Despite gains made in many parts of the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people are, in some regions, increasingly persecuted and denied basic human rights. Because bigotry thrives where we are silenced by fear, we've created this space for people to share stories of discrimination and survival. Read these stories, share them, and contribute your own. Let the world know that we will not be silent.

Canada-Vernon

Vernon/LOLA/

“My birth name is Vernon, my performer name is LOLA, my birth city is Calgary, my home is Toronto, my heritage is Filipinx, my pronouns are they/them, for now I’m non-binary, and as for tomorrow, who knows and honestly, who cares?”

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Sebastian Yue

Sebastian Yūe/

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“I am no closer to understanding what gender actually is, or what it means, but I have realised that I don’t actually need to know what it is. I know who I am and that is enough for me.”

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44 year-old, Black Jamaican, pansexual, transgender gender expansive person, Spirit McIntyre at home in New Orleans. Spirit is a musician, reiki practitioner and compassionate facilitator. Behind the scenes photography and video and assistant: Myles Golden, mylessgolden@gmail.com, Phone +1 757 751 3135. Photography by Robin Hammond, pitures@robinhammond.co.uk. Editor: Mallory Benedict, Mallory.Benedict@natgeo.com, +1 202.791.1282. 07 March 2019

Spirit/

“The first time I bought ‘man shoes’ I was terrified to wear them, I think they’re the light blue bowling shoes I have; the first time someone asked me what my pronouns were, I think it might have been @ a BreakOUT! event.”

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Aziz/

“Back in 2015, I came across Where Love is Illegal. I decided to share my story then…During the years after, I became involved in queer rights activism and became more open about who I am with those I love.”

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“This is not a violent or unbelievable sorry, but it is sad that even in the progressive countries which are supposed to accept diversity, coming out is too scary FOR many teenagers.”

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21 year-old, homeless agender and demisexual, Julian Moreno at Trinity Place Shelter. I was born in Mexico to a Mormon family. When I was eight we moved to Utah. This was not an inclusive place. I grew up around heavily enforced gender roles. By age twelve I knew that I had to eventually get married in the temple, have kids, and raise them in the church. Women were encouraged to go to college, but there was an expectation that one would leave their career to stay home with the kids. I dreaded that future but I knew there was no option if I wanted to go to heaven. So I did not have many friends except through social media from other parts of the country and from different backgrounds and life experiences. It was thanks to these friends that I realized I was queer. In my first year of high school, I was particularly close with one of them. In October she told me she had a crush on me. She was my best friend and I loved her and I didnÕt know how I felt. I spent that semester questioning my feelings and my sexuality. I discovered that I had feelings for her and we started dating. [history of mental health issues] . I didnÕt really feel like a cis woman but identified as non-binary and felt comfortable presenting as femme. I hope my identity and pronouns, [inaudible 00:04:59] them at the time, would be better understood and respected in New York. [details problems in mental health treatment] Especially growing up in the Mormon church, it really, really affected my mental health because I was all of these things that they didnÕt like. I mean, I was queer. I was trans. I didnÕt know it at the time, but I was. And I was, even being a feminist, I Know Mormons in Utah whoÕve been disowned by their families for being feminist, because theyÕre just that conservative. And so, all of these parts of myself that I knew that if I came out with them to my friends and the people that I knew, it would not be well received and that they would stop associating with me. So, I just had to deny all these parts of myself because they were, you know, I taught that they were inherently horrible and I couldnÕt get, they were parts of me, but I just had to deny them constantly. The reason IÕm a homeless is because I, the reason IÕm homeless this because of the actions of institutionalized transphobia in the school that I was attending. And because I would rather stay here and transition than go home to Mexico where itÕs not really an option. Even now with my gender marker changed and my name legally changed, I know IÕm not going to go in and theyÕre going to just misgender me and [inaudible 00:13:35] me. The fear is still there because it was so prevalent for most of my life that people would just dismiss me. Often on the basis of my queerness and itÕs hard to get a job and all these things just isolate people and make it so hard to survive the world. So, the reason being deadnamed and misgendered hurts so much is because itÕs ultimately a denial of the person that you are. ItÕs just people refusing to see you as you are based on their social understanding. Often itÕs an act of direct violence if somebody knows your pronouns and chooses to use the wrong ones, itÕs an active attempt to deny your humanity. But other times when itÕs just strangers on the street who donÕt know better, itÕs like little pebbles that add up. And just one ends up despairing because for the longest time I thought, IÕm never going to be seen for who I am. You can be the gender that you identify with without necessarily having to give everything up from your old life. Because ultimately you havenÕt changed. YouÕve always been the same person.

