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.
“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?”
READ THE STORY
“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”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“My life journey as a cis-queer Asian settler living with HIV has been one like the lotus flower.”
READ THE STORY
“I danced with death and it taught me that I would never know what the hope that lives in tomorrow would bring.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“You have to live it to realize that you do not want any part of it.”
READ THE STORY
“As a child, I never felt comfortable wearing boy clothes for school. Honestly, I would have rather been naked than wear men’s clothes.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“‘Blossom’ not ‘Bloom’: as blossoming refers to the whole glory of blooming and not just its peak.”
READ THE STORY
“I realized I am in icu but hospital supported professor not me”
READ THE STORY
“I am not free to be myself as the law of my country forbids same sex marriage/relationship”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“Thats always been me, Faith, a transgirl who always believe in miracle.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“I want to say thank you. It was a long, tiring and arduous journey, but now I am on a safe land.”
READ THE STORY
“Being identified as a Gay Muslim Shiia follwer is more targeted and persecuted.”
READ THE STORY
“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!”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“I await the day when all people in our society see us as equals.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“‘Dancing is good. When I dance I laugh.’”
READ THE STORY
“Being gay and growing up on a small island in the Caribbean wasn’t quite what i expected it to be”
READ THE STORY
“‘In Africa they believe that homosexuals are the spirit of the past – they don’t believe that we are who we are.’”
READ THE STORY
“I love China, but it’s hard to love when u feel unsecured, and weak.”
READ THE STORY
“I clearly heard the manager tell the assistant manager that they would never promote a ‘fag’ in this department.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“Then our family got to know about it through the social media and newspapers. So we were ashamed in the community”
READ THE STORY
“AS I ASKED MYSELF WHAT HAVE I DONE WRONG; I FOUND RELIEF IN HITTING MY HEAD ON THE BATHROOM WALL EVERYDAY.”
READ THE STORY
“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.”
READ THE STORY
“On a warm August day in 1960, at the age of five my Devout, Irish, Catholic Mother, while teaching me how to sew on a button, told me I was gay.”
READ THE STORY
“Years and years of pain, pressure of being the perfect Muslim child, anxiety and confusion, anger. All of it was calmed by one fateful night.”
READ THE STORY
“The primary driver of us changing countries is to get married and be legally acknowledged as who we are.”
READ THE STORY
“Growing up I’ve always known I was very different and there were virtually no trans people in the media or in the fashion industry. This made it very difficult to discover my identity as there was no representation to relate to.”
READ THE STORY
“I was proudly out to my friends and endorsed LGBTQ+ rights outside the four walls of my home. However, inside those four walls, I was completely the opposite. I would never talk about sexuality, about me or my identity. I was still in the closet for my father and mother.”
READ THE STORY
“I am exactly who I was always meant to be: A queer, bi-racial, HIV+ human.”
READ THE STORY
“was placed in the psychiatric ward at Florida Hospital in Orlando. I couldn’t stop crying. All those feelings that I had bottled up for tens of years came rushing out all at once.”
READ THE STORY
“Being a loud educated transgender woman as a lecturer I am well prepared mentally and physically that this will be a bumpy road for me.”
READ THE STORY