This paper examines the ways in which contemporary discourses of Euro-American travelogues on gay tourism in Beirut (2005-2010), manage unfamiliarity with regards to Beirut and non-heterosexual Lebanese men. Departing from Edward Said, I argue that even though these representations are engaged in orientalist and nativizing discourses, they do not simply rest on the dichotomization of East/West and Lebanese/Euro-American. Liminality, hybridity, and relationality, become central concepts to look at. Second, I question the means by which these travelogues invoke narratives of linear progress and modernity, whereby progress is measured in terms of the presence of “tolerant” attitudes towards homosexuality and a Western constituted “gay identity”, gay-friendly spaces and an LGBT organization. Third, I underscore the ways that these texts are actively shaping an image of the western gay tourist and the “locals.” Using an intersectional approach I present the ways in which the gay tourists and the locals are essentialized, gendered, racialized and sexualized. In my attempt to understand the different types of queer masculinities presented, I will touch upon the discourses of discovery, exploration and adventure that circulate in these travelogues that (re)present a certain notion of “gay identity” premised on, “outness,” transitional mobility physical ability and gender conformity. Finally, I will question the possibilities of using an “assemblages” framework and the limitations of intersectionality in understanding these interrelated representations of the city, tourists and locals.