Toronto charity no longer resettling 2SLGBTQ+ refugees in U.S. since Trump took office

Sitting in their Toronto apartment with their new partner, Rahma Esslouani says this past year has been the first time they've truly felt free.

Esslouani, a 32-year-old nonbinary lesbian, grew up in Morocco, where homosexuality is a crime. 

In addition to fears of harassment and persecution, they say they faced overwhelming pressure at home to be more traditionally feminine. Their family would try to control their clothing and activities, they say, and in 2019, they tried to force them to marry a man, locking them in a closet and beating them when they refused.

That's when Esslouani fled to Turkey, but they say things were no better there.

"It was very hard to be myself," they said. 

Although homosexuality isn't illegal in Turkey, they say they faced the same violence and persecution and were still arrested for their sexual orientation. They say they were released after about a month, and decided to flee again, reaching out in 2023 to several organizations for help.

Last year, Esslouani was one of over 300 2SLGBTQ+ refugees from 36 nations who were relocated with the help of Rainbow Railroad, a Toronto-based international charity that offers support to queer and trans people facing persecution around the world.

"Now I'm trying to just focus on the future," said Esslouani, who is now in a relationship with a woman and settling into their life in Canada. 

"I am proud to openly go outside, to hold my partner's hand," they said. "That's something that I was dreaming of and it's something that … I didn't [think] that I would live it."

Most Rainbow Railroad refugees come to Canada and are relocated through a special partnership with the federal government that was just renewed this year until the end of 2029, says Devon Matthews, head of programs for the charity.

But the Canadian program is capped at 250 people a year and demand is high. Queer and trans people face state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia in more than 60 countries, Matthews says, and Rainbow Railroad received over 13,000 requests for help last year and over 9,000 already in 2025.

In recent years, Rainbow Railroad sent a growing number of refugees to the U.S., but Matthews says that's stopped since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

"We're absolutely, really watching and really concerned about the rights rollback that's happening right now," she said.

On his first day in the White House, Trump suspended the U.S. refugee assistance program used by Rainbow Railroad and issued an executive order to stop permitting refugees until it "aligns with the interests of the United States."