"I dream of living in a country where I can walk down the street and hold my boyfriend's hand."

A year after being crowned Mr. Gay Syria in a contest held in Turkey, one man is now fearing for his life in the increasingly anti-LGBT country.

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When Hussein (who’s asked to keep his full name private) first arrived in Istanbul in 2014, it felt like the beginning of a new chapter. The 24-year-old hairdresser had just left Syria, escaping both a family that didn’t approve of his gay identity and the pain of seeing his boyfriend violently executed by ISIS.

In Istanbul, he found acceptance, which culminated in his competing in and eventually winning the Mr. Gay Syria contest.

The competition was organized by Mahmoud Hassino, a Syrian refugee working for a Berlin-based LGBT support center. At the time, Hassino said the pageant was meant to create a “media buzz” around Istanbul’s LGBT community and raise awareness about the stigma many gay, bisexual and transgender refugees face.

“I want to show that Syrian gays are not just bodies thrown off buildings by ISIS; we have dreams and ideas and we want to live our lives,” Hussein told the Daily Mail. “Of course we were nervous but we we’re excited—we all wanted to be Mr Gay Syria to do something empowering.”

The night of the competition was a memorable one as dozens of people packed a downtown club to watch the contestants strut their stuff. The mood seemed to indicate a renewed acceptance of Istanbul’s LGBT community—unfortunately, this tolerance would not last the year.

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According to activists in Turkey, hate crimes quickly rose in the months following the competition as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attempted to restrict freedoms not in line with his religious beliefs, such as banning Istanbul Pride because it fell during Ramadan.

LGBT citizens took to the streets in June 2016 to protest the ban, but were met with tear gas and rubber bullets from police in riot gear. Two months later, a young trans woman was murdered and set on fire in a middle-class neighborhood of the city.

“There used to be parts of the city where you could openly show that you’re gay, where no one cared who you are,” Hussein explained to DW. “That’s no longer possible.”

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Of the original five Mr. Gay Syria contestants, three have already fled the country out of fear of discrimination and persecution. Hussein plans to follow suit soon with his boyfriend.

For his part, Hassino has remained in contact with all the participants and petitioned the German government to provide safe refuge for them, hoping “authorities don’t need something concrete to happen first” before offering asylum.

While Hussein has many aspirations, one of his deepest desires is a simple yet progressively more difficult one to fulfill: “I dream of living in a country where I can walk down the street and hold my boyfriend’s hand.”

For more information on LGBT refugees, check out the video below.

