Afghanistan's Secret Gay Communy Is Livg Fear of Taliban Terror

Contents:

• LGBTQ REFUGE FLEEG UKRAE FACE DISCRIMATN UNTRI WH ANTI-GAY LAWS
• WHAT'S LIKE TO BE A GAY REFUGEE?
• "CONSTANT FEAR" FOR GAY REFUGE EUROPE'S SHELTERS
• A GAY DATG APP IS HELPG TO HOE QUEER PEOPLE FLEEG UKRAE
• BALDUR’S GATE 3 HAS A GAY BEAR SEX SCENE AND PEOPLE ARE LOVG
• REMEMBERG THE POSIVELY GAY CUBAN REFUGEE TASK FORCE
• GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT: A GAY REFUGEE’S CONONTATN WH AMERI
• GAYS AND LBIANS SEEKG ASYLUM IN U.S. MAY FD A HARD ROAD
• ‘A VIRTUAL ATH SENTENCE’: GAY AFGHANS BRACE FOR UNCERTA FUTURE UNR TALIBAN
• MEN OM AFGHANISTAN'S SECRET GAY MUNY SAY THEY ARE LIVG THROUGH A 'NIGHTMARE' AND FEAR THAT THE TALIBAN WILL EXECUTE THEM AT ANY MOMENT
• THE GAY REFUGEE LAWYER WHO HELPED FIGHT THE MLIM BAN
• GAY AND SYRIAN: ONE REFUGEE’S JOURNEY TO SAN FRANCIS
• MY IEND, CHRON ATUHWERA WAS KILLED KENYA’S KAKUMA MP FOR BEG GAY. DON’T “HUMANIZE” HIM
• GAY REFUGE KENYA REPORT REPEATED ATTACKS OM LOLS
• MOVIE REVIEW: ANIMATED DOC ‘FLEE’ TRAC THE JOURNEY OF A GAY REFUGEE
• GAY REFUGE FD SHELTER AFTER FLEEG HATE HOMELANDS

LGBTQ REFUGE FLEEG UKRAE FACE DISCRIMATN UNTRI WH ANTI-GAY LAWS

(Ciudad Juárez) – Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people and other asylum seekers fleeg persecutn their home untri experience abive and dangero ndns Mexi when not allowed to cross the borr to seek asylum, Human Rights Watch said today. And Gerardo C., a gay uple fleeg Cuba and El Salvador, rpectively, who like others terviewed are not intified by their real nam for their protectn, tried to seek asylum at the US borr Febary 2022, they were expelled by US Ctoms and Borr Protectn (CBP) agents to Mexi.

In Ciudad Juarez, the shelter operators told him was a s to be gay and said that if he and other LGBT asylum seekers didn't go to relig service, they would be forced to leave. Many Ukraians are fleeg to Poland and Hungary, and activists say they will face particular challeng there, sce the European Unn has nmned both untri for havg anti-gay laws. Read More: Gay Pri Crackdown: 4 Thgs to Know About LGBTQ Rights Cuba“It is time to regnize the specific needs of LGBTI asylum-seekers and refuge and to give them the protectn they need, ” the UN’s report are three ways you n help LGTBQ refuge and asylum seekers.

WHAT'S LIKE TO BE A GAY REFUGEE?

“We need to make sure that LGBT people fleeg Ukrae fd themselv a safe space, ” says Vyachlav Melnyk, the executive director of the Polish LGBTQ advocy group Campaign Agast Homophobia. In their rankg of LGBTQ rights Europe, the advocy group the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, or ILGA-Europe, ranks Hungary 28th and Poland 43rd out of 49 untri. Wh the “Kill the Gays” law, new wav of HIV fectns are formg as vulnerable people stayed away om treatment centr, aaid of beg intified and arrted Charl Onyango-Obbo (@bbo3) June 13, 2023 Read more: There's a growg gap between untri advancg LGBTQ+ rights, and those gog backwards LGTBQAI+ Ugandans have few optns For LGBTQAI+ Ugandans, fdg a safe haven isn’t easy when four of the five untri that borr Uganda also crimalise same-sex sexual nduct (South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

"CONSTANT FEAR" FOR GAY REFUGE EUROPE'S SHELTERS

Read more: Rwanda: LGBT rights are protected on paper, but discrimatn and homophobia persist What ternatnal refugee treati say The 1951 Refugee Conventn is the leadg ternatnal treaty erng the rights of people seekg asylum. Gay Afghan who fled Taliban uldn’t claim LGBTQ+ asylum UK, John Nilson MP wr PkNews (@PkNews) June 21, 2023 Reasons LGBTQ+ refuge are turned down Let’s look at Atralia as a specific example.

