Sources have documented abuses against LGBTIQ individuals during the Syrian conflict by state770 and non-state actors,771 including HTS.772
The Guardians of Equality Movement (GEM), the first Syrian LGBTIQ organisation,773 documented ‘waves of violence’ against several Syrian transgender women in the first two months of 2025,774 implicating both non-state armed groups and security forces in multiple cities.775 In February 2025, online videos reportedly showed Syrian authorities arresting transgender individuals.776 According to the GEM, since December 2024, armed groups linked to the new authorities as well as non-state actors were implicated in serious violations against LGBTIQ individuals including ‘entrapment through dating apps, home raids, abductions, arbitrary arrests, torture, humiliation, threats of physical violence and disfigurement, as well as other dangerous practices such as forced filming and public shaming’.777
Sources indicate that homophobia is prevalent in Syrian society.778 According to confidential sources interviewed by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as of September 2025 the situation of LGBTIQ individuals ‘did not change’, with LGBTIQ related issues remaining ‘a major taboo’ in Syrian society.779 LGBTIQ individuals in Syria were in general not open about their sexual orientation or gender identity, due to the risk of family and social rejection, stigmatisation, discrimination and violence.780 The Beirut-based media outlet Daraj noted that there was no legislation in Syria protecting LGBTIQ individuals from violence and discrimination.781 According to a May 2026 report by the GEM, LGBTIQ individuals often refrain from reporting crimes for fear that disclosing their identity will result in them being framed as perpetrators, leaving them unprotected against homophobic or transphobic violence.782
- 770
BBC News, 'I was raped by Assad's thugs - but I'm no longer afraid to show my face', 23 December 2024, url; GEM, We Are Here, We Are Syrian, We Are Queer, Get Used to It, 2024, url, pp. 17 – 20
- 771
GEM, We Are Here, We Are Syrian, We Are Queer, Get Used to It, 2024, url, pp. 17 – 20
- 772
GEM, We Are Here, We Are Syrian, We Are Queer, Get Used to It, 2024, url, p. 19
- 773
GEM, Who We Are?, n.d., url
- 774
GEM, LGBTQIA+ Individuals In Syria After The Fall Of The Assad Regime, 19 April 2025, url, p. 2
- 775
GEM, LGBTQIA+ Individuals In Syria After The Fall Of The Assad Regime, 19 April 2025, url, pp. 2, 7, 8; Worldcrunch, As Syria Faces New Divides, LGBTQ+ Hate Remains The Most Reliable Consensus, 22 February 2025, url
- 776
Worldcrunch, As Syria Faces New Divides, LGBTQ+ Hate Remains The Most Reliable Consensus, 22 February 2025, url; Jerusalem Post (The), Syrian security forces beat, insult transgender woman after series of anti-LGBT arrests, 7 February 2025, url
- 777
GEM, Urgent Statement on The Campaign of Violations of Torture and Arrest, Against Sexual and Gender Minorities in Syria, 11 February 2025, url
- 778
GEM, We Are Here, We Are Syrian, We Are Queer, Get Used to It, 2024, url, p. 21; Metro, ‘I was tortured in Syria for being gay — now I’m terrified what the future will bring’, updated 10 January 2025, url; Worldcrunch, As Syria Faces New Divides, LGBTQ+ Hate Remains The Most Reliable Consensus, 22 February 2025, url
- 779
Netherlands (The), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Country of Origin Information Report on Syria, January 2026, url, p. 108
- 780
Netherlands (The), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Country of Origin Information Report on Syria, January 2026, url, p. 108
- 781
Daraj, Queer Syrians in Germany: We Dream of a Country that Protects Us, 8 September 2025, url
- 782
GEM, Syria: The Legal Position on LGBTQIA+ Individuals’ “Fear of Entering the Police Station and Not Exiting”, 5 May 2026, url, p. 6