Wale wanted to escape anti-gay persecution in west Africa, so he fled to Russia. There, he fell in love with Sergei and the two of them moved in with Sergei?s mother. But everywhere Wale went, officials and others harrassed him as a ?monkey? ? not to mention the abuse he and Sergei received from people who knew they were gay. They managed to find a Scandanavian country that would accept them as both refugees and as a married couple. But before they could get away, Wale?s body was found ? below the apartment?s fifth-floor window, his neck broken.

The story of Wale and Sergei reads like a tragic romance, but also something out of an older time, when we lived in a bipolar world. A world full of people trying to escape from the Nazis or Communists to the ?free world.? Only now the free world is a place where people like Sergei and Wale can live openly and safely. And at this moment, it?s hard to predict whether the U.S. will be part of the ?free world? ? or someplace that people flee.