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 stayed there with this man not being able to leave the house, not even to visit friends because he said I would go back to prostituting myself. I suffered physical violence, verbal and psychological abuse for one year.”
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“Hi My nickname is Arash Randy. I was born in Iran and lived in Iran for 24 years. im now 29. After I was 24 years old, I escaped from Iran to Turkey and I applied for asylum. After spending 14 months in Turkey, I decided to move to Germany alone. Homosexuality is illegal in … READ THE STORY
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“we had gone to the Clinic 7 hospital one day and met a group of Sudanese who shouted when they saw us and even brought tires and firewood saying they wanted to burn us. They ended up beating me and my husband. We were out of hope when the UN car came and took us to clinic 7.”
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“Nine months down the lane we had a baby, our heaven on earth. He’s our everything, our life and our future. Sometimes when we are settling our differences and he walks in on us, in the heat of everything, he smiles and then takes all the tension away. I could say he’s the pillar of this relationship.”
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“My name is anthony, im 24, maybe 25 by the time you read this. On the left photo i am 15, on the right i am 24, on my wedding day to the love of my life. I never thought id live to be this old, its pretty mind blowing to me.”
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“but when it’s come to lgbt issues, we are unable to married who we love, laws make us live apart from society.”
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“I always hate to share my story because it brings back sad memories and makes me feel very down. I have faced a lot of violence, mob attacks, police cases because of my sexuality, rejection from landlords, family rejecting me as a terror.”
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“I suffered a lot of bias at work because of my sexual orientation I have faced many challenges, and one of the worst challenges is access to health care services for being a trans woman.”
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“He brought me to his house. I did not realize I was brought to his house because I was boozed off. I realized myself with two guys in the bed. Him and I, and the other one. And I was very much ashamed and so sad because someone I trust and I wanted to be with could do this thing to me.”
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“we aren’t afraid to show the world our love, but sometimes it’s not that easy. we receive bad words or comments from people for no reason”
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“It’s not easy in Ghana here. You say you are a gay. It’s not easy at all.”
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“My family even promised to kill me. They can’t even look at me after knowing that I am a lesbian. Even the villagers were told to just kill me in case they saw me anywhere. That is why I decided to run away.”
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“2017 my family know about my IDENTIty, you know my parents react of course, raised by Moslem family MAKES my family disagree about Me being GAY. My mom tell me to get GIRLFRIEND for hide my IDENTITY. “
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“Here your life in Ghana isn’t something easy, one can’t boldly come out, and say that he’s one, simply because it is not legalized in Ghana, and for that matter society frown on it in Ghana.”
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“She made things softer for me by asking me and my answer was: yes, I’m having a relation of love with someone with my same gender. It is hard for me to explain how her face changed with my answer, then she hugged me”
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“And another episode was when in my church found out that I’m gay. They told me to stop singing because God is against it. And if God is against it, they are against too. It was very sad.”
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“It took me a long time to admit to it to the family because of my fear to their reaction. I went through various psychological therapies, one of which was remarkable.”
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“grow up in rejection of myself and more over tendered to hate gay people too. I too was thought to hate and I really became good at it, internally I called it my guard.”
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“My family continued to look for me. They also went to the radio station. They say that whoever sees me they should contact them or to kill me. That’s when I ran to Nairobi in 2015.”
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“I told him [my professor] that Section 377 [India’s anti-LGBT law] is unconstituional in today’s world. He was so disgusted that he made me fail for which I had to appear on that exam later. I didn’t ask for any probe, but I realised that the problem lies somewhere else. I contacted the president of World Psychiatric Association and told him the situation.”
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“it was a bus for the Kakuma camp in Turkana county, a land of misery, a land of thirst, a land of no hope. I suffered from worry, stress, and trauma. I thought I would die, my health was bad, I had no right of speech.”
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“When I was 14, I shared with my female classmate that I was gay, then she exposed me to the whole class. I got sexually abused as a result, was tied up by a group of guys, and even one of the guys was showing his penis over my face infront of everyone.”
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“Our relationship, likes several others consisted of ups and downs. But in our case it was because we were a lesbian couple. A negative episode that remarked us and determined the history of our relationship all began when Claudia’s mother discovered that her daughter was dating a person of the same sex.”
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“I grew up feeling different in my family, not only sexually, but in the way of thinking in general. My family is not necessarily accepting of who I am though I never told them that I am gay, but I told my brother and he is okay with it but not supportive. My mother is not necessarily accepting of the idea, I have not shared with her, but she tries to ask me personal questions to discover stuff out.”
