Venezuela’s shrinking economy has sparked an exodus of LGBT+ people as the economic crisis has put the brakes on the country’s growing tolerance towards its gay and trans community, activists told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Not that Venezuela was ever an easy place to be different. For years, Daniel Arzola endured homophobic abuse from his neighbours in Maracay, a city in the north of Venezuela. Homophobic slogans were daubed on the walls of his house and he was shouted at in the street.