Julian/

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“Manhattan College refused to refund one penny. I am now thousands of dollars in debt for credits I didn’t receive and housing I couldn’t access.”

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“Why is the public imagination of trans one that restricts itself to the conventional ‘femme’, whatever feminine is to the audience’s most violent gaze? Where are the trans masculinities, the male-passing genderqueer subject, in your idea of resilience?”

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Dee2

Dee/

“My mom threayened to kill me.i ran away.i couldnt go to my house because she threaytened to come there and attack my gf and i”

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Gary Beals/

“In March, I released my 1st single in over 10 years “Me For Me” from my soon to be released album (video also now out). The video depicts the struggles that we the LGBTQ+ community face when it comes to self-acceptance.”

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Kemi Lo

Kemi Lo/

“High school was a bit weird for me. I had my group of friends and I didn’t necessarily have a bad time, but of course I encountered problems, especially the first 2 years.”

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Alphonso King Jr.

Alphonso King Jr., aka. Jade Elektra/

“When I was single in the city I had this diner I would take my dates to disclose. This place had a headshot of me as my drag persona, Jade Elektra. I would point out the photo first. If the guy was uncomfortable with me doing drag, he probably was going to have a problem with my status.”

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Christian

Christian/

“My life journey as a cis-queer Asian settler living with HIV has been one like the lotus flower.”

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Myles Sexton

Myles Sexton/

“I danced with death and it taught me that I would never know what the hope that lives in tomorrow would bring.”

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Vin

Vin/

“As the time goes by,because of the CONSTANT pressure of supressing my sexuality,I developed some masculine traits which at some point is beneficial and a disappointment sometimes.most people would find me man enough in their own shallow perception but deep inside me,I’m dying.I’m longing for acceptance,of love and affection.”

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Elle Wild

Elle Wild/

“I know very well what kind of love I will tolerate + what I will not. I may not always know what I want, but I do know what I don’t want + I will always keep striving for that light.”

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Sonali

Sonali/

“I am really sick of this transphobic mentality; all I want is to be perceived as a regular woman. How I look definitely comes in the way of that. Every curious stare from the strangers when I go out makes me realize that I am in a wrong body.”

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Rolyn

Rolyn Chambers/

“In this last year my journey has awakened something that had always been within. I had always refused to believe I was different in any way from the mostly white gay men that surrounded me at many of the events I went to. Though they never said it, I was different. I was not like them.”

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Abra

Abra/

“I am so happy, despite it taking me over 40 years, to have been able to transition and to feel happy and whole in my body.”

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Jermie Thomas

Jermie Thomas/

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“I had to learn that in Jamaica any kind of bonds, familial or otherwise, could immediately dissolve the moment the other person even suspected that you may be gay.”

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Sumiran Kabir Sharma“I believe we play different characters every day and our life is like a film. And I have played characters when I have worked for corporate houses and an IT-BPO and dressed up in the most heterosexual clothes ever. You have to live it to realize that you do not want any part of it. Otherwise, you will never value your present self. Now I wear a saree or a backless top and take the metro and I am very cool with it. It has taken me years to identify these layers and accept my true self. In the end, it’s about fighting for your identity and what you believe in. When I did my first nude shoot, my dad blocked me on social media because he did not understand it. Usually people say that I do it to get attention; they say that for people who are different but it’s not at all about that. Sometimes I wear a burqa or a hijab and step out and it’s like a whole new world for me. Usually people watch me when I walk down the street but when I am in a burqa, no one looks at me but I am looking at everyone. The way people look at you changes.”

