Khaled was born in Syria, but his life began anew when he arrived in Canada as a refugee in 2015. “I was born there, but I was reborn here,” he said. Khaled is gay and he and his partner faced violence in Syria even before the country’s brutal civil war began. During the war, ISIS militants targeted gay men. “I would say 90 percent of the society, they want to change me,” he said. “They will beat you, that is the smallest risk, and a lot of my friends got killed.” The couple fled to Lebanon, before being sponsored to come to Canada and two months ago, became citizens.