Gay asylum seekers face threat from fellow refugees in Europe

[Kaleidoscope]

 

DRESDEN, Germany — Rami Ktifan made a snap decision to come out. A fellow Syrian had spotted a rainbow flag lying near the 23-year-old university student’s belongings inside a packed refugee center. The curious man, Ktifan recalled, picked it up before causally asking, “What is this?†“I decided to tell the truth, that it is the flag for gay people like me,†Ktifan said. “I thought, I am in Europe now. In Germany, I should not have to hide anymore.â€

 

 

What followed over the next several weeks, though, was a litany of abuse — both verbal and physical — from other refugees, including an attempt to burn his feet in the middle of the night. The harassment ultimately became so severe that he and two other openly gay asylum seekers were removed from the refugee center with the aid of a local gay activist group and placed in separate accommodations across town.

 

As the largest number of refugees since World War II streams into Europe, Ktifan’s case illustrates an emerging problem for gay and lesbian asylum seekers. Some of them are arriving in Europe only to find themselves again under threat, this time from fellow refugees.

 

Gay asylum seekers — facing official persecution in nations like Iran and Uganda — have been fleeing to Europe for years. But experts now estimate a record number of gays and lesbians seeking asylum, as many as 50,000, will arrive this year in Germany, the European nation accepting the largest number of refugees. Rather than leaving specifically because of gay persecution, many are now simply joining the tide of humanity fleeing violence and war in nations like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

Once in Europe, however, they are quickly being herded with everyone else into cramped shelters and camps, where a number of gays and lesbians are being exposed to serious harassment.

 

So far in the city of Dresden, an eastern German metropolis of 525,000, at least seven gay asylum seekers have been removed from shelters this year for their own safety.

 

Sensing a growing threat, Berlin officials are now seeking to open the city’s first refugee center exclusively for gays and lesbians.

 

 

“Just like everyone else, with the refugees, there are good ones and bad ones, and there are those who are carrying homophobic attitudes from their homelands,â€said Jouanna Hassoun, head of the Berlin gay federation’s migrant program.“Those attitudes won’t be abandoned immediately.â€

 

 

The majority of the newcomers are undisputedly coming from nations in the Middle East and Africa with sharply different laws and social norms regarding, for example, homosexuals and women than now exist in progressive Germany. Even some here on the political right — rarely seen as champions of gay rights — have seized on gay bashing as further evidence of the dangers of accepting so many refugees who may never fully embrace modern German values.

 

“You must forget what you learned at home about what is right or wrong,†commentator Harald Martenstein recently wrote in the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel, addressing refugees. “You do not have to give up your culture, not that. But you must accept the equality of women. You must learn that homosexuals and Jews are just like everyone else. You must bear mocking and satire, even when it concerns your religion. . . . If you don’t accept these rules, you have no future here.â€

 

Ktifan and two other men -- Yousif Al Doori, 25, of Iraq, and Ahmed Suliman, 20, of Syria — said that initially they suffered only verbal abuse after word spread about their sexuality in a refugee shelter in Munich. But after they were relocated with other refugees to a longer-term facility in Dresden, things took a turn for the worse.

 

 

 

At one point, Ktifan said, another refugee slipped into his room at night, stuck pieces of paper between his toes and set them on fire. Al Doori said several male refugees from North Africa and the Middle East surrounded him and then demanded sex. He said he pretended to go with one of them willingly before running away. Ktifan, Al Doori and Suliman said they were routinely pushed and shoved by fellow refugees while in line for food. Several of the male refugees would shout at them “to go wait with the women,†Ktifan said.

 

 

 

 

The harassment became so constant that, with the aid of local gay activists, Ktifan, Al Doori and Suliman where ultimately pulled out of their refugee center last month and installed in a small separate apartment near the city center. Thedangers they faced, though, were nothing new.

