Bradley Secker/Panos Pictures

A group of Iranian friends who are all claiming asylum in a third country based on their sexuality and/or gender identity in Merjan's (right) living room. Merjan died a few months after this photograph was taken, due to complications with her health and HIV status. Local authorities refused to let women or men wash her body prior to burial (as is Islamic custom) due to her physique. Friends were finally called in to prepare her body for burial, and she was laid to rest near the city of Kayseri. Others in this photo have all been resettled to Canada through the UNHCR and IOM.