Sitting in their Toronto apartment with their new partner, Rahma Esslouani says this past year has been the first time they’ve truly felt free.
Esslouani, a 32-year-old nonbinary lesbian, grew up in Morocco, where homosexuality is a crime.
In addition to fears of harassment and persecution, they say they faced overwhelming pressure at home to be more traditionally feminine. Their family would try to control their clothing and activities, they say, and in 2019, they tried to force them to marry a man, locking them in a closet and beating them when they refused.
That’s when Esslouani fled to Turkey, but they say things were no better there.
“It was very hard to be myself,” they said.
Although homosexuality isn’t illegal in Turkey, they say they faced the same violence and persecution and were still arrested for their sexual orientation. They say they were released after about a month, and decided to flee again, reaching out in 2023 to several organizations for help.
Last year, Esslouani was one of over 300 2SLGBTQ+ refugees from 36 nations who were relocated with the help of Rainbow Railroad, a Toronto-based international charity that offers support to queer and trans people facing persecution around the world.
How Rainbow Railroad helps save LGBTQ lives
“Now I’m trying to just focus on the future,” said Esslouani, who is now in a relationship with a woman and settling into their life in Canada.
“I am proud to openly go outside, to hold my partner’s hand,” they said. “That’s something that I was dreaming of and it’s something that … I didn’t [think] that I would live it.”
Most Rainbow Railroad refugees are relocated to Canada through a special partnership with the federal government, says Devon Matthews, head of programs for the charity. That partnership was renewed this year through 2029, a government spokesperson said in an email.
But the Canadian program is capped at 250 people a year and demand is high. Queer and trans people face state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia in more than 60 countries, Matthews says, and Rainbow Railroad received over 13,000 requests for help last year and over 9,000 already in 2025.
In recent years, Rainbow Railroad sent a growing number of refugees to the U.S., but Matthews says that’s stopped since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.
“We’re absolutely, really watching and really concerned about the rights rollback that’s happening right now,” she said.
On his first day in the White House, Trump suspended the U.S. refugee assistance program used by Rainbow Railroad and issued an executive order to stop permitting refugees until it “aligns with the interests of the United States.”
His order said it would be U.S. policy “to admit only those refugees who can fully and appropriately assimilate” into the country.
At that time, the charity already had 70 people pre-approved for resettlement in the U.S., Matthews says. Some people were only two to three weeks from being on a plane.
It’s forced the charity to shift gears.
“What we’re trying to do is make sure that this group of people who have been left stranded by the current administration, are able to be safe and build better lives here in Canada,” she said.
But Matthews says they’ll have to start over at the bottom of the queue. Meanwhile, she says, “these people are in incredibly terrible circumstances” with fewer pathways out.
“We have so few options. And the options that we had to resettle people in the United States were incredible,” she said. “It’s tragic.”
On top of that, Rainbow Railroad is now receiving requests from 2SLGBTQ+ Americans looking for help relocating, with over 1,200 inquiries coming in on Nov. 6, 2024 alone — the day after Trump was elected.
Rainbow Railroad is continuing to support refugees who’ve already resettled to the U.S., Matthews says.
That includes a 30-year-old gay man whom Rainbow Railroad relocated to Chicago from El Salvador just before the start of Trump’s second presidency.
CBC Toronto is not identifying the man, who is concerned his comments might affect his immigration status.
The man says he still feels some hostility toward him in the U.S., as a Latino and a gay man, but ultimately moving to Chicago has been a healing experience that’s allowed him to express his sexuality freely. He says he’s heartbroken the path he took is now closed to others.
“When I think of another person who cannot have that opportunity to change their life, it’s so sad for me,” he said.
