‘Exposing our affairs meant death’: LGBTQ Saudis forced into exile
- Some LGBTQ Saudis felt they had to flee their home country, as gay rights remain a social taboo in the Gulf kingdom governed by sharia law
- Under Saudi law, homosexuality is an offence potentially punishable by death
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Soon after his disclosure, Turki found himself effectively detained by his parents and brothers, confined to a room and barred from attending his university classes.
“When my mother learned of my sexual orientation, she said to me, ‘You are not my son’,” he recalled. “My father and brothers beat me, and I was prevented from going out and meeting my friends for weeks.”
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The reform agenda has included the sidelining of religious police, the introduction of cinemas and all-night desert raves.
Some LGBTQ Saudis felt they were left with no option but to flee their home country, as Turki did within months of coming out, after saving enough money for an international flight.
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“I left in the night and travelled to London for good,” he said from his new home.
Now Turki, who asked to be identified by first name only for safety reasons, enjoys “a modest life in a shared flat” that he said, most importantly, is “full of freedom”.
Under Saudi law, homosexuality is an offence potentially punishable by death, but rights groups say it is hard to determine the extent to which authorities enforce it.
And in an opinion piece published in Saudi newspaper Okaz, columnist Fahad Deghaither argued earlier this month that while his country opposes such “lack of modesty”, homosexuality “has existed since before the emergence of some prophets, and we have not heard of any homosexual held accountable for his behaviour which he did not choose in the first place”.
Still, it seems impossible for sexual minorities to feel welcome, with censorship of LGBTQ references in films and even a state media report last year showing a crackdown on rainbow-coloured toys and clothing in shops in the capital Riyadh.
The reported death by suicide of a transgender woman last month after her return to the kingdom has further exacerbated fears.
No matter what reforms happen, I can’t imagine that society [Saudi Arabia] will recognise us. We have no place.
“Despite the radical social reforms and the electric shock approach [Prince Mohammed] has to soften the social norms in Saudi society,” anything related to LGBTQ rights is “very, very sensitive”, said Yasmine Farouk of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “It is still an Arab Muslim society within a region where this issue remains a … tense one.”
Turki, like some other LGBTQ Saudis, sees little hope for change.
“No matter what reforms happen, I can’t imagine that society will recognise us,” he said. “We have no place.”
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Several LGBTQ exiles said the story of Eden Knight, a transgender Saudi woman feared to have taken her life after returning from the US, showed their concerns were justified.
“I have tried killing myself in the past, but … I survived,” the note said. “This time, I am done.”
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Knight has not been heard from since.
Agence France-Presse has not been able to confirm what happened to her. Saudi authorities did not respond to a request for comment.
It is “very difficult” for many Saudis to understand transgender identity, said a transgender woman who requested anonymity.
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Hind, a Saudi lesbian now based in Wales who asked to use a pseudonym for safety concerns, said fleeing was a matter of survival. “Exposing our affairs in Saudi Arabia meant death,” she said.
Now Hind feels free to share pictures holding hands with her girlfriend, but her fears have not fully gone away: the couple’s faces are covered with smiley faces, ensuring no one can recognise them.
