Photos: Alvaro Laiz

The Secret History of the Mongols, the oldest literary work written in the Mongolian language, tells how Gengis Khan was able to put under his control more than 30 fighting tribes, and how, once in power, he declared homosexuality immediately illegal in order to attempt to increase the population of his new empire. Today, more than 800 years later, Mongolia is an independent country with the lowest population rate in the world: less than two inhabitants per square kilometer. And being a homosexual, in Gengis Khan land, continues to be the strongest taboo.

Modern Mongolia is now one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. Once a nomadic based society, its new structure is changing rapidly, shifting from small villages daily life into big cities model, thanks to its almost unlimited natural resources. The modern impact of Ulaanbataar does not have much in common with what everyone visiting Mongolia expects from the country. Crowded streets, luxury shops, tourism, and a growing and fascinating (but secret) LGBT community, is far from what we have in mind today. It is curious though to recall that Transsexualism has solid roots inside the Mongolian shamanic traditional culture: they were respected people. The Shamans had a special status inside the nomadic community: they would connect the spiritual world to the human world; but transgenders were even considered special people, blessed with the power of “two spirits”.

 During the years of the Soviet Union, a time in which homosexuals were sent to Gulag just for being themselves, the country was a hell for gays, lesbians, and transexuals, who continued to be prosecuted, rejected, and victimized. But nowadays some of them do not want to hide anymore and prefer to take their risk embracing the freedom which urbanization is bringing to Mongolia.