Abstract
Many lesbians and gay men apply for asylum in the U.K. each year on the basis that they fear persecution in their home country because of their sexual orientation. The legal basis for claiming asylum on the ground of sexual identity is now well established. Nevertheless, making these claims remains very difficult for applicants. Western cultural expectations around sexual identity often mix with homophobic assumptions about sexual behaviour to present applicants as “not sufficiently gay”. Furthermore, applicants may not initially disclose their sexual identity to legal advisors, leading to assumptions that they are not “telling the truth” to the Immigration Tribunal. In this article, Barry O’Leary, a solicitor and legal activist on behalf of lesbian and gay refugees, discusses these problems and how U.K.-based asylum lawyers have attempted to work round them.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
R. v. Immigration Appeal Tribunal, ex parte Shah; Islam v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [1999] 2 A.C. 629.
Immigration Judge, 2006, when dealing with whether a gay Iranian asylum seeker could prove the role he had undertaken in gay sex.
Submissions of a Senior Presenting Officer in a case involving a Mongolian lesbian, 2002.
Secretary of State for the Home Department in refusal letter to an African female, 2004.
Summary of refusal letter in the case of a gay Colombian asylum seeker.
Immigration Judge, 2006, when dealing with a Ugandan lesbian asylum seeker.
Immigration Judge, 2005.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Immigration Judge, 2005.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
O’Leary, B. “We Cannot Claim Any Particular Knowledge of the Ways of Homosexuals, Still Less of Iranian Homosexuals …”: The Particular Problems Facing Those Who Seek Asylum on the Basis of their Sexual Identity. Fem Leg Stud 16, 87–95 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-007-9080-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-007-9080-z