When Felix fled Turkmenistan in October last year, he left behind his wife and children. It was, he says, “the toughest decision” he’s ever made, but he had no choice. Turkmenistan is a totalitarian state with an extremely poor human rights record. A culture of surveillance makes life suffocating and oppressive. Unregistered religious groups are systematically persecuted. Critically, in Felix's case, the penalty for same-sex relations is two years in prison.
Felix, whose name has been changed, knew he was gay from age eight. By 15, word had got out that he had been intimate with other men. The rumours brought shame upon his family. “I would rather you were dead,” his father told him. Felix was bullied and regularly beaten up. He was prescribed tranquillisers and told to see a hypnotherapist who sought to convince him he was straight. Under pressure from his family, he married a woman when he was in his twenties. They had three children before splitting up.