A GAY DATG APP IS HELPG TO HOE QUEER PEOPLE FLEEG UKRAE

Even though Atralia regnised LGBTQAI+ people as a persecuted group unr the Refugee Conventn, many claims were still beg rejected until 2003 on the basis that gay people uld be safe their home untri if they were discreet about their sexualy. The clud the fact the men vised gay venu Melbourne when they said they wanted to keep their relatnship a secret, and bee of how they rpond to qutns about their first sexual enunter. And the day one young Syrian told his parents he was gay was the last time he spoke to anyone his untls fellow untrymen and women fleeg the civil war, many LGBTQ Syrians have lost their homeland, livelihoods and often hope self.

One nservative Syrian imam nfintly told NBC News that there are no homosexual Mlims and that the act was punishable by al-Essa me out as gay after he fled war-ravaged Syria and settled down Turkey 2017. 6 ln people have fled Syria sce 2011 to pe the bloody civil are no exact figur on how many Syrian refuge who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer or qutng (LGBTQ) have left the untry vastated by years of numbers are not wily documented as even human rights anizatns, such as Amnty Internatnal and Human Rights Watch, have told NBC News they had been unable to do much work on LGBTQ issu Syria due to limed rourc on the ground.

”The relig and societal stigma surroundg homosexualy Syria means that for many fai, havg a son or dghter who out after pg the untry n brg enormo Hassan’s son Ammar me out as gay after he fled to Germany 59-year-old broke down tears talkg about his son on the phone om Idlib Syria, where he liv wh his wife and other children.

BALDUR’S GATE 3 HAS A GAY BEAR SEX SCENE AND PEOPLE ARE LOVG

Yet when he arrived The Netherlands last sprg, he did not fd the safe haven he and four other gay travelers had to face newly arrived asylum seekers at a migrant center the remote northern town of Ter Apel. In Syria, for example, homosexualy is illegal, and the ant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has killed more than 30 gays those two untri over the past two years, activists say.

However, most abe is likely not reported bee of European privacy laws and the stigma felt by gay migrants, and there is no official tally across the Germany, the Lbian and Gay Feratn unted 106 s of vlence agast homosexual and transgenr refuge the Berl regn om Augt through the end of January. Most of the s me om refugee centers, and 13 clud sexual Steert, head of the feratn Berl-Brannburg, said refuge have been askg gay groups for help all over the untry, reluctant to approach police for fear of jeopardizg their asylum applitns. Mass of people often live one big hall, whout lockable rooms or genr-separated Berl, where four hangars at the former Tempelhof airport were turned to a receptn center for 2, 100 people, four s of gay abe were reported.

Maria Antonia Kipp, spokwoman for private center operator Tamaja, said 's very difficult to create safe spac for homosexuals when hundreds of bunk beds are separated only by th woon boards.

REMEMBERG THE POSIVELY GAY CUBAN REFUGEE TASK FORCE

On Tuday, gay rights group Schwulenberatung Berl will open a new home wh 122 beds for gay refuge operatn wh the cy of Berl and another shelter wh 10 beds was recently opened Nuremberg.

"Even if they don't get abed right away, they're always aaid their inty will be revealed and then they'll be targeted, " he suatn for homosexual refuge is difficult all over Europe. The men now have asylum petns pendg before the Spanish ernment cg their homosexualy as a reason why they serve refugee stat, the nonprof Swen, a urt sentenced an asylum seeker to five months prison last summer for makg ath threats, along wh sptg the face and grabbg the throat of a fellow refugee a center Jonkopg.

"Steppg out of the closet may be hard to do, and not everyone is talkg to , " he the Netherlands, a Dutch human rights group reported earlier this month on regular abe of gays and lbians at a large mp that n hoe up to 3, 000 asylum seekers near the cy of Nijmegen. Ain Rabow Fay (ARF) is a non-for-prof charable anisatn that support lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr tersexual and queer (LGBTIQ) people of Ain herage and the wir Black Asian Mory Ethnic groups.

GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT: A GAY REFUGEE’S CONONTATN WH AMERI

To w your asylum claim/appeal, you need to wre out a full, tailed personal acunt of the homophobic persecutn that you suffered, and/ or you know other LGBTs have suffered your home untry, and/or that you fear you will suffer if you return to your home untry. It n be helpful to have letters of support om your lol uncillor, MP, neighbours and other iends the UK, who know you and n attt that you are gay, are a person of good character etc.

GAYS AND LBIANS SEEKG ASYLUM IN U.S. MAY FD A HARD ROAD

Supportg evince n also clu pi of newspaper reports (dated and sourced) about homophobia your home untry, reports om human rights groups like Amnty Internatnal and Human Rights Watch, and news releas om LGBT groups Internatnal Lbian and Gay Associatn and the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn etc. Image source, RtersImage ptn, Taliban fighters patrol the streets KabulI feel like "a human beg for the first time" my life, a gay Afghan man has said after arrivg the UK wh 28 others om the LGBT man - who the BBC is not namg for safety reasons - fled Afghanistan, fearg for his life unr the hard-le Islamist group returned to power Augt, after US-led troops left at the end of a 20-year Friday, a Taliban spokman told Rters news agency that the group would not rpect gay rights.

The last time the group were power - between 1996 and 2001 - gay men were reportedly stoned to muny has not lived openly the 20 years sce - like many, the man the BBC terviewed has a wife and child.

"The LGBTI [lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex] muny was a secret unrground muny, but we knew each other and our work, and if one of got arrted, they uld have found the rt of , " he told the BBC. More members of Afghanistan's LGBT muny are expected to leave the g arrival as a spokman for the Afghan fance mister said human rights would be rpected wh the amework of Islamic law, but not gay rights. GENEVA (22 March 2022) - As the Rsian Feratn’s aggrsn agast Ukrae tensifi, is sential for Stat and all stakeholrs engaged protectg forcibly displaced persons to regnise and rpond to the uniquely genred exposure to risk and protectn needs of lbian, gay, bisexual, trans, tersex (LGBTI) and genr-diverse refuge, asylum seekers, ternally displaced and undocumented people, a UN expert said today.

‘A VIRTUAL ATH SENTENCE’: GAY AFGHANS BRACE FOR UNCERTA FUTURE UNR TALIBAN

“Rsia should reverse s outrageo policy and ensure rights to inty, fay life, and medil re for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people – startg wh reversg the anti-trans law. Although some ers poted out that Ukrae is nscriptg men between the ag of 18 to 60, and so the group might not be as helpful as one would thk, a Romeo spokperson told Queerty that the group was not tend strictly for the app’s erbase, which is largely gay men. Then there’s the fact that Ukrae’s neighborg natn, Poland, to which over a ln Ukraians have fled, is notorly homophobic as well, wh the nonprof advocy group ILGA-Europe rankg the untry ad last s rankg of the most gay-iendly untri the EU.

InternatnalInternatnal Railroad for Queer RefugeThe IRQR is an anisatn that helps refuge that have ped to Turkey, ually om social suatns the Middle East that have crimalised homosexualy. It seeks to raise awarens, unrstandg and protectn of human rights the UK and Loud ClubThe Say Loud Club was set up 1994 to tackle the arisg suatn Uganda where gay rights were not on the agenda. Lbians and Gays Support the MigrantsNamed after the famo LGBT+ movement “Lbians and Gays Support the Mers”, LGSM is an anisatn that seeks to lobby for better ndns for refuge, and support for more refuge to be able to flee to Bra.

MEN OM AFGHANISTAN'S SECRET GAY MUNY SAY THEY ARE LIVG THROUGH A 'NIGHTMARE' AND FEAR THAT THE TALIBAN WILL EXECUTE THEM AT ANY MOMENT

In 2018 they lnched a key iative Italy,, providg support and timely rmatn for refuge and asylum seekers need of lol support Kif-KifRegistered Spa, Kif-Kif is an anisatn that was formed rponse to the crackdown by the Morocn ernment on homosexual men the untry. In rponse, Higgs and Brockway formed the Posively Gay Cuban Refugee Task Force, named after Brockway’s newspaper Posively Gay (later renamed the GLC Voice by s new publisher).

