How 'Flee' Used Animatn to Tell a Gay Afghan Refugee's Story

Contents:

• GAY REFUGEE PLEADS FOR AMERINS TO HELP LGBT AFGHANS
• 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
• GAY REFUGE KENYA REPORT REPEATED ATTACKS OM LOLS
• 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
• GAYS AND LBIANS SEEKG ASYLUM IN U.S. MAY FD A HARD ROAD
• A GAY DATG APP IS HELPG TO HOE QUEER PEOPLE FLEEG UKRAE
• GAY REFUGE FD SHELTER AFTER FLEEG HATE HOMELANDS
• ACROSS EUROPE, GAY REFUGE FACG ABE ASYLUM SHELTERS
• GAY UGANDAN ASYLUM SEEKERS ' DANGER IF SENT HOME'
• GAY AND SYRIAN: ONE REFUGEE’S JOURNEY TO SAN FRANCIS
• GAY REFUGE NIED ASYLUM BY HOME AFFAIRS BIGOTRY – REPORT
• HELP FOR GAY REFUGE OM UKRAE

GAY REFUGEE PLEADS FOR AMERINS TO HELP LGBT AFGHANS

(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.

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.

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). 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. 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.

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

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.

WHAT'S LIKE TO BE A GAY REFUGEE?

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.

"CONSTANT FEAR" FOR GAY REFUGE EUROPE'S SHELTERS

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.

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.

GAY REFUGE KENYA REPORT REPEATED ATTACKS OM LOLS

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. 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.

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 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.

Acrdg to the tablished practice of The Office of the Uned Natns High Commissner for Refuge (UNHCR), lbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenr dividuals (LGBT) have the right to claim refugee stat as “members of a particular social group”. San Francis-based filmmaker Tom Shepard, whose many creds clu the award-wng Sut’s Honor (2001) about the stggle to overturn the anti-gay polici of the Boy Suts of Ameri, wanted to unrstand better the stori of LGBTQ refuge fleeg plac where btaly agast LGBTQ people is monplace.

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

The film timately troduc viewers to four of them — Subhi Nahas, a gay Syrian refugee who survived ath threats om Islamic terrorists; Cheyenne Adriano and Mari N’Timansieme, a lbian uple om Angola who battled vlence and harassment om their fay and neighbors; and Junr Mayema, a genr non-nformg gay man who ped btaly the Democratic Republic of the Congo — and trac their stggl to make new liv and rema the Uned Stat. Subhi Nahas beme the first gay man ever to ttify before the Uned Natns Secury Council when, alongsi Ambassador Samantha Power, who served the Uned Natns om 2013 to 2017 unr Print Obama, he livered eloquent ttimony about the persecutn he faced daily as a gay man Syria.

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

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. Directed by Jonah Poher Rasmsen, the productn creatively tells the te story of a gay Afghan refugee through timate terviews and animatn, which both protect the inty of s subject, "Am, " and allow for breathtakg visuals the rult is a movg portra of a person's heartbreak and rilience as he fle om turmoil Afghanistan, to Rsia, to Denmark as a youth wh his fay members. 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. "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.

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.

ACROSS EUROPE, GAY REFUGE FACG ABE ASYLUM SHELTERS

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. 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.

And they urge cisn makers to weigh evince the ntext of ongog persecutn: Would be safe for a lbian a homophobic regime to walk back to the police statn where she was jailed, whout charge, to ask for her police rerds so Canadian officials uld pore over them later? Floutg human rights norms, approximately 73 untri and stat worldwi outlaw gay sex, 13 of them wh a ath penalty, acrdg to a 2016 report tled State-Sponsored Homophobia, thored by rearcher Aeng Carroll and published by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA).

"Assumptns that Canadians have about lbian, gay, bi, or trans inti and the 'g out' mol – that people will be relatnships and seek out muny as soon as they arrive – the myths and stereotyp don't f for somebody who is fleeg persecutn.

GAY UGANDAN ASYLUM SEEKERS ' DANGER IF SENT HOME'

He began his first relatnship wh a man, only to face harassment here too: homophobic vandals smashed his wdshield and rved "faggot" to his remaed the Cayman Islands for four years, though by 2014, the threats had tensified and his work perm was nied. Yvonne Niwahereza Jele, 30, Kabale, UgandaWhile a 2013 “anti-homosexualy act” that proposed jailg gay Ugandans for life was annulled 2014, the untry’s penal ntu to crimalize same-sex sexual activy, which remas punishable by a prison sentence. "I promised myself when I was touched by the social worker who lerally saved my life that this is what I really want to do, " he now attends heargs wh gay refuge, helpg them navigate the system.

Evan Murtadha, 34, and Samar Al Biri, 33, Basra, IraqWhile Iraq’s penal do not prohib same-sex sexual relatns, a reprsive regime effectively outlaws such unns: Milias, police, lol urts and lol Sharia judg have been known to threaten gay women and men, punishg same-sex sexual relatns wh severe penalti – cludg executn – acrdg to ILGA. Settled Ottawa May 2016, movg to Toronto September is impossible to be openly gay Iraq, so Murtadha and Al Biri circumvented the l, meetg 2013 through a private Facebook group tend for LGBTQ Iraqis lookg for relatnships and iendships.

" said Patti Lenard, a Universy of Ottawa associate profsor of moral and polil philosophy, who helped sponsor the most important part of sponsorship, Lenard said, is makg gay refuge feel that they are normal, that they n say they're gay self-scriptn rather than shame, and that nobody Canada will re. 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

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. It's amazg to them Market Street San Francis, they n ph their baby a stroller and not be sp upon for beg wch or mons of s - as lbians are back their home villag that Wt Ain untry, beg nvicted of homosexualy brgs years of prison, jt as do Uganda, Afghanistan and 74 other natns.

GAY REFUGE NIED ASYLUM BY HOME AFFAIRS BIGOTRY – REPORT

It's where a relative who was fur upon disverg the uple's homosexualy threatened to put Elde up for adoptn, and while pummelg Care dropped the baby on her head, g damage that doctors are still asssg.

18, which means the fay may now have to wa months for a termatn - which is typil for such uple's argument is the same others have been makg sce 1990 the Uned Stat, when the Jtice Department removed homosexualy as a reason for nyg immigratn: Livg a homeland hostile to LGBT rights is untenable bee of persecutn and threats. Advot say the number has grown om a uple of hundred s a year two s ago to nearly 3, plight is gag more attentn wh the approachg Wter Olympics Rsia, which outlawed gay pri events June and banned speakg out fense of gay .

HELP FOR GAY REFUGE OM UKRAE

"The thgs agast homosexualy are a matter of untry, tradn and relign, " said Luz Balowa, who was tortured, stabbed and jailed for his LGBT and AIDS activism the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he was born. 9, 2015: Cabs are set up si Hanger 4 of the former airport Tempelhof to be ed as a temporary emergency shelter for migrants, refuge and asylum seekers Berl (AP)BERLIN – Alaa Ammar fled Syria to pe not jt civil war but also the threat of persecutn as a gay man. The AP found out about sr of documented s The Netherlands, Germany, Spa, Denmark, Swen and Fland, wh the abe ually g om fellow refuge and sometim secury staff and s suggt a possible cultural clash: Many migrants are g om nservative Mlim untri where homosexualy is taboo to European societi that are more open to .

Swarms 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. The attacker was "outraged that Swen protects homosexualy and all should be killed by slghterg, " acrdg to urt Fland, s of gay harassment and downright abe have also been rerd at refugee centers, acrdg to SETA, a natnwi lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr group.