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International Lesbian Gay Association research earned Azerbaijan the reputation of the most homophobic country in the world, the Russian service of BBC writes.

Azerbaijani painter and poet Babi Badalov, living in Paris, thinks religion is at the base of the aggressive attitude towards the representatives of sexual minorities in Azerbaijan. “Azerbaijan is a Muslim country, where countless numbers of people consider homosexuality to be the dirty West’s fruit,” Badalov said. He was forced to leave for Europe after numerous scandals and threats from his surroundings.

He told BBC that the life of the homosexuals and lesbians is under constant danger in Azerbaijan. “An enormous work must be done in Azerbaijan so that the gays have future there. First, the government must provide protection to the LGBT community,” Badalov claimed.

Nazrin, a lesbian from Baku, told BBC that in her family, only her brother and sister were aware of her sexual orientation. “Mother suspects something, I guess,” Nazrin, an ecology student, says. “It is very easy to live in Azerbaijan if you conceal your orientation and pretend to be a homophobe,” she said. It is even a taboo to pronounce the word “homosexuality” in Azerbaijan, she points and highlights that this is the consequence of the ignorance and lack of information.

Philology student Nijat Rzayev, 18, also shares this opinion. “People consider homosexuality a mental disease. Regretfully, a number of politicians and journalists openly position themselves as homophobes,” he told BBC. He realized being gay when he was 12, and took it for granted, immediately making a decision not to conceal that fact from anyone. However, his relations with parents aggravated after they learnt about his orientation. “My father flatly refused to see my in a girl’s role. However, I do not lose hope. I have never thought about doing away with myself for that,” he said. Nijat works in the organization “Free LGBT” founded in 2012 by Isa Shakhmarli, a young man who later committed suicide.

The author of the article highlights that there is no LGBT rights organization officially registered in Azerbaijan, but there are four organizations and several clubs, which undertake projects to support the gay community. The chairwoman of “Free LGBT,” Lala Mahmudova, who currently lives in the U.S., says one of the main problems the gays face in Azerbaijan, is the inability to find a job. “Many people are not able to receive a job for the simple reason they are gays,” she says.

Politicians and officials in Azerbaijan deny the facts of bad attitude towards gays, the article reads.

In 2014, in Azerbaijan, parents almost burned their teenage son alive after they learned that he was gay. The young man was forced to flee home. Earlier, Isa Shakhmarli, the leader of an Azerbaijani gay rights group, committed suicide in Baku. He was discovered dead after reportedly hanging himself using the rainbow-colored flag. Prior to his death, Shakhmarli said in an interview that LGBT Azerbaijan people struggle because it is a homophobic country and many cannot find a job. This means 90% are forced to remain closeted. 

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