A young gay couple shared a final kiss before jumping to their deaths from a bridge in Armenia, a LGBT group local.
The organization Pink Armenia reported that the two men, identified only as Arsenic Mr Tigranjumped from the 310-foot Davitashen Bridge in the capital Yerevan last week.
Before they committed suicide together on October 20, they posted a tragic message on Instagram: “Happy ending. Decisions about sharing photos and our next steps are made by both of us“.
The couple posted photos of themselves enjoying facials together, sharing a kiss and showing off what appeared to be their wedding rings.
As it turned out, one of the young men was 16 or 17 years old, while the other was several years older. Local media reports that her parents did not accept their relationship and it is believed that Arsen ran away from homealthough this has not been confirmed.
Read also: They predict the end of Fidel Castro’s wall of homophobia in Cuba
“Young people had many more years of life ahead of them, but because of intolerance towards them, they decided to take such a tragic step,” wrote Pink Armenia, “LGBT people are very familiar with the feeling of isolation and misunderstanding from family and society.
“This tragic incident once again shows that LGBT people in Armenia are neither safe nor protected by society or the state.”
An Armenian gay rights organization also claimed people flooded their site after the couple’s Instagram post went viral vile homophobic comments.
Read also: Two LGBT+ activists sentenced to death in Iran for ‘corruption on the ground’
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Armenia only in 2003, but many members of the LGBTQ community in the former Soviet country still choose to keep their same-sex relationships secret due to widespread intolerance.
Armenia ranks 47th out of 49 countries in Europe and Central Asia LGBTQ rightsjust ahead of Turkey and Azerbaijan, according to the international organization ILGA-Europe, which measures hostility towards homosexuals.
subscribe here to receive our daily news, opinion, Qatar 2022 newsletters and many more options directly to your email.
item