To mark the occasion of Pride Month, we asked LGBT+ Venezuelans abroad to fill out a survey to tell us a bit about their lives and how their identity influenced their decision to leave. We figured maybe two or three dozen people would reply. Instead, 220 of you did. From teens to seniors, living everywhere from China to Panama, from Sweden to Qatar, you were enormously generous in sharing your experience.

Your sexual orientation was one the main migration drivers only for some of you. Alongside it, the usual litany of impossibilities about living in Venezuela today got cited: crime and violence, lack of opportunities, food and medicines shortages, usual things. What’s clear is that the younger you are, the less sexual orientation influenced your life choices.

To shine a light on this seldom-acknowledged corner of the Venezuelan exile experience, we reached out to different people across the map and ask them a bit about their stories, their desires, and what it means to be queer and Venezuelan.

Some of the interviewees wished to remain anonymous, but their testimonies still manage to give us a glimpse into a reality that, for most, is ignored. Read more via Caracas Chronicles