Electrical Cables and Gay Men

full name: But Rasheed, who requested not to have his full name used for this story because he hasn’t told his family about his sexuality, believes the real motive came to the fore the day he and a few fellow gay men were carted off to a local jail, according to Toronto Star. The police who blindfolded him and beat him with electrical cables made revealing comments after seizing his cellphone containing pictures and videos that made his sexual preferences plain. He and his friends had begun receiving unwelcome attention from cops in his hometown of Damascus as early as 2012, and they were told that perceived opposition to Syria extremist government was the reason for the increasingly tense encounters. Amid derogatory taunts and homophobic slurs, he said the officers threatened him with much worse. ‘We’re going to castrate you ... We’re going to rape you. Such attitudes — the norm in his homeland, says the 32-year-old — were what allowed Rasheed to successfully claim refugee status in Canada and begin a new life. You’ll never see this world again,’ Rasheed said they told him. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.