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.
“I am a transgender and Muslim woman, and this changes nothing about my relationship with Islam. Not with Ramadan, not with Allah, and not with my worship. There is not a single thing that has changed in this regard. I am who I am because of religion. I don’t care about the opinions from people … READ THE STORY
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I thank God everyday that I’m not straight. When you love someone outside of a norm, you step out of that norm. It’s a relationship to love that goes beyond something. You love the person.
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Kwasi Darko is a 2022 Where Love is Illegal Fellowship Winner.
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Camille Farrah Lenain is a 2022 Where Love is Illegal Fellowship Winner.
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Anton Shebetko is a 2022 Where Love is Illegal Fellowship Winner
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We are very proud and excited to announce the winners of the first Where Love is Illegal Fellowship! They are Camille Farrah Lenain, Kwasi Darko, and Anton Shebetko! The Where Love Is Illegal Fellowship is designed to support LGBTQI+ identifying photographers to contribute to the narratives that define queer communities. Three photographers have been awarded … READ THE STORY
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“On day of August even Taliban get control of Afghanistan I am trying to be hide and that time also I need immediately money for myself because I need to get passport and something else For that I was gonna to my office to get my salary that I haved on office before of Taliban … READ THE STORY
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Grants for LGBTQI+ Photographers working in Africa, Europe, or Middle East
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“The man told us that if we brought a girl he could rent us only one room, otherwise we had to rent two separately. We got really upset and left there.”
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“My story is a story of hope, that the 17-year old me is gonna get through the trauma, the stigma, the hate, the name-calling, the anxiety of not knowing what turn my life would take…”
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“When she arrived, she greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and hugged me. A military man who was at the fair, I think high-ranking, saw us and immediately grabbed her phone to make a call.”
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“The society expects us to fit into the sex and or gender binary created by it, if it is neither male of female, then it’s an abomination.”
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“Between 2010 and 2014 I studied communications at the Monteavila University (a private institution in Caracas founded by members of Opus Dei), where I was taught homosexuality in anthropology classes as a mental illness…”
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“They took me to a nearby door that seemed to lead to a warehouse, and they told me they had to do a ‘body search.’”
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“I discovered writing when I was 14. It began with a couple random notebooks where I would pour everything that went through my mind onto the pages, and go on to burn them or tear the paper to shreds. It was euphoric.”
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“It is difficult to live here because it is illegal to be gay. If you are caught you will be beaten by a mob or the community. If your family finds out, they will not identify you as their kin.”
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“Slowly, I started to conceptualize we are all divine beings and that the divine is within all of us. I came to believe that the divine has no gender, it is neither male or female, it just is. If I am a part of the divine, then why should I limit myself to an expression of only the male gender.”
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“In high school, I attempted suicide 48 times, using pills, jumping from a bridge, cutting and carbon monoxide. I wanted to change myself but I couldn’t and that made me depressed. So, I thought I should not go on living.”
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“In the wider community, I am Black, to the blacks, I am African, to the community, I am gay, to the gay community, I am a refugee.”
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“Realization that who you are is an illegal unnatural crime…punishable by law..an abomination in the eyes of religious people was just overwhelming…”
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“I grew up in a very religious environment and I felt very guilty and I always denied myself. It was night after night asking God to change me.”
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“Me and Kris like to remind the next generation that there is indeed someone out there who will look at you as the most beautiful/handsome person in the world, someone who will share with you all their friends and family, someone who will understand you and your past without holding it against you.”
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“Brazil is one of the Most deAdly places yo be if youre Lgbtqai+, even if its not against the law.”
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“Am finally out to both of my parents and I should say that wasn’t easy.”
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“After being outed in 2013 all I heard was ‘if you want to be gay, go do it somewhere else.’ So, I did just that…”
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“Now it doesn’t matter if I am too Asian or too feminine. I am comforted to know that attraction is not rigid, but expansive.”
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“As an adult, I’ve come to the realization that I no longer have time to put on masks that make other people comfortable.”
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“Once my egg cracked (when I realized that I was trans), it hit me so hard that it was truly a matter of life and death, of transition or die.”
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“It is important for me to thank the trans people that fought before my time so that young trans kids like me could live in a more inclusive world.”
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“Explain to me how the vanguard of the queer movement were black and brown, trans souls, yet we ended up with cis, white homosexual impositions of queer culture.”
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“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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“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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“i hope the human rights watch or the united nations read my story “
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“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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“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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“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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“I am so angry at the histories of oppression that force so many of us to hide or risk our lives.”
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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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“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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“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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“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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“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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“My life journey as a cis-queer Asian settler living with HIV has been one like the lotus flower.”
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“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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“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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“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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“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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“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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“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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