Growing up, Anna* always knew she was a lesbian. She also knew that her life would be at risk if anybody found out.
Anna lived in Georgia, where she says “most [people] are homophobic”. From a young age, she realised that her sexuality would be treated, at best, as a mental illness, at worst – in the words of one homophobic Georgian politician – a “perversion” and a threat.
Determined that no one would know her secret, Anna married a man and started a family. But the strain of hiding her sexuality while in an abusive marriage pushed her mental health to the brink – she lived with a constant fear and knew that she would be safe only if she fled not just her marriage, but her country.