Sumiran Kabir Sharma/

“You have to live it to realize that you do not want any part of it.”

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KIRAN, 28 “As a child, I never felt comfortable wearing boy clothes for school. Honestly, I would have rather been naked than wear men’s clothes. My feminine mannerisms caught the attention of my entire school because of which I got bullied repeatedly. I’d find obscene drawings on my desk or get pieces of paper thrown at me with filthy things written on them. Once I was cornered in the bathroom by a bunch of boys who asked me to strip naked for them. Initially when I started getting attracted to men, I couldn’t understand it and I had noone to talk to about it. I did not know anything about sexuality. It wasn’t easy at home either. My father was always critical of me and constantly compared me to my brothers. I felt like a misfit at my school and in my family. I chose to stay isolated. I failed my 12th board exams. It became unbearable for me to continue living at home. I left my family and started looking for jobs so that I could live independently. I worked for a brief time at a hotel, from where I got fired because the director was of the opinion that my behavior and ‘sexuality’ was making the other staff uncomfortable. At this point in my life, I knew that I wanted to be a woman and I felt trapped in a man’s body. Around the same time, I fell in love with an Army man, who bought me a flight ticket to Delhi. I simply followed him with the hope that maybe things would be different with him. But my boyfriend abandoned me and left me to pay the house rent on my own. I was offered to work as a sex worker or ask for money at traffic signals but I refused. When I went for job interviews, people would ask for my ID, notice the gender and stare at me. No one wanted me as a tenant because they perceived me as a bad influence, a threat to family and children. Some of my friends spoke about NGOs that supported transgender people. That’s how I came across Naz Foundation. Initially, I just went to Naz for support group meetings or to read at their library.

Kiran/

“As a child, I never felt comfortable wearing boy clothes for school. Honestly, I would have rather been naked than wear men’s clothes.”

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Harmione2

Harmione/

“I am just not ready to have that conversation with them yet because it will disrupt our lives, and honestly, I don’t think I ever will be.”

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Leon Tsai

Leon Tsai/

“‘Blossom’ not ‘Bloom’: as blossoming refers to the whole glory of blooming and not just its peak.”

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Kelsie Adelaide

Kelsie Adelaide/

“I will not grow my hair, I will not wear a dress, I will not stay indoors in windows of fleeting moments, I will be outside. Out and quiet and always proud.”

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Nikhil

Nikhil/

“I ALWAYS ENVIED PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN THOSE PARTS OF THE WORLD WHERE BEING THEMSELVES WAS COMPLETELY NORMAL, UNTIL I LEFT MY OWN LAND IN SEARCH OF ACCEPTANCE.”

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Ali

Ali/

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“In the context of young unaccompanied refugees, whose asylum and integration processes are often characterised by uncertainty, misunderstanding and feeling lost, in fact Ali Nasari’s life also seems to be extraordinary, extraordinarily stable.”

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Rohita

Rohita/

“Our lives are our own to live. The contentment we get from living life the way we want to is more important than how others view our way of living.”

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Ravi

Ravi/

“To all my trans brothers, I would only urge you to be your true self and never give up on the hope of living your life to the fullest. You don’t need anyone else’s validation.”

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Ajitha

Ajitha/

“Trans youth must believe that they have a better future — and that we will continue to strive for a fairer, more just society for the future generations.”

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Mohammed

Mohammed/

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“This is Mohammed B.’s story. A story of oppression, of suffering and desperation. But it’s also the story of Mohammed’s family, who could never understand him but who made him who he is today.”

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Farid

Faried/

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“I want to say thank you. It was a long, tiring and arduous journey, but now I am on a safe land.”

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Basem

Basem/

“Being identified as a Gay Muslim Shiia follwer is more targeted and persecuted.”

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Bharaa

Bharaa/

“Reach out, trust your talent, be open to learning, show your confidence – and you too will find places where you truly belong. Remember, talent has no gender!”

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Aurora

Aurora/

“I knew that society would never acept me, no matter how much of a good person I was, so I decide that I don’t needed society approve to love myself and to be a good person. That’s what’s matter.”

