Egypt does not rank as a LGBT+ friendly destination. However, a recent investigation by BBC News has revealed the shocking extent of the police's hunt for LGBT+ individual through dating apps like Grindr.

Although there is no explicit law against homosexuality in Egypt, the BBC investigation has found that the crime of "debauchery" - a sex work law - is being used to criminalise the LGBT community. 

Transcripts submitted in police arrest reports show how officers are posing online to seek out - and in some cases allegedly fabricate evidence against - LGBT people looking for dates online. They reveal how the police initiate text conversations with their targets, then pressure the app user to meet up in person - at which point they proceed to arrest that person and use the conversation as proof of guilty conduct.

As in many other countries, this shocking practice is almost never utilised against foreign tourists travelling to the destination, for whom the police is quite happy to turn a blind eye for economic reasons, but rather the local LGBT+ population. 

However, there are exceptions and it's worth recommending extreme caution if/when travelling to Egypt. According to the BBC report in one transcript the police describe approaching a foreigner on the popular gay dating app Grindr. A police informant then engaged the subject in conversation, and - the transcript says - the foreign national "admitted his perversion, his willingness to engage in debauchery for free, and sent pictures of himself and his body". The subject in question then told the BBC that he was subsequently arrested, charged with "debauchery", and eventually deported from the country.

Egypt recorded a total of 13 million tourists in 2019, ranking 19th in the world in absolute terms. This corresponds to 1.2 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product and approximately 47 percent of all international tourism receipts in Northern Africa.

The full article can be accessed here.