Mahad, 25, and Yan, 21, are asylum seekers who came to the UK to escape homophobia in their home country. But since they arrived, they have been shocked to experience a different kind of intolerance – racism on the gay scene.
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New to the UK, on a night out in Soho, brothers Mahad and Yan were exploring what central London’s gay scene had to offer.
Excitedly, they waited in the frosty night air to get into one of the area’s more famous gay venues.
“But after queuing for ages, we were told: ‘Sorry you can’t go in,’” says Mahad. “The guy behind me was let in. He happened to be white,” he adds.
Yan says: “It was obvious they were discriminating because of our skin colour.”
They had better luck getting into another venue. But once inside, they began to wonder why they bothered. Both young men are Muslims and choose not to drink alcohol.
“When I ordered a soft drink, I was told: “Oh you don’t drink, Cheap date! Boring!” says Yan.
Throughout the night, the brothers were on the receiving end of many other remarks, ranging from the thoughtless to the plain racist.
“Just because you’re brown skinned and from another country, older guys think they can have you because you’re desperate.”
What Yan and Mahad experienced that night was not untypical of nights out the young men have had on the gay scene.
“The racism I have faced in London is shocking,” says Yan.
Mahad fled from the country where he was born to the UK three years ago. Yan joined him last year. In their home country, a gay rights movement barely exists and you could be jailed for up to five years if caught committing a homosexual act.
The young men said they could not go into detail of where they have fled from incase it affected their asylum cases.
But in recent years, hopes of gaining residency in the UK have increased for asylum seekers like Yan and Mahad.
Last year, the Home Office told the UK Border Agency that new rules on protecting LGBT people fleeing persecution should be applied "with immediate effect".
The government said relevant cases should be "flagged and recorded", although ministers later admitted to not having accurate data about how many successful applications were based on sexual orientation.
The brothers now temporarily live in Enfield, north London, and are awaiting decisions on their asylum applications.
“I came here to be myself – gay,” says Yan. “Back in my country, I couldn’t be who I really am.”
“But the prejudice in London is more than I thought,” says Mahad. “It’s another kind of prejudice. People have stereotypes about people with brown skin.”
A recent study by gay men’s health charity GMFA highlighted how gay ethnic minorities face “a dual challenge” of racial prejudice and homophobia.
GMFA spokesman Matthew Hodson said: “There is a definite need for more research on community building and issues of identities.”
The past year has seen rising tension between gay and Muslim communities in some parts of the country.
Tower Hamlets in east London is a striking example of one of those areas.
Earlier this year, flyers were posted near to gay pubs in the borough stating: "Arise and warn. Gay free zone. Verily Allah is severe in punishment."
Mohammed Hasnath, 18, from Tower Hamlets, was later fined for putting up the homophobic flyers. Meanwhile, gay rights march East London Pride was cancelled in April after it was alleged one of its organisers, Raymond Berry, had links to the far-right English Defence League.
Mr Berry and the original organising committee resigned and it has been reported he no longer has links to the far-right group.
Yusef , 27, is a Muslim gay man who lives in Tower Hamlets and runs Imaan welfare service, part of an online support service for Muslims who are gay.
"Any problems faced on the gay scene - you can double them," he says.
He recalls some of his own experiences of intolerance.
“Visually, I’m white, but I’m Arab so people have said to me ‘oh, you must be one of those really religious jihad types,’” he says. “When we go out, some of us pray,” adds Yusef, who has lived in London for five years and is foster parent to a 16-year-old girl.
“A couple of us were praying in Soho Square during Ramadan.”
“People were stopping and staring. One of them asked: ‘What the f*ck is he doing? Isn’t he meant to be gay?’”
Yusef thinks such racist behaviour is exacerbated by a lack of understanding of religion.
“Many people assume that religion is homophobic - that if you’re gay and religious you’re going to go to hell,” he says.
“People find it hard to understand how you can keep your faith and live as a gay man.”
He gives the example of how he was once told by a transsexual person that he should not be a Muslim because Sharia law would “stone me and I’d burn in hell”.
“The problem is that gay men already face prejudice from people who live heteronormative lifestyles so they try to avoid anything that represents that behaviour,” he says.
“Most gay men class religion as heteronormativity, therefore think ‘why would you associate yourself with that?’”
“People find it hard to comprehend that you can be comfortable in your sexuality and your religion,” he adds.
“Faith classes at school rarely touch on LGBT issues and for many young people it’s ingrained in them that being gay is wrong.
“They live dual identities so once they’ve dealt with being gay, they then have to deal with what religion thinks.”
“They decide to leave religion to one side and think – I’ll just be gay for now.
“That creates ignorance and racism.”
But he says he does not let being gay affect his religious beliefs.
“I eat Halal food, I pray as much as I can, I’m monogamous with my partner, I lead a religious life,” he says.
“The Koran tells you to read and research and there are lots of interpretations,” he explains.
“The book doesn’t only say ‘he’ or ‘she’. It also talks about mates. It also talks about the third sex. If homosexuality didn’t existent it wouldn’t talk about these things.
“Meanwhile, there has been an increase in Imams who are understanding of gay issues.”
But he says, “for being Muslim and gay to be normalised by society, there’s still a long, long way to go”.
- Photo by Malc Stone.