Jt last month, a Taliban judge threatened that gay men will be cshed to ath by topplg walls onto them should the group rega ntrol of are also ncerned that this impendg crisis will lead to a spike requt for help. Tea Alaja/RtersWhen you purchase an penntly reviewed book through our se, we earn an affiliate 2, 2022ASYLUM A Memoir & Manifto By Edafe OkporoMany around the world were bewilred by the Amerin actor Jsie Smollett’s ramblg ttimony durg his 2021 trial for a hoax hate crime he staged 2019, when he asked two Nigerian brothers, Olabjo and Abimbola Osundairo, to attack and yell racist and homophobic slurs at him on the streets of Chigo.

Some Nigerians wonred: By cludg his ttimony the irrelevant tail of havg “ma out” wh Abimbola — the star wns who ttified agast him — was Smollett exactg revenge on a man om a untry where homosexualy is punishable by not jt social alienatn, but jail?

THE GAY REFUGEE LAWYER WHO HELPED FIGHT THE MLIM BAN

”After reverg a clic, Okporo his at a iend’s hoe outsi the cy, but wh months an Amerin award for his health re advocy for gay men brgs him unwanted publicy a untry where cizens are “enuraged to alert lol thori of known homosexuals. Anecdotally and om news reports Nigeria, I know of fellow Nigerian cizens who have tried to claim asylum stat the Uned Stat, Canada or Bra by fabritg threats om the jihadist group Boko Haram, or om homophobic laws the untry, when they are not gay. And scribg the possibily of exorcism his hometown of Udu as a gay teenager, he wr, “People suggted severe punishment such as beg tied wh rop and flogged to drive the mon out — a direct lk to the Bible: J had done the same to st the mons om the two men Matthew.

Frank Mugisha, director of the group Sexual Mori Uganda, says, "We're gog to see people gettg beaten on the streets, we're gog to see people thrown out by their fai, we're gog to see people beg evicted by their landlords, we're gog to see people losg jobs, we're gog to see people thrown out of school, bee they are perceived or not as homosexuals.

GAY AND SYRIAN: ONE REFUGEE’S JOURNEY TO SAN FRANCIS

Among those seekg to flee are LGBTQ Afghans like N and homosexualy has long been crimalized Afghanistan, advot fear the suatn for gay Afghans will bee even more perilo unr the Taliban, who may choose to apply the ath penalty for same-sex nduct, which they reportedly did durg their first stt power om ’s nsired ‘at risk’? Currently, at least 67 untri crimalize nsensual same-sex nduct, of which the ath penalty may be applied up to 11, cludg Afghanistan, acrdg to a report by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA) for those who are able to flee their untri of orig, challeng rema.

"I jt hope that somebody and wak me up om this bad dream, " the 37-year-old gay Afghan told Insir durg a phone, who works for the Uned Natns, once enjoyed Afghanistan's vibrant "unrground" gay scene. Even though homosexualy was illegal, he said he felt relatively safe makg his weekly vis to a clanste karaoke bar Kabul to sg and dance wh other members of the untry's hidn LGBTQ muni.

"If we get ught, the Taliban will kill , " he told Insir durg a phone Taliban is expected to implement a strgent terpretatn of Sharia law, which means homosexualy would be punishable by ath.

MY IEND, CHRON ATUHWERA WAS KILLED KENYA’S KAKUMA MP FOR BEG GAY. DON’T “HUMANIZE” HIM

Sayed*, a 36-year-old gay man om northern Afghanistan's Balkh provce, told Insir via Facebook Msenger that he is also sperately seekg asylum om the new hardle Islamist, he said, has dramatilly changed for the worse the space of a week. Homosexual sex has technilly been punishable by ath Afghanistan for s, but acrdg to the UK Country of Orig Report on Afghanistan, has not been applied sce the end of the Taliban's first regime 2001. Nemat Sadat, the first public figure Afghanistan to advote for LGBTQ rights, told Insir that he is helpg gay Afghans like Sayed apply for asylum and leave the was an anizer of a nascent LGBTQ rights movement Afghanistan while workg as a polil science profsor at the Amerin Universy of Afghanistan Kabul.

