The years of abuse that Yahyia Al-Zindani suffered for being a trans man came to a boiling point on one traumatic night in August 2019. As he hid in his locked bedroom, he said his father screamed threats to murder him through the door. In fear of his life, that night he fled his homeland of Yemen.
Despite escaping his family, the shadow of threat still weighs heavily upon him. He has to live in hiding from fear of a so-called ‘honour’ killing. He is only 23 but feels like he has gone through “a million lifetimes of torture”.
And he has the additional pain of missing the family he still loves. He told openDemocracy: “I miss Yemen. I miss home and I miss my family so bad, even though they hate me and they would kill me if I go back. But I still love them and it hurts to miss them while they are hating me this bad. I miss my friends and I miss being not afraid of anything, knowing that my family has my back. But now I have no one.”