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Rathi

Rathi/

“I await the day when all people in our society see us as equals.”

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Rashika

Rashika/

“Life is different when you are free to live your truth. For the first time in a long time, I am secure, self confident and hopeful for my future.”

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Kehinde

Kehinde/

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“‘In Africa they believe that homosexuals are the spirit of the past – they don’t believe that we are who we are.’”

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Blue

Blue/

“I love China, but it’s hard to love when u feel unsecured, and weak.”

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62 year-old, white, gay man Bob Smedley at his home in Orlando. Bob is a retired domestic violence advocate. Behind the scenes photography and video and assistant: Juan Pablo Ampudia, juanpablo@cuartocreativo.com. Phone +52 1 55 8676 5741. Photography by Robin Hammond, pitures@robinhammond.co.uk. Editor: Mallory Benedict, Mallory.Benedict@natgeo.com, +1 202.791.1282. 20 March 2019

Bob Smedley/

“I clearly heard the manager tell the assistant manager that they would never promote a ‘fag’ in this department.”

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David

David/

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“Even if the authorities in Germany do not want to believe it: Coming out is not possible in Sierra Leone – you are rejected by your family, ostracized by society and hunted by extremists.”

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A posed portrait of 23 year old Ugandans Ashiraf (left) & Kajjan (right) in Nairobi. Ashiraf identifies as a transgender woman and Kajjan as gay. While same sex marriage is not legal in Uganda, in 2015 the pair conducted a marriage ceremony in a hotel to celebrate their relationship. “We had happiness at the party” says Ashiraf, and then adds “and that was the day.” That was the day their new married life began, and also the day their lives changed for the worse. A friend took photos of the wedding and posted them on social media. Local newspapers got hold of the photos and published them. Two weeks later their neighbors recognized them in the newspaper and went to the police. They locked their door when they heard the mob with the police coming, and hid inside. They could hear them trying to enter and talking together: “They said a lot of stuff, that we are sons of evil, we need to go to hell, we shall kill them direct if we get them.” That night they packed their bags and left for Kenya. But life in Kenya was not what they had hoped. They struggled to be registered by the United Nations refugee agency, and struggled even more to find a place to settle down: “After three months in Kenya, our life was not good at all, as we kept on migrating from one place to another because Kenya is like Uganda they don’t allow us in here. We were beaten, abused, tortured on the way when we were moving,” says Ashiraf. “My boyfriend is HIV positive and I am negative but I have (high blood) pressure. Life is hard because we don’t have money to eat yet we have to take our medicine. The landlord is chasing us out of the house because we don’t have money. I tried to look for jobs but couldn’t get because I naturally look like a transgender. Whenever I go to look for jobs I am abused that I am a lady, sometimes beaten.” Kajjan reiterates the sentiments expressed by his wife: “Up to present time, we are still suffering because I am HIV positive though my boyfriend isn’t, we have nothing to eat, nor food.” Kenya, October 2017. Nature Network is a Nairobi based organization providing LGBTQI+ refugees in Kenya with support through safe temporary housing, health services, food and security. Nature Network has advocated to police over 50 times, responding to hate crimes, and runs a WhatsApp group of safety tips. Refugees supported have come from Uganda, Somalia, Burundi, Rwanda and Sudan. While in many places, there has been great progress in recent years in the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex (LGBTQI+) rights, including an increasing recognition of same-sex marriage, nearly 2.8 billion people live in countries where identifying as LGBTI is subject to rampant discrimination, criminalization, and even death. Same-sex acts are illegal in 76 countries; in some countries, this can result in being sentenced to death. Behind these statistics, there individuals with unique, often harrowing stories. Where Love Is Illegal was created to tell those stories. Robin Hammond/NOOR for Witness Change

Ashiraf & Kajjan/

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“Then our family got to know about it through the social media and newspapers. So we were ashamed in the community”

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Edward

Edward/

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“In Uganda there is currently not a single Safe Housing project left…With five euros we could feed someone for three weeks, with ten euros we could buy a mattress. It doesn’t take countless donors, but just a few to rebuild a safe house.”

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