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The Guardian - Life & Style • Feb. 4, 2026, 2:15 p.m.
The place that stayed with me: I was cautious in showing my queerness, until a night spent dancing at a Tokyo gay bar
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Despite hearing many words of warning about expressing public affection, travelling in Japan with my boyfriend helped me loosen up More summer essentials The first time I saw gay people on TV, it was during an ABC news package about Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. My Egyptian parents were chomping through a bag of dried pumpkin seeds when the assault on our eyeballs took place.
Muscle bears in backless chaps, shirtless lifesavers in tiny budgie smugglers, chunky women with buzzcuts and saucer-plate nipples revving their Harley-Davidsons down the strip. It was too much for my father, who announced: “ Atstaghfurallah : they should not show such things.” Mum just sucked her teeth in dismay.
But the sight of all the handsome, gleaming men sent a hot flush of excitement up my 12-year-old cheeks.
Muscle bears in backless chaps, shirtless lifesavers in tiny budgie smugglers, chunky women with buzzcuts and saucer-plate nipples revving their Harley-Davidsons down the strip. It was too much for my father, who announced: “ Atstaghfurallah : they should not show such things.” Mum just sucked her teeth in dismay.
But the sight of all the handsome, gleaming men sent a hot flush of excitement up my 12-year-old cheeks.
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