Protect LGBTQI Lives

The right to seek asylum is under attack, and LGBTQI+ lives are at risk as a result.

Just yesterday, the government quietly changed immigration rules to remove people fleeing persecution to any “safe” third country that agrees to receive them. There’s also new legislation on the way that will make it harder for people to receive refugee status, and every day the government is coming up with more and more outlandish ideas like wave machines, giant nets in the Channel and offshore detention facilities in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Home Office has already started evicting people seeking asylum from their accommodation in the middle of a pandemic, as well as outsourcing asylum interviews to profit-driven contractors and using former army barracks to house survivors of torture and human trafficking.

This is inhumane and dangerous. The asylum system is already stressful and traumatic for LGBTQI+ people, and rather than trying to reduce the harm it causes, the government is planning to make it even harder for people to seek safety from persecution. There’s a real chance that LGBTQI+ people could be returned to danger. We agree the system needs reform, but we want to see workable and humane responses which enable LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum to have their cases heard in a timely way and with dignity, and for people to be able to start rebuilding their lives here in the UK.

Priti Patel’s relentlessly inflammatory language on this issue is already having a negative impact on people’s mental health. Patel’s hostile rhetoric makes our service users feel anxious and fearful. One of our service users has said, “Priti Patel's immigration stance has nothing to do with stopping the trade of trafficking vulnerable people, but more about cultivating hate and intolerance against people like myself who are seeking safety. No one would choose voluntarily to leave everything, everyone they know and loved behind and go through this hostile process of seeking asylum if it wasn't that their lives are in grave danger.” 

We urgently need to step up our campaigning to fight off these very real threats on the rights of LGBTQI+ people to get safety in the UK. We've set up an emergency fund which will pay to: 

• Run communications campaigns to make the public and the LGBTQI+ community aware that the safety of LGBTQI+ people is under threat.
• Provide evidence that demonstrates how important the right to asylum is.
• Build alliances with refugee and LGBTQI+ organisations to push back against these threats in a strong and united way.

Please donate to the fund to make sure we can continue to defend the rights of LGBTQI+ people seeking a safe haven in the UK.