Gigi Gorgeous has been enjoying her moment in the spotlight for some time now. As one of the most visible transgender celebrities, she’s been profiled in major media outlets, befriended by Kardashians, found success in modeling, and attracted more than 2.3 million subscribers to her YouTube channel, where she’s documented her transition from male to female and become an inspiring role model.

But this week the Canadian 24-year-old has been garnering attention for something troubling: being detained by airport authorities in Dubai, she says, simply for being transgender.

“After being detained and held at the Dubai airport for over 5 hours, this was the moment my baby came to rescue me,” Gorgeous wrote in the caption to an Instagram post, in which she is embracing her friend Nats Getty. “Yesterday was one of the scariest moments of my entire life and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. How you can be denied entry somewhere just because of who you are is seriously disgusting and also very scary. This further proves the need for CHANGE. I am now on my way to somewhere much more accepting. Safe and sound and happy. I love you guys.”

A photo posted by GIGI GORGEOUS ???????? (@gigigorgeous) on Aug 9, 2016 at 9:28pm PDT

Her post has so far been liked more than 76,000 times and has more than 4,600 comments — the majority supportive but some chastising Gorgeous for seemingly being unaware of Dubai’s laws.

A request for more details from Yahoo Beauty was not immediately answered by the model’s manager. But according to what Gorgeous told TMZ, an immigration officer said to her, “I was told you are transgender. You cannot come into the country.” She added that her passport identifies her as being female.

It’s unclear why Gorgeous would have wanted to enter Dubai — a United Arab Emirates country that’s known for its extreme anti-LGBT beliefs and laws. In 2014, two Brazilian transgender women made headlines when they were detained at a nightclub and forced to await trial after being charged with the crime of “imitating women.” And there have been countless incidents of gay men being detained — not to mention threatened with the death penalty or life imprisonment — simply for their sexuality.

Story continues

According to Muslim society expert Shaul Gabbay, executive director of the Global Research Institute Posner Center for International Development, in Denver, Muslim beliefs about homosexuality were likely at the root of Gorgeous’s detainment if she was not seen by authorities as being a woman.

“The bottom line is the suspicion of a man having relations with another man,” Gabbay tells Yahoo Beauty. “You have to remember that we’re not talking about a democracy here, so with any pretext or suspicion of anything they can basically detain a person at the airport. The overarching law [in Dubai] is Sharia law, or Muslim law, and homosexuality goes against one of the most important tenets in Islam.”

“Imitating” a woman is another issue as well, he says, “But the most important is the [possibility of] two men having a ‘deviant’ relationship.”

Gabby sees incidents like this as ways for authorities in Dubai — which has extensive commercial and growing cultural ties with Western nations, including the U.S. — to show they are doing their job well. “Something like this detention, especially with someone [with such a big social media presence], could very easily be used by authorities to say, ‘See? We are adhering to tradition here.’ It may cost some discomfort with the West, but it makes a very strong point in the Islamic world. It’s basically a low-cost opportunity for them at a time when they are walking a very fine line with the West.”

Let’s keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.