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“I had feelings for boys before the age of 15, and I had boyfriends. However, when I had a girlfriend, then things started shifting fully, because I did not realize that I can be at peace with my feelings.”
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“It is hard for me to start a relationship because people know about me since I came out almost publicly due my activism work for LGBT, and thus those who want to start a relationship with me, feel very hesitant because they do not want to be exposed, and their parents may already have knowledge about me.”
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” I was attacked by gang guys twice. The first I was beaten, second, my partner and I was attacked by a gun. His hand was shot and had to go under a surgery, all in the name of stigma and discrimination in Ghana.”
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“For the longest time, I didn’t know what it meant to be not be afraid. I grew up afraid of my father, who smelled it in me, who called me a sissy, and told me I should have been born a girl”
READ THE STORY![A posed portrait of Jonah, an LGBTI Ugandan refugee, who lives in Nairobi and is supported by Nature Network. After Jonah’s uncle, who he lived with, discovered Jonah is gay, he attacked him. “My uncle came to our room, dragged me from the bed. On top of his voice, saying I'm a disgrace, I'm a curse, I'm a criminal that needed to be killed. He went to the kitchen, and got a big wood, and started beating me with it. I bled. He campaigned other people to beat me up, and here, some neighbors came to rescue me, 'cause they wouldn't let me be killed in the neighborhood.” Like many refugees in Nairobi, Jonah relies on financial and medical support to survive, however he cannot survive on the amount given by the UNHCR. “The challenges I face here in Kenya , we happen to be given the 4500KSH [about 45USD] every month which happen to be not enough, 'cause the life of living in Kenya is a bit expensive, so people tend to engage in sex work as a way of generating income to supplement on the money being given. We have a problem of health. When someone falls sick, and the way the UN guys respond to it, it's on a slow pace, 'cause you have to email to them, go to the UN offices a couple of times, and you know all during that time, you're in pain, and they keep on giving the appointments, so if it's not amongst your friends to mobilize and get you money, and you be treated, some of our friends have died. I have a couple of friends who are passed on, and then, my other problems are, since so many people have been engaging in sex work, so many of them have been infected, and a number of them have died of AIDS.” 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.
Stigma, discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation means that access to HIV services is yet another challenge for this community. As a result, LGBTQI+ people in Africa are 19 times more likely to be living with HIV, with prevalence rates in many countries exceeding 10-20%. To respond to this, the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) built a quick, nimble, and easily accessible $10m fund which can get money to the most effective grassroots organisations doing some of the most important work among the most-at-risk LGBT groups in Sub-Saharan Africa. A Rapid Response mechanism administered by the International HIV / AIDS Alliance quickly disburses smaller sums to respond to emergencies where LGBT people are in jeopardy. The fund is active in 30 countries and Nature Network in Kenya is one project that has received the fund.
Robin Hammond/NOOR for Witness Change](https://whereloveisillegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/LGB20171101P_KEN_001.jpg)
“I prefer not to use real name, because people who are trying to kill me are still looking for me. I’m an LGBTI Ugandan refugee living in Nairobi.”
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“I have always been brazen online, sharing photos I take of Indian male sexuality across social media. But I never took the hate that came with it seriously till this one time I was physically assaulted by two men outside a very crowded subway and a mob gathered to watch while they threw homophobic slurs at me.”
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“We just want to be understood and free express our love publicly.”
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“There was a time in my life that I thought I was the only person of my kind on Earth, was very lonely, emotionally traumatized and looking for people I can relate to”
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“I have a very supportive family in terms of accepting the way I was different by them. That was the very beginning because my family and friends, they wanted to know who I am”
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“in my school days when i wished to perform as a female dancer in annual programme they laughed at me and informed my family. my parents beat me.”
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“I knew I was gay from when I started experiencing adolescence. I love men, and I won’t change that for anything in the world. Besides, love is love.”
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“One time, my family was attacked in the middle of the night. They came at my home. They kicked the front door of our house. They entered, searching for me. I sensed there was danger and I had to slip through the door of the back house of our house, and I ran away to the bush.”
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When I was 22 years old I found out that I am seropositive, I have HIV. It was a scare, I did not expect it.
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“Talking about my homosexuality, for me, is talking about love. That’s because it was through love that I started to recognize my differences from other people around me. I was fourteen when I met him, sixteen when I fell in love and twenty-one when I left him. It was through this cycle that I saw … READ THE STORY
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“My junior brothers and my parents do suspect me, but I always find a way to educate them on my sexual life. They don’t really feel comfortable, but my Dad and Mum said they love me who I am and accept me the way I am.”
