University of Birmingham

The Queer SEREDA report details that, for people trying to escape their home country because of violence and discrimination due to their sexuality or gender identity, the danger does not end when they reach the UK.

Published today (26 June), the study has been led by researchers at the University of Birmingham with support from Rainbow Migration.

Pip McKnight, Research and Impact Fellow “Through interviews with asylum seekers and service providers, we have discovered numerous dangers and abuses faced by LGBTQI+ people in the UK asylum system. These range from assault in asylum accommodation to homophobic language being directed at them by interpreters in Home Office interviews and court hearings. It is ironic that as we celebrate Pride month, many queer LGBTQI+ are not safe in the UK due to Government-imposed systems.”

Unsafe Home Office accommodation

One of the biggest risks faced by queer migrants in the asylum system was unsafe Home Office accommodation. LGBTQI+ people are being housed in accommodation alongside people from the communities they are trying to escape, putting them at risk of harassment, and physical and sexual assault.

Doors in some housing do not have locks, making it impossible to shelter safely from assailants. One gay asylum seeker reports having to sleep with a knife under his pillow for protection.

For ‘visibly queer’ people, the danger is even more present. One trans woman was sexually harassed in lifts by asylum seekers and followed to her bedroom by groups of men. In a separate incident, a service provider in Wales reported that a trans asylum seeker was forced to hide in his room after being threatened with a knife by another resident. Unable to call the police, as there was no signal, he went downstairs and was accosted again and had his phone smashed. The housing provider classed this as a ‘household spat’ and took no action to safeguard the victim. The report also details that a ‘femme’ presenting gay man had to sleep with a chair against his door due to unwanted advances from other residents.

Respondents say that they were scared to report abuse in accommodation for fear of making the situation worse, or from fear of the police based on previous experiences. They say nothing was done about their reports of abuse.

Some staff were reported to be harassing LGBTQI+ asylum seekers - a trans woman was propositioned by her hotel’s security guard and the receptionist, who obtained her number from confidential records.

Victor, originally from Nigeria claimed asylum in 2017. He had studied for his undergraduate degree in the UK in 2013 and was able to live openly as a gay man. However, after returning home once he finished university there was an escalation in homophobic abuse towards him from family, people at work and even the police. Of his experience in the UK asylum system, he said: "When I claimed asylum in 2017, I was moved to a shared house run by G4S with four other men. I was the only gay person in the house and also the only one who didn't speak Arabic which added the difficulty of a language barrier. One of these men started to sexually harass me. He seemed to think because I was gay it was fine for him to grab me when I was cooking or in a shared living space. It escalated to him dry humping me and it got so bad that I was scared to come out of my room. I reported him to our housing officer, but the behaviour didn't stop, and I didn't get an update on any action they had taken to talk to him or keep me safe."

The behaviour didn't end until Victor got advice and support from a friend he had made in Birmingham, who used to be a police officer. Now Victor helps run a support group for other LGBTQI+ asylum seekers in Coventry. He added: "From my own experience and the stories I hear from people in the support group, the findings in the report do not surprise me. We hear stories of people suffering homophobic abuse from interpreters during Home Office interviews and living in unsafe accommodation all the time. The Home Office needs to implement better safeguarding for queer asylum seekers, including expanding specific LGBTQI+ accommodation, to keep people safe while their claim is being processed."

Homophobic language in Home Office interviews

The report also details incidents of homophobia and transphobia from interpreters during asylum interviews and court hearings, as well as in translated materials.

Some people reported incidents of interpreters refusing to translate words such as ‘gay’ and ‘bisexual’, not understanding basic concepts of sexual diversity, and perpetrating homophobic or transphobic abuse in interviews and court settings. Because no one else in the room speaks the language other than the asylum seeker and the translator, no one knows it is happening.

One Scottish service provider said: “So many of our community members have had actively homophobic translators when they’ve been in a meeting with the Home Office….and the person feels like they can't engage in the interview properly because they're experiencing this homophobia towards them. We've had instances like that or another one where that was the situation, but it was in court and the translator that turned up was being LGBT-hostile in the situation and no one else spoke the same language, just the community member and the translator. No one else knew what was going on.”

Issues were also reported in the quality of Home Office translated information. One document, a welcome guide provided by Migrant Help and translated into Arabic, contained an offensive homophobic term for lesbian in text providing signposting to LGBTQI+ support organisations.

The paradox of needing to be both visible and invisible

Queer asylum seekers in the UK system have to meet an incredibly high burden of proof for their claim, as required by the recent Nationality and Borders Act. They also must hide their identity and sexuality to avoid abuse and harassment. This puts them in an impossible position of needing to be visibly queer for the Home Office, but invisible to their fellow asylum seekers at the same time.

This is complicated by Home Office staff having a narrow view of ‘queerness’ based on Western stereotypes. Asylum seekers were expected to display a particular version of queerness that involves looking and acting queer and having queer relationships when they had been conditioned to hide or act straight. They are often excluded from mainstream UK LGBTQ spaces and services.

One service provider said: “I've heard stories of people being told things like ‘you don’t look gay’ or needing to be able to recognise the LGBT flag. That's just a Western concept of what it means to be queer and doesn't necessarily apply to other contexts."

Minesh Parekh, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Rainbow Migration said: “LGBTQI+ people come here escaping unimaginable horrors and seeking safety, but the UK’s asylum system is failing to protect them. This report shines a light on the dangers that LGBTQI+ people face while navigating the asylum system. LGBTQI+ people should be properly supported and safeguarded from harm while they seek to rebuild their lives in safety here.”

Professor Jenny Phillimore, Chief Investigator on the SEREDA project at the University of Birmingham, concluded: “This report sheds light on a hidden problem in our asylum system. The UK is a country that we like to think of as overall pretty safe for LGBTQI+ people, but our research has shown that this does not extend to queer asylum seekers. We need to create a system that protects people escaping persecution due to their identity from further abuse and harassment.”