In the early evening, there is calm before the storm at Save The Ales.

In the bar in the center of the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, the home-brewed beer is still slowly pouring out of the tap – one floor below, in the basement, is the company's own brewery.

“Pale ale, dark stout, cider, what would you like?” asks restaurateur Aida Musulmankulova, 40, nodding to a waitress in short shorts and chucks.

Save The Ales is one of those hip craft beer establishments you can currently find in major cities from Berlin and Bangkok to Bishkek – and one of the country's few focal points and safe spaces for the local queer LGBT+ community.

Musulmankulova opened the place in 2016 with her then-girlfriend.

It is the first craft brewery and at the same time the only all-female brewery in Kyrgyzstan.

The bar and brewery is staffed exclusively by women, many from the queer lesbian community.

Musulmankulova thus offers them professional opportunities in the beer world, which is still understood today as a male domain, especially for women who would have difficulties finding a job elsewhere because of their identity or sexual orientation.

Around 6.5 million people live in the former Soviet republic in Central Asia.

Unlike same-sex marriages, homosexuality has not been illegal there since 1998.

However, it is still stigmatized in the traditionally patriarchal society characterized by moderate Islam.

To this day, LGBT+ people who publicly identify their sexual orientation or gender identity risk physical or verbal abuse and job loss.

Local NGOs such as Labrys and Kyrgyz Indigo and international organizations such as Human Rights Watch repeatedly report attacks by the authorities.

Police officers are said to use fake profiles to find men on dating platforms who are looking for same-sex connections in order to put them under pressure or blackmail them.

They report on the forced marriages of lesbian and bisexual women and the practice of "corrective" rape.

Although Kyrgyzstan is considered moderate in Central Asian comparison, conservative-national and strictly religious tendencies are gaining strength there, as is currently the case in many places around the world.

In early 2021, Sadyr Shaporov came to power after a disputed election.

With a constitutional referendum last year, he also expanded his powers as president.

Human rights activists criticize the fact that authoritarian structures are being re-established in the country.

Among the most criticized amendments to the constitution is Article 10, under which activities "contrary to the moral and ethical values ​​and public consciousness of the Kyrgyz people" can be banned under the pretext of protecting the young generation.

A similar law is known from Russia.

It's intentionally vague.

The LGBT+ community fears that acting out one's sexual orientation and gender identity could be construed as unconstitutional.

Musulmankulova says: “Being gay or lesbian used to be such a big taboo that it was practically non-existent.

That gave people some freedom.

Today, when younger people in particular want to live their lives more freely, hostility in society has increased.”

This often begins in one's own family.

When Musulmankulova came out at 18, her parents sent her to a psychologist, along with her then girlfriend.

"We went there once and then never again," she says.

After that, there was three years of radio silence between her and her parents.

Then they called and said, "Come back to dinner."