'It's not hyperbolic to say that gay people will get weed out'He is urgg the ternatnal muny to act quickly to help vulnerable people pe persecutn at the hands of the new regime. Hamid Zaher, 47, who was one of the first Afghan men to e out publicly, told Insir that while LGBTQ Afghans have always faced risks of vlence and imprisonment at the hands of the thori, those dangers pale parison to the btaly and tolerance of the left Afghanistan 2001 and, after livg Turkey, was able to claim asylum Canada said that, even unr the US-supported ernment, was "a very bad time" for gay men.

GAY REFUGE KENYA REPORT REPEATED ATTACKS OM LOLS

There was no way my iend, Chron Atuhwera uld have known when he walked to the Kakuma refugee mp Kenya January 2020 that a ltle over a year later, he would be a victim of a homophobic arson attack. On March 15, 2021, my iend, Chron, wh whom I lived wh for a year, was Kakuma’s Block 13, which is a sectn of the mp hog mostly LGBTQ+ persons, when was attacked by homophob. In an terview wh the BBC 2015, Cathere Hamon, the puty head of protectn for UNHCR, revealed that staff has said that as Christians they uld not work wh, or talk to, a gay man.

MOVIE REVIEW: ANIMATED DOC ‘FLEE’ TRAC THE JOURNEY OF A GAY REFUGEE

In South Ai, over the last few weeks, gay people have lost their liv a spate of homophobic attacks cludg Andile “Lulu” Ntuthela, who was murred by homophob and even buried a shallow grave. 14, Hayn / SOPA Imag/LightRocket via Getty Imag fileBut acrdg to Mos and experts on refuge and migratn, the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer refuge Kakuma — many of whom fled homophobic and transphobic vlence nearby Uganda — ntue to face threats and vlence om lols and other refuge for the simple reason that they are LGBTQ. “They were kicked out by the UNHCR and forced to the homophobic muny wh other refuge, " and then lol rints om the area, the Turkana, "attacked them some time ago, ” Mos wrote the email sent to human rights officials and journalists.

“You have got a handful of UNHCR officials, so bad thgs n happen, and bad thgs do happen refugee mps — not only to LGBT people, but women and other people as well, so ’s unfortunately not surprisg, ” Knotts June 2018, Mos and Refugee Flag Kakuma, an LGBTQ rights group he leads at the mp, hosted s first gay pri event. And yet, acrdg to Mos, new lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer refuge ntue to arrive for registratn at UNHCR offic Kakuma and a WhatsApp msage sent to NBC News on Friday, Mos said he and other members of Refugee Flag Kakuma qutn “the logic of returng and hog LGBT refuge a place where others had been whdrawn bee of secury.

The UNHCR strongly nied the allegatns that refuge also routely acce the mp’s admistrators of turng a bld eye — due to homophobia and transphobia — to their plight and to the ntued vlence they an terview wh NBC News after the attack on the mp’s June 2018 pri event, Yvonne Nge, a UNHCR Kenya spokperson, said, “The muny n sometim feel isolated.

GAY REFUGE FD SHELTER AFTER FLEEG HATE HOMELANDS

”“It is important to note that a number of LGBTI+ refuge and asylum seekers are ridg among the muny Kakuma as well as urban areas and have been able to live relative safety, some for several years, ” Hugh wrote, addg that UNHCR uld not verify all reported anti-gay attacks, and that the agency has no ntrol over whether third untri agree to rettle refuge and asylum the procs of gettg a refugee applitn approved by UNHCR n take years Kenya and other untri, cludg the Uned Stat, the average stay for a rint of Kakuma mp is 17 years, acrdg to the than 25 ln people worldwi are currently refuge, acrdg to Amnty Internatnal, and a third are livg the world’s lowt-e untri. In many parts of the world, lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) persons face severe discrimatn due to their sexual orientatn or genr inty and, nearly 80 untri, nsensual same-sex acts are crimalized. In June 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry reaffirmed the State Department’s mment to Print Barack Obama’s Memorandum on Internatnal Iniativ to Advance the Human Rights of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Persons.