Where Love Is Illegal: Stories from persecuted LGBTI communities

Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches a platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage.
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Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
“I’m afraid every night. I don’t know if there is someone out there waiting for me.”- Lindeka is a lesbian woman from South Africa. She is a survivor of three violent homophobic attacks. Photo by Robin Hammond. Where Love Is Illegal is a Witness Change project.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
“Hold my hand, this is my reward for your courage.” D & O are a lesbian couple in Russia. They were attacked in the street because they were holding hands. Photo by Robin Hammond. This is a Witness Change project.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
“God should take your life away so that everyone will have peace because you have caused such shame to our family.” - Buje is a young gay man from northern Nigeria. He was taken from his home, arrested, held in prison for 40 days, and sentenced to 15 lashes with a horse whip. Sadly, some consider him lucky. Under Sharia law, he could have been executed for consensual same-sex activity. Since Nigeria’s president signed a harsh law criminalizing homosexuality throughout the country, arrests of gay people have multiplied. Photo by Robin Hammond. Where Love Is Illegal is a Witness Change project.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
“In the year 2009 I got married to Steven, and it was the first gay marriage in my country. Then it was not allowed for gay people to get married in my country. In December 2009 I was arrested along with Steven. It was a very painful experience because it was my first time to be in prison.” - Steven Monjeza Soko and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were arrested in their home country of Malawi and in 2010 they were both charged with buggery and permitting buggery. They were convicted and sentenced to the maximum penalty of fourteen years. According to the sentencing magistrate, the severity of the sentence was justified to protect Malawian society: “I will give you a scaring sentence so that the public be protected from people like you, so that we are not tempted to emulate this horrendous example.” Consequently, the case attracted an international outcry and both were later pardoned on condition that they do not have any future contact with each other. Following release, fearing attack, Tiwonge fled to South Africa.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
“I don’t want to describe what I felt that evening and how much I was scared, because I don’t want to remember these attacks over and over again, it’s very painfully… Now as I am writing this, I’m hold back the tears because of the shame, because it seems like it's forever, so it will be again and again. And the anger is so much. I’m sick of always being the victim.” Ruslan is a young gay man from Russia and a survivor of multiple homophobic attacks. Photo by Robin Robin Hammond. This is a Witness Witness Change project. Follow Where Love Is Illegal to see more stories of survival.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
"I'm lonely, homeless, in fear why because I decided to be who I am. Well who I am? I am Abinaya Jayaraman Transwomen, my gender is my identity and why i'm punished." - Abinaya is a transgender woman from Malaysia. Photo by Robin Hammond. Where Love Is Illegal is a Witness Change project.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
“You think you are man! I’m going to make you pregnant and I’m going to kill you”. Milli describes being strangled with a piece of wire until she lost consciousness “and then he did what he was doing, for hours!” Milli is a lesbian woman from SouthAfrica. Her attacker was eventually caught but only after a concerted campaign by Free Gender, a black South African lesbian organization working to end homophobia. Photo by Robin Hammond. This is a Witness Change project. Follow Where Love Is Illegal to see more stories of survival.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
Imran writes about the day his mother disowned him: "She walked away and left me on my knees begging for her at least listen to what I have to say… I left school while being mocked, laughed at, on that day hated myself to the extreme I felt I wasn’t worthy living, where was I to start from? How when the only person I trusted in the world turned her back on me? And this was the beginning of my suffering.” Photo by Robin Hammond . This is a Witness Change project. Follow Where Love Is Illegal to see more stories of survival.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
“We are a lesbian married couple though not recognized because in Uganda society lesbianism as an abnormality, an outcast, a disease that needs to be cured.” Photo by Robin Hammond. This is a Witness Change project. Follow Where Love Is Illegal to see more stories of survival.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
“They put a black cloth bags over my head. They continued to punch and kick me. I would never know where it was coming from. They were doing the same to the others… We could hear each other being tortured.” “I look normal to others but… Silence lives inside me in the darkness of fear and a despotic desperation…which settled in the hidden parts of the soul.” – Gad, a gay man from Syria, was arrested with 26 others in a bathhouse in Lebanon. They were tortured and imprisoned for 28 days while they awaited trial for “Homosexuality” which under article 534 of the Lebanese Penal code prohibits sexual relations that "contradict the laws of nature" and is punishable by up to a year in prison. Photo by Robin Robin Hammond. This is a Witness Witness Change project. Follow Where Love Is Illegal to see more stories of survival.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
"At first they threatened to cut my head off... they would place the knife on my neck and say to me - are you ready to die?” ‘M’ (name withheld) was a medical professional in Syria. He was kidnapped by Jabhat al-Nusra, a branch of al-Queda, because he is gay. He was released after his family paid a ransom. Later, when ISIS took over the area, they came looking for him, claiming that under their law, he must be killed because of his sexuality. ‘M’ escaped to Lebanon, where he is awaiting resettlement. Photo by Robin Hammond. This is a Witness Change project. Follow Where Love Is Illegal to see more stories of survival.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
'B’, a gay man from Kenya, met David on a beach in the coastal city of Mombasa, “It was first sight love”. They planned to marry, but at the wedding party, they were attacked by a homophobic mob. David was stabbed in the chest, although he survived. B continued to receive threats and was encouraged to flee to South Africa. Life was very hard there though. He was mugged and threatened because of his sexuality and because he was a foreigner. Unable to work, he became desperately poor. A few months later, B learned that David had died in a car accident. From the tiny tin shack in which he lived, B told us he often dreamed about David and the life he hoped they would have had together. Three months after this photo was taken, B fell ill, and suddenly died. His friends asked that we keep his story alive by sharing it. Photo by Robin Hammond. This is a Witness Change project. Follow Where Love Is Illegal for more stories.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
“At school, the teacher asked me if I was a boy or a girl. I didn’t know what to say. The neighbours were talking about me, everybody was talking about me. I was not happy, I was feeling sad all the time. But I had my beloved sister who told me that I shouldn’t worry and be proud about who I am.” - Naze Flavier is from Burundi. She fled to South Africa seeking safety and acceptance of who she is: a transgender woman. Instead she ended up homeless and the victim of rape. She is being assisted by PASSOP, an organization that helps refugees and immigrants in South Africa. Photo by Robin Hammond. This is a Witness Change project. Follow Where Love Is Illegal to see more stories of survival.
Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond launches Where Love Is Illegal platform for LGBTI communities to share stories of discrimination and courage
"Despite the blatant homophobia and discrimination on the part of the Russian government, us, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, have no need to hide, have no need to be afraid, but on the contrary - we need to face the future, if so, it can't be anything other than bright and cheery. Everything is in our hands.” – Grisha is a gay man and LGBT activist from Russia. He lost his job as a teacher because of his activism and his sexuality. He now works as a dragqueen. Photo by Robin Hammond. This is a Witness Change project.
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From the Series