 

Before fleeing for Europe, Al Doori 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. In Syria, Ktifan said he hid his sexuality from all but a select few and initially fled to Libya to escape his country’s civil war. After a Libyan man tried to blackmail him for being gay, Ktifan said he returned to Syria. But 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 thought we were leaving that kind of treatment behind,†said Suliman. “But inside the refugee center, it felt like we were back in Syria.â€

 

 

 

On a recent afternoon outside Berlin’s teeming main refugee registration center, for example, some asylum seekers asked about their beliefs strongly denounced gays and lesbians and said they should not be tolerated.

 

But others, like 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.

 

source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/gay-asylum-seekers-face-threat-from-fellow-refugees-in-europe/2015/10/23/46762ce2-71b8-11e5-ba14-318f8e87a2fc_story.html

 

[Mischo]

Those who cant accept, can kindly go back to their country. There is no future for those who cant accept rules different from their home country..

 

So much violence coming from people who supposedly are escaping war and terror..

[Manic]

what's the point in getting negged by reposting a legit news article?

[acclaim]

deport them

[♩ ♪ ♫ ♬]

 

Al Doori said several male refugees from North Africa and the Middle East surrounded him and then demanded sex. 

 

the entitlement. also doesn't it make you gay for having sex with a (gay) man?

[Hoplz]

Those who cant accept, can kindly go back to their country. There is no future for those who cant accept rules different from their home country..

 

So much violence coming from people who supposedly are escaping war and terror..

Im saying tho

[ajewcy]

a leftist delima

[양 지]

Well u know what they say; When in Rome, do what the Romans do.

[mgl]

Who would have guessed...? Oh I know! Everyone with an inkling of sanity.

Some people want to be so open and acceptant to everyone, that they end up accepting people that don't tolerate others. Acceptance of intolerance will create big issues for many.

[hallyudragon]

Leaving out the racist shitholes in Eastern Europe and Russia...

 

Most Western Europeans at least dislike Muslims. In France it's become acceptable to look down on Muslims, especially in Paris. It's one of the biggest driving forces behind the reluctance of countries in Western Europe to accept these immirgrants.

 

The word "Muslim" isn't used to refer to anyone who is Muslim, but more to refer to a certain ethnic groups who are identified by the fact that they are Muslim (like Asian in the US is used for East Asians). So this could be Somalis in Sweden or Pakistanis in Britain or now even Syrians. In Western Europe there's a lot of racism between gay "Muslims" and "Whites", you get situations like Muslims vs gays where gays are racist to Muslims. 

[DocumentaLy]

 

I'd grant him asylum...

 

 

the entitlement. also doesn't it make you gay for having sex with a (gay) man?

 

I've never got the whole "I hate gays, so I'm going to sexually harass them" thing. It's happened to so many people I know, myself included.

[Feelbro]

I'm not sure why Europe is inviting people into Europe that go against every value that Europe is founded on.

 

It's especially confusing when it's the leftists who are pushing this. Since they are the most vocal about homosexual and women's rights. Yet are inviting thousands of people over that want to stone gays to death and abuse women.

 

It's like inviting a fox into your chicken coop.

[......]

Those who cant accept, can kindly go back to their country. There is no future for those who cant accept rules different from their home country..

 

So much violence coming from people who supposedly are escaping war and terror..

 

word. Clear indication to me, that the homophobic refugees will likely not adapt to western culture...they can hop back on a boat and float home.

[Eppo]

I'm not sure why Europe is inviting people into Europe that go against every value that Europe is founded on.

 

It's especially confusing when it's the leftists who are pushing this. Since they are the most vocal about homosexual and women's rights. Yet are inviting thousands of people over that want to stone gays to death and abuse women.

 

It's like inviting a fox into your chicken coop.

They don't think that far ahead. Politicians these days live and operate in a bubble that's totally separate from the people they're supposedly representing. They don't consider potential long term consequences of their actions. Later on when these politicians do get it, they probably justify it by convincing themselves they did the right thing at the time and blame others who had to deal with the aftermath.

 

It's incredibly frustrating to watch, especially when almost everyone that isn't a politician can already see what's going on.

[Gyujin]

Send the troublemakers back. Trying to burn his feet?

[letsrewindit]

I'm not sure why Europe is inviting people into Europe that go against every value that Europe is founded on.

