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Discourses relating to gender and sexualities have long been a tool for the perpetuation of racialized “othering”and have contributed to the strengthening of national identities and boundaries as they reproduce binary constructions of “us”and “them.”As the German nation-state reinvents itself as multicultural, tolerant,and sexually liberated, these discourses serve to mark the racialized body as a site of backwardness, sexism, and homophobia, and thus justify its segregation and exclusion exemplified in the restrictive practices of housing, mobility restrictions, and deportation of asylum seekers and migrants. This paper aims to trace the unfolding of discourses in and between some dominant organizational structures in Berlin that advocate for LGBT refugees and asylum seekers. It argues that the claim for citizenship of some formerly excluded sexual others is contingent on the promotion of a very specific notion of sexual identity and participation in the orientalisation/ethnicisation of homophobia.

Asylum seekers making claims relating to their sexual orientation and gender identity often face unfair refusal. New guidance from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada takes admirable steps towards improving claims assessment, and offers a model for practitioners elsewhere.

This paper focuses on the burden of proof that queer asylum seekers encounter in Norway and how they tackle it. It is argued that queer asylum seekers translate their sexuality, sometimes strategically, to become readable in the Norwegian context. The act of translation appears to take the form of a ‘rainbow splash’ over the lives of the informants. The recurrence of similar narratives painted with similar colours contributes to a monolithic portrayal of sexualised and racialised asylum seekers, as they are unable to incorporate their own vocabularies during the act of translation. As a result, queer informants contribute to the (re)production of new norms about what it means to be a genuine queer person in need of protection. Therefore, genuineness remains an unattainable ideal for individuals seeking to negotiate their sexuality before, during and after the asylum seeking process.

This working paper1 is based on a lecture given at the Summer School “Multiple Inequalities in the Age of Transnationalization”, June 23-27 2014 at Goethe University Frankfurt. In it, I explore the linkages between sexuality and migration and aim to show that instead of deeming them a narrow subfield of migration studies, thinking through these linkages has much wider implications for different fields, including post- and decolonial queer studies, the study of race and sexuality, the study of citizenship and state projects of inclusion/exclusion, and for work that attempts to ce-center the predominant knowledge production focused on the Global North.

Numerous studies demonstrate that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) children and youth are likely to experience abuse by peers, parents, and other adults and that these experiences correlate with a host of mental health problems. However, there is little understanding of the experiences of LGBT children and youth living in countries where social and legal protections for sexual and gender minorities are limited or nonexistent. This qualitative study used thematic analysis to explore the child and adolescent abuse experiences and their impact on the pre-migration mental health of LGBT forced migrants. We analyzed 26 interviews with individuals who obtained refugee or asylee status in the United States or Canada on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Participants originated from countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Analysis revealed the following themes: abuse by parents and caregivers, abuse by peers and school personnel, having nowhere to turn, and dealing with psychological distress. Findings indicate that participants experienced severe verbal, physical, and sexual abuse throughout childhood and adolescence and that this abuse occurred at home, in school, and in the community. Furthermore, there were no resources or sources of protection available to them. Participants linked their abuse to subjective experiences of depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress, as well as suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. We conclude with implications for refugee adjudication practices, mental health care, and international policy.

Asyl beziehungsweise Flüchtlingsschutz in Deutschland erhalten Menschen, die aufgrund ihrer politischen Überzeugung, Religion, Staatsangehörigkeit, aufgrund von Rassialisierungsprozessen oder der (vermeintlichen) Zugehörigkeit zu einer bestimmten sozialen Gruppe in ihrem Herkunftsland verfolgt werden oder eine begründete Furcht davor nachweisen können. Seit einem Grundsatzurteil des Bundesverwaltungsgerichts 1988 wird die Verfolgung infolge von Homosexualität als Asylgrund gewertet. Im Anschluss daran werden nun prinzipiell auch Transgeschlecht-lichkeit, Bi-, und Intersexualität flüchtlingsrechtlich anerkannt. In diesem Aufsatz beschäftigte ich mich mit der Praxis des Anhörens und der Entscheidungsfindung in Asylverfahren von LGBTI-Geflüchteten. In den meisten kenntlich gemachten Fällen handelt es sich um Verfolgung homosexueller Männer, weibliche Homosexualität und Bisexualität kommen in Asylverfahren seltener als Fluchtgrund zur Sprache. Ich will die Verhandlung von Transgeschlechtlichkeit und Intersexualität in den Anhörungs- und Entscheidungsituationen nicht ausblenden, deren Mechanismen sicher mindestens ähnlich sind, aus eigener Forschung kann ich dazu aber wenig beitragen. Soweit mir dazu Erkenntnisse vorlagen, habe ich sie im Text eingearbeitet.

This chapter explores intersections of sexuality and ‘race’ by drawing on different projects: ethnographic research conducted in Manchester’s Gay Village and observations gathered through voluntary work with the grassroots organisation Lesbian Immigration Support Group (LISG) in Manchester. The chapter demonstrates that in both night-time lesbian leisure spaces and the asylum system in the UK, belonging to the group ‘lesbian’ is inherently racialised. In the Gay Village, some bodies are perceived and constructed as the ‘somatic norm’ while others are (made) ‘out of place’. The chapter argues that this norm is produced through representations, door policies, and other spatial practices. In the asylum system, for asylum claims based on sexuality to be successful the claimant must ‘prove’ their sexuality. The majority of sexuality cases are refused on grounds of credibility, where the claimant is not believed to be lesbian. The chapter demonstrates that these claims have a higher chance of success if the claimant conforms to homonormative notions that are racialised and constructed around a Western model of sexuality that is ‘out and proud’.

Sexuality-based refugee claims constitute an expanding area of legal practice and scholarship. This expansion in the field of refugee law mirrors international efforts to address homophobia in various sites around the globe, and in legal terms, this has predominantly taken the form of rights-based protections, such as decriminalising same-sex sexual acts as a matter of civil and political rights. The strategies of addressing sex-, gender- and sexuality-based oppression in the context of free movement on one hand and constitutional protections on the other share a common set of tensions and dilemmas, and both risk re-inscribing fundamental aspects of the very violence that they each seek to address. This article asks what it might mean to “queer” refugee law, particularly in the context of its dynamic relationship with the discourse of decriminalisation. The article takes forward the centrality of sexual politics within the moral economy of migration regulation and attempts to approach it with the methodological impulse and transformative potential that “queer” suggests.

Each year, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) asylum seekers apply for asylum in EU Member States.This book considers the position of LGBTI asylum seekers in European asylum law. Developing an encompassing approach to the topic, the book identifies and analyzes the main legal issues arising in relation to LGBTI people seeking asylum including: the underestimation of the relevance of criminalization of sexual orientation as well as the large scale violence against trans people in countries of origin by some European states; the requirement to seek State protection against violence even when they originate from countries where sexual orientation or gender identity is criminalized, or where the authorities are homophobic; the particular hurdles faced during credibility assessment on account of persisting stereotypes; and queer families and refugee law.

The book gives a state of the art overview of law in Europe, both at the level of European legislation and at the level of Member State practice. While being largely focused on Europe, the book also takes into account asylum decisions from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States and is of relevance internationally, offering analysis of issues which are not specific to particular legal systems.