[Steve Mangan]

I'm a gay man living in Turkey -- a secular state but predominantly Muslim, and never felt happier or safer. At home in England I was thrown out of home at 16 for being gay, homeless for several years, I suffered regular beatings, was stabbed and hung and left to die, my dog killed and mutilated (parts of his body still stuffed in my coat pockets by our attackers when I left the hospital), when I got a home was victimized and my property vandalized. Me and my partner of 25 years have never suffered as much as a bad word since we moved here, 11 years ago -- and the (muslim) community and (muslim) friends are the most genuine and supportive of people I have ever known.