In June 2015 the online platform Where Love Is Illegal was launched to provide LGBTI communities with a space to share stories of discrimination and survival. Individuals are encouraged to share their moving, personal accounts alongside images and portraits.

Through highly visual storytelling, the site hopes to transform opinions, open minds and eventually change policies.

“Bigotry thrives where fear causes us to be silent,” says founder Robin Hammond, an award-winning human rights photographer.

Today there are still 76 countries where same-sex relationships are illegal, and five in which they are punishable by death. Where Love Is Illegal has shared stories from people living in Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Syria and Russia in the hopes of bringing to light the laws that discriminate against people and the social injustices that LGBTI communities are forced to live with every day. It is a platform, says Hammond, where the voices of the LGBTI communities can be heard louder than those who speak out against them.

The idea for the project began when Hammond was in Nigeria in mid-2014 and met a group of five young men who had been arrested and flogged for being gay. Homeless and in hiding, Hammond was struck by how afraid and uncertain these men were. A few weeks later Hammond returned, took portraits of the five men and recorded their stories. With these images he applied for a Getty Grant for Good, and less than a year later Where Love Is Illegal was launched.

Hammond strongly believes in the power of photography to create an instant, emotional connection to the subject. It was important to him that each person’s story was told in a way they felt comfortable with. Many of the subjects hide their faces to protect their identities, and all were given veto power over images they felt put their safety at risk. Alongside each photo is an unedited statement, published exactly as the subject wrote them. They are testimonies of the discrimination they suffered and the courage they displayed.

The images are shared on the Where Love Is Illegal website as well as on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter with the call for others to join in the conversation.

Witness Change, the organisation behind the platform, is a non-profit started by Hammond that raises money to support on-the-ground organisations working to promote human rights. Where Love Is Illegal is raising money to support three grass roots organisations:

Hope Alive Initiative, a voluntary group that offers support to LGBTI communities in northeastern Nigeria. Funds raised will be used to build an office, a safe house, and provide condoms to clients.

Kuchu Times, a Ugandan LGBTI publishing house that aim to combat the spread of intolerance through the Ugandan media. In late 2014 Kuchu Times printed a 72-page magazine called Bombastic and will use funds to print additional copies for distribution and to create an international magazine in collaboration with Witness Change that offers LGBTI communities more chance to share their stories.

PASSOP in South Africa offers support and assistance to refugees. South Africa is the only African country accepting asylum pleas based on persecution against sexual minorities. However, there systems are often inefficient and many are still turned away. PASSOP offers assistance with legal advice and documentation and helps raise awareness of the difficulties faced by LGBTI refugees.