Whisper is an app that lets users post anonymously about any subject. Previously we shared with you 16 of the best and worst coming out stories from around the country. They range from the charming — “I came out of the closet to my mom. She came out to me too” to the distraught — “I came out to my family last week. They all hate me now and call me scum. It hurts but I can’t help the way I am. They should love me regardless.”
We wanted to widen the lens even more and look at global LGBT experiences, so we asked the Whisper team to compile some data from some traditionally antigay parts of the world to get firsthand accounts. The stories people share can be heartbreaking, but the app offers an interesting cross section of where we’re at as a society.
Scroll down to see the troubling accounts they found:
Location: Quetta, Pakistan
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Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Location: Zahle, Lebanon
Location: Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Location: Amman, Jordan
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Location: Kampala, Uganda
Location: Accra, Ghana
Location: Baku, Azerbaijan
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Location: Tunis, Tunisia
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Location: Harare, Zimbabwe
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Location: Uyo, Nigeria
Location: Kharghar, India
Billysees
Make friends with like minded people.
Cherish those friendships.
It’s a start.
catsura
The world would be a better place if all deity type religions where abolished from the planet. We have had 10,000 years of persecution of people who are different based on the belief that some being created us. Get rid of the fantasy and start thinking for yourself…you’ll find you don’t need the crap to be a good human.
Stache99
I’m sorry that you all have to live in those corrupt sand or African shit holes. The best you can all do is get out.
onthemark
“Need some hot lesbian fucking,” really? Looks like a straight guy found the site and was trying to be “funny.”
The others are pretty heartbreaking. But it’s important to remember that only 50 or so years ago, gays in the U.S. weren’t that much better off. Homosexuality was essentially illegal here too.
A century ago the best country for gays was probably Germany, even in the kaiser’s time and famously later on in the Weimar Republic. Unfortunately that went backwards just a few years later. The first country to formally legalize homosexuality was Russia, of all places (1917 or 18), and look how that turned out in the long run.
jd2222248
I will say it again, gay Americans don’t know how good they have it. I live in the Middle East and I am an American. I have many GLBT friends in the Middle East whose family force them to marry.
I read so many comments on this website of endless bickering when people are being killed for being GLBT and it’s legal.
Sweet Boy
The funny thing is that many of them move to the West, and once they get here they become as homophobic as the Iman next door instead of enjoying the freedom they find here. Here in Montreal we have a lot of immigrants from the Middle East, lots of students come from Morocco, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tunisia, Egypt, many of them choose to come here for the openness and freedom gay people enjoy here in Canada, half of my building is inhabited by McGill U students from the Middle East and most of them are on Scruff, Grindr and other apps, yet they have this crappy attitude and look down on other local gay students
james_in_cambridge
what’s up with the comment bot flagging everything in sight today?
ait10101
I loved the Lebanon one. I grew up with this sort of hate in Canada (and the US) as teen. There is hope. Look at how Latin America has recently caught up to and even passed the US in some cases.
SnakeyJ
I don’t believe these are real. Many are mentioning coming out to parents but in a country that would kill gays, i think that’s the least of their concerns.
Leonard Woodrow
The sooner we ditch religion and bring children up to observe the Golden Rule, the happier and safer the world will be.
erikwm
The other day I was at the boxofficemojo website and I happened to click on the facebook profile of one of the people who was shown to “like” the site in the sidebar. It was a man living in Saudi Arabia. After looking through his profile for a bit, it became apparent to me he was gay. His cover photo showed him sitting side by side with another man about his age. They weren’t touching, but u could tell there was intimacy there. One had caption it with “my (heart symbol).” It seemed so tragic. It must be so painful to know there are places in the world where u could be free, but be trapped in one where you’re not.
Kangol
@Stache99:
“Krasnoyarsk, Russia”, “Quetta, Pakistan,” and “Dhaka, Bangladesh” are not “sand or African shit holes.” Your r@cist comment about the Middle East and Africa is pretty ugly; please take it elsewhere.
And don’t forget, there are raging homophobes who oppress LGBTIQ in the United States of America, making our lives a living hell too. LGBTIQ kids are sent to ex-gay camps; you can be fired from your job, lose your children and apartment, etc., for being thought to be gay in a large number of states, and so on.
It’s not all sweetness and fun here in the USA, you know, though things have gotten much better!
Cam
The more rights spread the more obvious the hatred and bigotry of the govt. and cultural attitudes that are anti-gay.
It will still be difficult for people in these countries, but if they see on TV, that countries have things that they associate with living their lives, marriage, family, civil rights, if they see gay govt. officials, gay ambassadors etc… even if they cannot put pressure on their own govts. They will know they can leave and that there are other places they can come live.
o.codone
my online friend lives in Kashmir, and there are muslims running things there, so he cannot express himself. i offered for him to come to NY, for asylum because he is gay, but he said no, he cannot leave his family. the situation is hopeless. next thing we are going to see in america, which they see in europe (London, Amsterdam) are homophobic muslim protests against art, cinema, concerts. just wait. the players are coming across the borders right now.
vive
@Stache99, “The best you can all do is get out.”
As if they had a choice. Most Western countries visa policies, including the United States’, are explicitly designed to keep out possible asylum seekers. Recent examples were cases of Ugandan LGBT activists being DENIED visas to visit the U.S. and Canada. BECAUSE they might be killed in their home countries, we (the U.S. State Department and its Canadian counterpart) cannot allow them to travel here because they might not go back as required by the conditions of the visas they have to obtain before being allowed in.
nature boy
@Leonard Woodrow: on the one hand I know what you mean, but on the other hand you should be aware that the Golden Rule was actually taught by Jesus and is in the bible. That’s how knowledge of it got to be so widespread in our western culture. The problem is the Christians who don’t follow it. There’s actually very strong messages of tolerance and love in the bible and in Christianity, and there ARE denominations who do focus on that, for example the United Church of Christ. Many others sadly don’t, in favor of their prejudices and because of simple ignorance.
According to Wikipedia, the Golden Rule is actually found in most of the major world religions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule .
Religion actually does a lot of smart and good things for people amongst the bad/stupid stuff that more regularly makes the news. It’s really not black and white that “all religion is bad.”
Billysees
@Cam:
“…even if they cannot put pressure on their own govts. They will know they can leave and that there are other places they can come live.”
The better, but hardest, thing for them to do is struggle to make their homeland like ‘other places they can come live’.
‘Letting your gay light shine’ before others can change the ‘others’.
Billysees
@nature boy:
“Religion actually does a lot of smart and good things for people… It’s really not black and white that “all religion is bad.”
Good comment.
vive
@Ca, “…even if they cannot put pressure on their own govts. They will know they can leave and that there are other places they can come live.”
No, they mostly don’t have the choice to leave, certainly not to come here, because of OUR laws. See my response to Stache99.