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Please help a gay woman

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I have been told I should write a book on my life. In just a few minutes’ read, I will tell you why. I am a 19 year old woman who was raised in a country where human rights violations take place daily to millions of its habitants. My father brought us to the UK when I was 9, where I experienced true freedom for the first time. It is also when I discovered I am romantically and emotionally attracted to other girls. And while I respect Islam and all of my Muslim friends, I denounced the religion as it did not fit with my own beliefs, as it is my right to do so. Did you know that these two things are enough to persecute you legally and socially in the country I was raised? After my father found out about this, he forcefully brought me to that country. I faced psychological and physical abuse from both of my parents as a punishment for my lack of religious belief and my romantic orientation. For the years that I remained there, I lived a life of lying and covering up who I truly am in my heart. I attempted suicide twice, and saw no future for myself. But a beacon of hope came to me. I met the love of my life online. My father spied on my online activities, and no matter how hard I tried to delete my conversations and my online profiles, he came to find out about this. He took away all internet access from me and threatened to marry me off to a man of his choice if he came to find out about my ‘crimes’ again. I was only 17. I lived like this until I was 18. I did not give up on my hope to live a free life, and on my love for the woman I will marry one day. The British Embassy and some very generous donators helped me escape the country to live with my partner. I walked barefoot from my old home to the taxi stop at 4AM the morning I left, carrying nothing but the clothes on my back, a laptop bag with an old second hand phone, a toothbrush, some garments and a book on personal development. The only document I had was my British passport-no birth certificate, no high school certificates..nothing. My beloved helped me build a new life. I started from nothing to having a job with two promotions within a year and my own self employed writing service. I work 12 hours on an average day on both of my jobs combined to be able to pay my bills and put food on the table, and afford just a few simple luxuries. My partner and I made blissful plans of settling in the UK and marrying. That was going to be my happily ever after. Or so I thought. Last week, the Security of State of the UK found out that my parents’ UK citizenship was obtained by fraud…meaning mine was too. But I was a non-complicit minor at the time my citizenship was granted. The day I found this out, everything that I had struggled for to build this new life fell apart. My job, my relationship and my human rights are at risk once again, through no fault of my own. I need to fight a legal case to be able to remain in the Europe. My father is a well-connected, corrupt businessman. If I return to, my father will find me at all costs. What he will do to me afterwards, I fear even thinking about. When someone asks me where I am from, I say I am British, without missing a heartbeat. By my heart, I have always accepted and embraced the UK as my true home, the country that I have my true loyalty for. All my childhood TV shows, books and movies, heroes and celebrities are from the UK. I have already paid high fees to try to obtain my legal documents from the to prove my innocence and my identity. I have the human right to continue to live a stable life and not live in fear of persecution, and to be able to marry my partner one day. I am already struggling to get by. I will have to pay amounts up to £5000 pounds to defend my case, or even more. I am not able to earn this amount of money even in a few months, and that is assuming I don’t pay taxes, rent, bills and food expenses. I could lose my job, sooner or later, and these fundings will help me survive while I look for other income sources. In the worst case scenario, I could face deportation in the country I cannot survive in any way. I have to do whatever necessary to make sure this doesn’t happen. All and any donations will be enormously appreciated towards my legal and other expenses to protect myself from removal from Europe. Help me fight for my rights as a gay woman and remain in a country where I can live in safety and liberty. I cannot disclose my actual name, country of residence or the country where I was raised due to private reasons. Thank you for understanding.

Organizer and beneficiary

Amy Ra
Organizer
Saba Shah
Beneficiary
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