A recent report by a pair of human rights organizations is warning of the plight of LGBTQ people in Afghanistan, who frequently face threats of violence against them or their families, are targeted for rape, or find themselves being blackmailed ever since the Taliban took over the country last year. According to the report, from Human Rights Watch and OutRight Action International, conditions have “dramatically worsened” for LGBTQ people in Afghanistan — even though the country was never overly welcoming or accepting of homosexuality or transgender identity when the U.S.-supported government was in charge. In fact, same-sex relations were criminalized under the old regime, just as they are under the Taliban — although the Taliban appears more willing to met out extrajudicial violence against those suspected of being LGBTQ. “The danger now facing LGBT people in Afghanistan — in an environment devoid of legal protections, under authorities that have explicitly pledged not to tolerate LGBT people — is grave,” the report’s authors state.