Ahmed & Daniel

Today I want to share with you the story of a lovely Arab-Philipino couple Ahmed & Daniel. (To protect their privacy, these are not their real names)

When I first received the mail from Ahmed, I hesitated to share his story. Telling the story of a gay couple from a Muslim Country is always delicate. It takes tremendous courage to come out if you are a gay man from a conservative religious society  and I can understand perfectly why they prefer to stay anonymous.

However, staying hidden is not gonna help anyone. By simply sharing the story, I want all our gay brothers and sisters to know that you are not alone. There are people just like you who suffer the same from the religion or from the society or even family. In order to have a happy future with your loved one, you have to fight for it. There will be pain, there will be tears. But believe me, in the end, it'll be worthy of your efforts. Besides, if you and your partner are still young, you have all the time in the world to get your financial independence and make a change. Keep the faith.

Here's the mail I received from Ahmed: 

"Hello Mr. Song, 

my name is Ahmed, and I live in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, though I was born and raised there, my nationality is Bahraini.

As you can probably know, or heard that in these Arab Muslim countries, Homosexuality or being any part of the LGBT community is not just illegal, but you get the death penalty. Yes, you won't be shamed or imprisoned, but they'll cover the head with black garb, and cut the head with a sword, like the dark ages, and in some countries, they carry the sentence in public.

So I, being raised in a family that is extremely religious and homophobic, I always hid the fact that I am gay. I tried convincing myself that I'm probably bisexual and forced myself to date a girl, and I was unhappy.

But through trial and error, now I'm 23 going to be 24 in November, I finally accepted my true self, yet still hiding it from my family and even my best friend of ten years, but I feel happy with myself and I owe that to my current boyfriend, Daniel.

Before him, I was in severe depression, self-loathing and tried to commit suicide twice by drug overdose but thankfully I survived with thin hair.

I met my boyfriend Daniel in a dating app, and most people there use either old pictures of themselves or not even themselves, and I was being scared and deep in the closet, used someone else's picture, and talked with him. We spoke from 7 am till 11 am only in chat, and felt something in my heart and I knew he was the one. So I confessed to him, showed him my real picture and we met that day at 1:30 in the afternoon. 

It was July 8th on Friday, and from that day we are together, and just like any normal couple, we have our fight days and our happy days. I feel extremely comfortable with him, my depression and anxiety and suicidal thoughts are gone for months.

But recently, on Sunday the 12th of February, two days before Valentine's Day, We spent the night before in a hotel, and I had a flight early morning at 7:50 to Bahrain, and he had to work at 9 am. So we decided to check out from the hotel at 4:30 am, and I'll go to the airport and He to his accommodation. 

Here is where the story takes a turn, he called me and decided that we talk until he reaches his accommodation via taxi, and I was preparing to go to the hotel, we were on the phone, and I hear a loud noise, a crash, and the phone being tossed away. My soul became numb, and my heart nearly stopped, he was in a car crash. I kept on repeating his name, "Please answer me!" The taxi mistook a roundabout for nothing and just entered without looking around and a car collided with the taxi.

I tried going to him, but he said don't and wouldn't let me know where exactly he is. He kept on saying and repeating, “Go to your flight, and go to Bahrain.” Even at that moment, he wanted the best for me, because I have Sickle Cell Disease, which causes my blood to become a sickle shape 🌙  and causes me pain, and the best pain management medication is in Bahrain. 

I returned the same day after receiving the medication, but I couldn't visit him because he too is in the closet and his brother and roommates took him to their house after his supervisor had contacted his brother. We both are discrete and in the closet, and him being from the Philippines and I am from Bahrain, both our families will suspect and my family will definitely harm me and his family will shame him. His family are all catholic and mine are Muslims, but I am theist 'believe in God but not any of the religions'

I apologize for this long email, I just really love your comics, we both really really love them, and I saw that you were doing some art for some of your fans, so I built up some courage and decided to send you an email, hoping that you'd read it and help me to surprise Daniel. After the accident his lips has stitches, and he has extreme difficulty walking with excruciating pain. 

On Tuesday he said that he'd be able to go out with me, and I wanted to surprise him by some of your talented artistic and often comedic comics. 

I thank you a lot for taking the time to read this long email, and I thank you even more if you decided to help me surprise my boyfriend. I also wish to ask a favor of you, if you decided to draw a comic for us. Mr. Song, please keep our names hidden and our real photos.

I'd like to conclude my letter by thanking you, and pray that you and Joe be happy all your years together. 

Yours Truly

Ahmed"