A gay couple I know frequently enjoy visiting Dubai. I think so long as you keep the PDA in your hotel rooms you are fine.

Imagine for a moment that in the UAE it's illegal to not keep your right hand on your left shoulder - sure you can make it work and conform, but you're compromising a lot of your natural behavior to fit in for no good reason. That cost might be worth it to some people but it's definitely a cost and it's an unreasonable one.

You'll need to be conscious of how you walk with your partner, you'll need to carefully consider how it'll look if you go out for a fancy dinner together and invent a cover story to cloak your actions, you'll probably be charged a gay-tax by being forced to rent separate hotel rooms or at least a room with double beds in it.

I find the description of "just keep it in your pants" to be offensively reductive.

The article is about someone who was arrested for social media posts made years before arriving in the country. "Keeping it in your pants for the week or two while you are there" does not cut it.