The American who fled 'gay conversion' in Africa

A midnight taxi to the US embassy; an emergency flight home; a new life in New York. An ex-Muslim tells his story.

Mahad Olad was in a Nairobi hotel room, looking at his mother. She was holding two articles from a student newspaper in New York.

In the first article, Mahad, then 19, said he was atheist.

In the second, he said he was gay.

His mother - a Somali Muslim - could not tolerate it. She was sending him, she said, to a group of Sheikhs (tribal leaders).

The Somali Sheikhs would reform him. Return him to the community. Make him Muslim. Make him straight.


Source : bbc