Dear friends –
My name is Ahmed* and I’m 18-years old. I’ve lived in Iraq my entire life.
For the first 14 years of my life, my family was everything to me. But when I came out as transgender, that changed fast.
There was hardly a day when I wasn't verbally abused, beaten, or locked up. One year was especially bad when my father wouldn't let me leave the house for 7 months straight. I felt so desperate, frightened, and alone.
Thankfully, a friend told me about a group called Rasan. With their help, I was able to leave home and find a safe place to live. They connected me to the local LGBT community, so I didn't have to be on my own.
Now, Rasan wants to make history in Iraq. With enough help, they're going to paint beautiful murals about anti-discrimination around Sulaimanyah, a city in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
These murals will let other young LGBT people know that they aren't alone. They can help change hearts and minds, so what happened to me doesn't happen to more people.
Rasan already has permission from the government to paint the public murals, they just need the funds to do it.
They pulled off a similar project in early 2017, but the murals were destroyed. This time, the murals will be in places that are harder for vandals to reach.
Rasan has received hate mail and threats because of the murals, but they're determined to continue to help spread a message of love and equality, giving hope to people who may feel as desperate as I did. They just need your help to do it.
Thanks for going All Out,
Ahmed
*I'm not using my real name, for my own security
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