For detailed information on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTIQ) persons in Syria, see section 1.3.7. LGBTIQ persons of the EUAA COI Report Syria: Country Focus (March 2025).
The Guardians of Equality Movement (GEM), the first Syrian LGBTIQ organisation,508 published a report in April 2025 documenting ‘waves of violence’ in the first two months of 2025 against several Syrian transgender women in multiple cities documented by videos showing ‘armed individuals arresting, beating, and threatening them with death and mutilation’.509 The Freedom in the World 2025 report published in February 2025, indicated that ‘individuals suspected of same-sex relations are at risk of execution by extremist groups.’510 Another source noted that severe violations occurred ‘without any official investigation’, accountability or legal response with the judiciary remaining indifferent.511 According to the GPC ‘LGBTQ+ individuals are at increasing risk of severe discrimination, legal persecution, and threats of violence.’512
Additional information on LGBTIQ persons could not be found among the sources consulted by EUAA within the time constraints of this report.
- 508
GEM, Who We Are?, n.d., url
- 509
GEM, LGBTQIA+ Individuals In Syria After The Fall Of The Assad Regime, 19 April 2025, url, p.2; Worldcrunch, As Syria Faces New Divides, LGBTQ+ Hate Remains The Most Reliable Consensus, 22 February 2025, url
- 510
Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2025 – Syria, 26 February 2025, url
- 511
Worldcrunch, As Syria Faces New Divides, LGBTQ+ Hate Remains The Most Reliable Consensus, 22 February 2025, url
- 512
GPC, Protection Landscape in Syria – A Snapshot: March 2025, 3 April 2025, url, p. 5