prosecute us on all past violations.
This is what makes the app dangerous- we are handing them a list of many past activities that they can use to decide if they will prosecute us on.
That is true for any country. You better inform yourself what the laws are and what their customs are in order to not break the laws or offense the locals.
Nobody forces you to travel to that country if their laws and customs conflict with your particular set of values.
not to mention greater dangers to society
A couple might try to stay at a hotel in a room together, but because they are both men it could suddenly become a serious problem. Maybe they aren't even a couple and are two friends trying to get a cheaper room, but they get arrested and have to prove they are not gay.
A couple might want to enjoy dinner together at a restaurant, maybe that becomes a problem.
A couple might have "incriminating" pictures on their phone and be arrested.