Fleeing Syria to avoid being killed for being gay

Article by Halima Kazem published on the website of the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on 18 May 2016, freely translated by the volunteers of the Gionata Project

Walking down the street hand in hand with her boyfriend could have cost Subhi Nahas torture or even her life in her hometown of Idlib, Syria. There, he says, extremist militias target gay men and carry out summary executions.

For this reason, at 28 years old, Nahas fled his country in September 2012, as war spread to Syria and militants occupied strategic areas such as the northwestern city of Idlib.

“My family never accepted me for being gay and, at that point, I wasn't safe indoors or out in the city. I was afraid that sooner or later my father would tell [the militias] that I was gay,” says Nahas, who arrived in San Francisco, United States in June 2015 with the help of two Northern California organizations working to save lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) refugees from dangerous environments. (…)

Finally a safe place

(…) “I always dreamed of San Francisco because it seemed like a place where I could be myself,” says Nahas, who now lives with his American partner in Castro, San Francisco's famous gay neighborhood. In Syria, as in many other Middle Eastern and African countries, being homosexual is illegal and is often punishable by prison or death.

“I paid the taxi driver double to speak for me at checkpoints between Idlib and Beirut, because I knew that the militants and guards would identify me as gay if they heard me speak,” Nahas says.

After six months in Beirut, his savings were almost gone. “Returning to Syria was not an option, so I used the last money I had on a flight to Turkey,” he explains.

In Türkiye, Nahas met a lawyer from the ORAM organization who was researching the living conditions and asylum process for LGBTI refugees. With the support of UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency), ORAM guided him on the path to obtaining refugee status in the United States and found him a host family in the San Francisco Bay Area (United States).

His linguistic and organizational skills have led Nahas to work for ORAM with Arabic translations, publication design and as a spokesperson for the rights of LGBTI refugees, sharing his incredible story at the UN Security Council in August 2015.

Living in fear for too long

“He's lived in fear for so long that sometimes he withdraws into himself and I have to remind him that he's in a safe place now,” says Markaverett, Nahas's partner of nine months.

According to Amy Weiss, refugee program director at JFCS East Bay, resettling LGBT refugees is a slow and delicate process because it requires building a support group for each person.

Among the host families is Judy Salomon, a Berkeley teacher who has been hosting two gay refugees from Uganda since January. “When I heard there was a great need for housing for LGBT refugees, I knew this was the right way to help,” Salomon says.

A new beginning

For Anthony (name changed for security reasons), a Lebanese asylum seeker who joined ORAM as a volunteer, San Francisco represents a new beginning.

“I see gay teenagers walking freely around San Francisco and it saddens me to think that I didn't have that freedom when I was younger,” says Anthony, who grew up near Beirut.

Anthony's first coming out occurred eight years ago, when he confided in a Catholic priest. “He kept the secret from me, but told me to change,” he says. “San Francisco is a new beginning for me.”

Original text: Searching for a safe place to be gay