Fiocchetto, ‘LGBTIQ+ Refugees Exist and Believe’, 2020

Ernesto Fiocchetto, ‘LGBTIQ+ Refugees Exist and Believe: Challenging the Binary Western Thoughts on Asylum Seekers, Religion, and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity’, Network for Migration Matters (NMM), 2020

Spanish version here.

Abstract

Some years ago, I was invited to lecture about the early findings of my ongoing research focusing on Latin American LGBTIQ+ refugees fleeing to the US and the EU and the role religion plays in their journeys. The audience was a group of around 30 enthusiastic undergrads from my university in the US. As I started to talk, I saw bewilderment spread across their faces. One of them raised her hand and said, “I didn’t imagine that the problem of LGBTIQ+ refugees was so big in America. Neither did I think that in Western, democratic, Christian countries, LGBTIQ+ people are persecuted and need to flee. I thought that was a problem of Islamic countries.” I decided to stop my presentation and make two needed clarifications. Firstly, LGBTIQ+ individuals who seek asylum based on their sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) are not necessarily from countries where non-normative sexualities and identities are criminalized, territories in which Islam is the mainstream religion, nor places with no democratic governments. They also flee from many other countries with progressive legislation on LGBTIQ+ rights, established democracies, and Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, or Hinduist traditions. (This without considering internal migration/scape from more dangerous to more “friendly” areas within Western, democratic, and Christian countries.) Secondly, many LGBTIQ+ individuals—seeking asylum or not— are themselves believers, profess a religion, and practice their faith.