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“If it wasn't God's help, we would have already died, because I remember the time when the parents came to attack him [Lucky], and then, they wanted to kill him, if it was not God, he would have already died, but God knows us, God loves us, so he managed to protect us all the way from Uganda up to here, we are together.” 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.
Stigma, discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation means that access to HIV services is yet another challenge for this community. As a result, LGBTQI+ people in Africa are 19 times more likely to be living with HIV, with prevalence rates in many countries exceeding 10-20%. To respond to this, the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) built a quick, nimble, and easily accessible $10m fund which can get money to the most effective grassroots organisations doing some of the most important work among the most-at-risk LGBT groups in Sub-Saharan Africa. A Rapid Response mechanism administered by the International HIV / AIDS Alliance quickly disburses smaller sums to respond to emergencies where LGBT people are in jeopardy. The fund is active in 30 countries and Nature Network in Kenya is one project that has received the fund.
Robin Hammond/NOOR for Witness Change](https://whereloveisillegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/LGB20171101P_KEN_011.jpg)
When they attacked him, he managed to escape. He ran away, and then, he told me, ‘Don’t come back home, because even me have left home, cause your parents went there to kill me. They realized that we are gays.’
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“When I was growing up, I knew I had feelings for my fellow women, but I thought I was the only one in the world who had such feelings.”
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“When I was 8 years of age I used to play with the girls a lot, so due to that people started call me names like kojo besia (Man-Woman) then from there I decided to play with the boys at the age of 10 years because of stigma attached to me playing a lot with the girls.”
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“After taking the test, the test was positive. And when it was positive, I came back home and I did not tell anybody about it. My mother asked, and I always said ‘ahh I have not done it yet’ but I was already taking medication. So I was ashamed of it all at that time I was going to get more medication then I gave up on medication.”
READ THE STORY![23 year old Avelino (sitting) & 25 year old Neston (lying) are a gay couple. Neston’s family did not approve of his homosexuality. Avelino, byt contrast, when he cam out to his mother, she accepted him. Avelino recalls when Neston had a fight with his family, “‘Why don't you come and live with me,” Avelino said, “let's live together in my house’ and he asked ‘Are you serious?’ and, because of what my mother had told me before, I said ‘Yes’.” Avelino’s mother welcomed Neston, but his father did not know about his son’s sexuality at the time: “It was a huge shock when he found out, we had already been going out for about 6 months when he (his father) found out exactly what we meant to each other. It was such a big shock that we spent about 2 days out in the street… The whole family here had a meeting, in a weird way, a big confusion and everyone, brothers, nephews, everyone revolted against my father ‘He is everything, he works hard in school, he works hard in athletics... What difference does it make?’ I still get emotional when I remember that my father sat with us, apologized and asked him [Neston] to live with us.” But not everyone has been so accepting. When a photo of Avelino and Neston kissing was posted on facebook, Avelino, an international track athlete, lost his spot on the team: “They were made aware of my sexual orientation, they stopped summoning me for international competitions… To let go of the Mozambican Athletics Federation in order to live what I am, who we are... I do not regret anything, if I had to go back in time and do something different, I would not do anything different, I would do everything the same.” Maputo, Mozambique. 22 February, 2018. Photo Robin Hammond/Witness Change](https://whereloveisillegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/LGB20180222P_MOZ_067.jpg)
We are a gay couple, we are a couple together for almost 4 years, like a common couple we have gone through many problems, but love has always spoken louder.
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“It is not a crime to be a homosexual in Brasil. Unfortunately, we cannot ensure our rights only by the laws: the guidelines of our lives are not only dictated by our governments and I would say that this is good. To my family, being gay is a crime. To some friends – who actually … READ THE STORY
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“At adolescence things got worse, because at the moment that everyone were discovering themselves, I discovered that I was a freak: how would I explain to everyone that I was a man? So I hid that from everyone, even from me.”
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“I could see his hate increasing and dominating that street. He started to touch me in a different way, although still aggressively. He raped me. He run away. He run away, crying. “
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“Being LGBTI+ in Brazil is a challenge, it seems that we always have something to prove to people.”
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“I am bissexual and schizophrenic, but different from what many people around me think, my sexuality is not related at all with mental disorder, although I have become ill because of prejudice. For lack of acceptance.”
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“There wasn’t any safe place for me to live,rules were against my dignity,I didn’t want to do compulsory sex reassignment surgery,the thing that Islamic republic of iran is doing now.”
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