LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers Reveal “Traumatising” Treatment By Tory Government
February 20, 2023LGBTQ+ asylum seekers have shared traumatic accounts of their treatment by the UK government’s Home Office, with one declaring that she “lives in fear” due to the constant threat of deportation.
According to ‘UK Daily News’, queer asylum seekers joined key figures advocating for LGBTQ+ immigration organisations during the LGBTQ+ Asylum & Immigration Detention Panel at National Student Pride on February 11.
Moderated by Lady Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, co-founder of UK Black Pride and Executive Director of Kaleidoscope Trust, the panel heard VICE News’ Ben Hunte, Moud Goba, a UK-based Zimbabwean lesbian refugee and National Manager of Micro Rainbow, Leila Zadeh, Executive Director by Rainbow Migration, Manono, a refugee from Malawi, and Arthur Britney Joestar, the first non-binary person to be granted British refugee status.
Together, the group highlighted the specific vulnerabilities faced by LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum in the UK – and how the current system all too often fails them.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Manono first applied for asylum in the UK in 2012, having arrived in the country almost 20 years ago in 2004. After being held in immigration detention, she was released back into the community but quickly found herself homeless.
“It reminded me of living in Africa, coming here, being a lesbian and homeless, staying in the city [in] Parks, bus stops, that’s what I did. Life was really tough,” she told the National Student Pride audience.
Manono’s last asylum application was in 2017, but a decision on whether she can remain in the UK has still not been made more than half a decade later.
“I only live in fear. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. It’s very traumatizing,” she admitted.
Adding to the emotional toll Manono is being taken on is that LGBTQ+ asylum seekers must provide “evidence” of their sexuality to the Home Office, currently headed by Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
“I have a girlfriend, but because of the hostility [environment], the girlfriend doesn’t want to be there because she’s been through a lot herself,” Manono explained. “Imagine you go to court with a friend, they ask you questions, and as soon as you make a mistake, they make a decision – ‘OK, that means you’re just lying.’
“And when you hear that, it really affects you mentally. So my girlfriend doesn’t want to be involved in everything that’s going on right now.”
While asylum applications are pending, asylum seekers cannot work and are given living vouchers to buy essentials like groceries. Manono has been living off these vouchers for 10 years now.
“I haven’t enjoyed my life more since I came out as gay,” she continued. “I thought if I came to England they would protect me the way I want so I can live my life happily.
“It’s never happened before.”
Home Office data released in August 2022 showed that in 2021 only 677 people were granted asylum or other forms of leave based on sexual orientation requests (the data only included LGB requests).
This was out of 1,050 initial decisions, with the number covering many cases filed in previous years.
Arthur Britney Joestar, who in 2020 became the first person in the UK to be granted refugee status over and above her non-binary status following a landmark judgment, shared a similar experience of the Home Office minimizing her identity.
Arthur Britney arrived in the UK in 2017 from El Salvador, where they had been forced to live a “double life” and had been physically abused by police because of their looks. The murder of three transgender friends eventually prompted them to leave their homeland for the perceived safety of Britain.
However, once they got there and came to understand that they were non-binary, Arthur Britney recalled how the Home Office refused to accept evidence from witnesses and a therapist regarding their gender identity.
“They ignored it for two years, and even on paper they still called me ‘a gay man,'” they said.
“Even if my status has been granted to me if you go online – because my decision is online – the judge about it [ruling]She wondered how it was possible to do the home office at all [that] Evidence continued to call me a gay man for two years, ignoring this and ignoring the fact that I define myself as non-binary.
Arthur Britney, who said they were bullied and almost physically assaulted in asylum centers because of their identity and HIV status, stressed that LGBTQ+ are “more vulnerable” within the system than their straight cis counterparts.
“Someone else breaking into the system can no longer be ignored the way I was ignored,” they concluded.
Despite the sad reality of the UK’s LGBTQ+ asylum process, National Student Pride also heard how leading queer immigration organisations in the UK are working tirelessly to improve the situation for LGBTQ+ people seeking safety in the UK.
Rainbow Migration’s Leila Zadeh reiterated that despite the “somber stories and horrible experiences people have been through,” the charity is “trying to get this government to do things differently and treat people kindly and compassionately.”
Stressing the fact that the UK is “the only country in Europe that doesn’t have a time limit on detention,” Zadeh explained, “When you’re taken into immigration detention, it’s worse if you’re LGBTQI+ because you’re surrounded by people , which show the same settings you were trying to escape from.
“People end up being abused, sexually assaulted and verbally abused, and that can come from staff, along with other detainees.”
She added, “We are deeply committed to ending immigrant detention, or at least limiting it in time, and just making sure no LGBTQI+ person is ever detained.”
Last year, PinkNews launched the LGBTQ+ Refugees Welcome campaign to encourage readers to donate whatever they can to help the queer community survive and access life-saving assistance.
The LGBTQ+ Refugees Welcome campaign benefits two charities, GiveOut and Micro Rainbow, and has already raised thousands of pounds for queer refugees and asylum seekers.
Thousands of students descended on the University of Westminster’s Marylebone campus for National Student Pride last weekend as Britain’s biggest student pride event took place for the 18th time.
The weekend’s free day festival on Saturday featured panel discussions on a variety of topics, including gender identity and addiction. The event also featured the UK’s largest queer inclusive careers fair and a special lip-sync extravaganza ‘Drag Race UK' Stars Danny Beard and Tayce.
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