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‘I still wake up at night’: Syrian men and transgender rape survivors struggle in Lebanon

LGBT survivors of sexual violence told Human Rights Watch that accessing services for their physical and psychological trauma is a challenge in Lebanon.
Activists from of the Lebanese LGBT community take part in a protest outside the Hbeish police station in Beirut on May 15, 2016, demanding the release of four transsexual women and calling for the abolishment of article 534 of the Lebanese Penal code, which prohibits having sexual relations that "contradict the laws of nature". / AFP / ANWAR AMRO        (Photo credit should read ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Gay and bisexual men and transgender women who fled to Lebanon to escape sexual violence in Syria’s war are struggling with extreme physical and psychological trauma, made worse by a lack of available health services in their host country. 

Forty LGBT survivors in Lebanon, which hosts more than 1 million Syrian refugees, told the New York-based nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch they were targeted with sexual violence by various actors during Syria’s conflict. 

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