 

It's especially confusing when it's the leftists who are pushing this. Since they are the most vocal about homosexual and women's rights. Yet are inviting thousands of people over that want to stone gays to death and abuse women.

 

It's like inviting a fox into your chicken coop.

[azure]

I'm not sure why Europe is inviting people into Europe that go against every value that Europe is founded on.

 

It's especially confusing when it's the leftists who are pushing this. Since they are the most vocal about homosexual and women's rights. Yet are inviting thousands of people over that want to stone gays to death and abuse women.

 

It's like inviting a fox into your chicken coop.

It's just bizarre that they want to open up their doors to some of the most misogynistic and homophobic people in the world.

[hayakawa-kun]

ugh and so homophobia continues.... I was kind of expecting news like that -__-

“Those (homophobic) attitudes won’t be abandoned immediately.â€
actually it's freaking hard for adults, I've seen it a lot, same with women's rights

Several of the male refugees would shout at them “to go wait with the women,†Ktifan said.
sorry but you can't equate a sexuality with the female gender

My friends and I even volunteered to help refugees with learning the language, I really hope they behave


 

[Delincious]

Take the gays in, send back the intolerant assholes. They should go back where persecution is allowed.

[Big Stupid Jellyfish]

Those who cant accept, can kindly go back to their country. There is no future for those who cant accept rules different from their home country..

 

So much violence coming from people who supposedly are escaping war and terror..

 

QFT

[hallyudragon]

I'd grant him asylum...

 

Yeah but it's not like most Europeans care about them or think they're attractive enough to import. There are tons of gays living in homophobic countries that you could argue asylum for. What makes these so different?

 

I doubt all of these migrants actually need asylum.

 

 

Those who cant accept, can kindly go back to their country. There is no future for those who cant accept rules different from their home country..

 

So much violence coming from people who supposedly are escaping war and terror..

It's about free speech. If we limited free speech then we'd get into more trouble. Freedoms allow humanity to develop peacefully and openly. Things like feminism wouldn't develop without free speech. Europe needs to tolerate Muslims because it believes in freedoms.

[Gloupipoo]

I'm not sure why Europe is inviting people into Europe that go against every value that Europe is founded on.

 

It's especially confusing when it's the leftists who are pushing this. Since they are the most vocal about homosexual and women's rights. Yet are inviting thousands of people over that want to stone gays to death and abuse women.

 

It's like inviting a fox into your chicken coop.

[......]

 

 

It's about free speech. If we limited free speech then we'd get into more trouble. Freedoms allow humanity to develop peacefully and openly. Things like feminism wouldn't develop without free speech. Europe needs to tolerate Muslims because it believes in freedoms.

 

free speech? This is about physical threat though. 

 

I also don't personally agree with this, when a group of foreigners mass immigrate to a country and overpower an established culture with their own. It's the other way around.... immigrating Muslims need to tolerate Europe's freedoms if they want to free themselves from the places they are running away from.

[indiechingu]

Those who cant accept, can kindly go back to their country. There is no future for those who cant accept rules different from their home country..

 

So much violence coming from people who supposedly are escaping war and terror..

[hallyudragon]

free speech? This is about physical threat though. 

 

I also don't personally agree with this, when a group of foreigners mass immigrate to a country and overpower an established culture with their own. It's the other way around.... immigrating Muslims need to tolerate Europe's freedoms if they want to free themselves from the places they are running away from.

 

Europe wouldn't have "freedoms, human rights, or civil liberties" if it weren't for free speech! This is why we need to preserve free speech, so we can consider all view points!

 

Europe didn't just magic up human rights from the bible, it had to evolve it through decades of political reform.

 

I think we should try to tolerate free speech as much as possible. My biggest problem with this is why on earth we are privileging these people when there are other more useful people in need of help, especially concerning homophobia. 

 

There's also a quote from the French I want to put here (retold by me because I can't be asked to google):

"What Europe is doing with the migrant crisis, is like dealing with an bathroom flood from a broken pipe by moving water to other rooms in the house".