Gays and lesbians suffer threats, persecution and danger, especially in societies where social norms and religious beliefs contradict homosexual orientation.
Many migrants come from conservative Muslim countries, where homosexuality is taboo. In Syria and Iraq for example, homosexuality is illegal, and the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has killed at least 30 gay people in those two countries over the past two years, activists say.
That is why of the gay refugees who do live in Luxembourg foyers, few are open about their sexuality.
Therapist told parents he was gay
Asylum seeker Mano fled his war-torn home of Syria because of harassment and intolerance over his sexual orientation. “I always knew I was different. I didn’t know what the difference was or what it was called, but I knew I had a secret to guard,” Mano said, adding: “That was a decade ago. Even in my worst nightmare, I didn’t dream that one day my beautiful country would implode.”
“When I was 15, before I came to terms with my identity, my parents suspected something was ‘wrong’ with me and sent me to a therapist. He told them I was gay.”
Mano said when his family and the community where he lived in Idlib found out, they confirmed his worst fears about prejudice.
“Most of them believed—and probably still do—that gay people like me should be hospitalised, imprisoned and even killed. I felt desperately alone.”
Saved by the Internet
Mano said he was saved by the Internet, where he learned there were other people like him who lived happy, normal lives.
Upon reading that, he said he decided to flee. He travelled first to Lebanon and then to Turkey, where he lived for two years before beginning his journey to Europe.
In Luxembourg word spread about Mano being gay. He experienced contempt and verbal abuse. He said some male refugees would tell him to “go wait with the women”.
Things worsened when he was relocated to a long-term shelter for men and was seriously harassed.
“After a few days, I met friends who were gay like me and from Iraq and Syria. That helped me a lot to become free. And I fell in love for the first time in my life with Jmy.”
Mano said his partner helped him stand up for himself, and last month he was moved to a small apartment near the city.
‘It felt like we were back in Iraq or Syria’
Ahmed, a refugee from Iraq, said he had a similar experience in the foyer. “We thought we were leaving that kind of treatment behind,” he said, adding: “But inside the refugee centre, it felt like we were back in Iraq or Syria.”
Before fleeing for Europe, Ahmed said, he was kidnapped and held for two days in Baghdad by religious thugs who had tried to extort his family because he is gay.
Syrian refugee Mody said that in Syria he hid his sexuality from all but a select few and initially fled to Jordan to escape his country’s civil war.
But after a Jordanian man tried to blackmail him for being gay, Mody said he returned to Syria. As he grew increasingly fearful of Islamist extremists who were targeting gays and lesbians, he said he decided to join the exodus to Europe.
“We don’t have to worry about people killing us or finding about our relationship or torturing us... We just feel like we now have a right to live like any other human,” he said.
Widely differing views
Yet opinions among refugees regarding gays and lesbians differ widely and are often very nuanced. Speaking to asylum seekers outside of Luxembourg’s main refugee registration centre, some strongly denounced gays and lesbians and said they should not be tolerated.
Others, such as Ali Ahmad Haydari, a 25-year-old father of four who said he had lost two of his children during the war in Afghanistan, said accepting gay rights came with the territory of a new life in Europe. “I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “I like the freedom here. Everybody should live as they want.”
Across Europe, gay, lesbian and transgender migrants say they suffer from verbal, physical and sexual abuse in refugee shelters, and some have been forced to move out. Associated Press has unearthed scores of documented cases in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, with the abuse usually coming from fellow refugees and sometimes security staff and translators.