As a queer Syrian man, Khaled Alesmael remains “cautious” about the rebel leadership who have taken over his home country. Having watched LGBTQ+ people jailed for their sexuality throughout his lifetime, and forced to flee to Europe himself, he believes there is a long way to go before Syria accepts his community. “I lost trust in people who are in power in the past 12 years,” Alesmael says. “The revolution started in 2011 peacefully. People were on the streets with flowers, demanding freedom. It was a civil movement and uprising against a dictator. We believed all the promises from international communities and the media, and trusted that Syrians who are vulnerable would be helped. “But as we saw, Syrians are vulnerable and under threat of expressing their opinions. We trusted Arab leaders as part of the Arab Spring [a series of uprisings and anti-government protests across the Arab world in the early 2010s] that they would make some change, but our trust in people in power is broken. It will take time.”