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There were tears of joy for Anas Qartoumeh as he carried the flag at Kelowna Pride. And while he had nothing but positive reaction here, from his native Syria, the response has been upsetting.
People he considered friends back in Syria have lashed-out.
"They were very tough on me and they attacked me on the media, on my LinkedIn, on my Facebook everywhere," he said, "sending me bad messages. Especially my very close friends, they cut me off totally."
Qartoumeh said his old friends back home believe he faked being gay to gain refugee status.
"It was a little bit tough, especially the first months after the Pride," admitted Qartoumeh. "But now I'm stronger than before."
On the brighter side, people from Syria and other countries have reached-out to him about their own sexual identities.
"Some of them asking me, 'how did you do that?' and some of them, they didn't accept themselves, and they are asking me to help them accept themselves."
In Syria, homosexuality is a crime and people are jailed for it. But it's the religious community there that is even more frightening because as far as that group of people is concerned, the correct punishment is death.
"It's happened. We saw a lot of people killed."
As for others coming from places where those views are widely held, Qartoumeh admit's it's a very challenging subject. He hopes that our Canadian values will convince people to give up those ideas.
"The only solution is let them come and educate them."
He said he believes it's his responsibility to give back by speaking-out. "That's why I am happy to share my story because I feel like it influences other people."
Qartoumeh works as a senior accountant at KPMG.
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