Fletcher, ‘Heteronormative Accommodations’, 2024

Claire Fletcher, ‘Heteronormative Accommodations: Strategies of in/visibility for LGBTQI+ People in Asylum Accommodation’, 2024 Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law 38(1), 32–49

Abstract

This paper will discuss the issues of large-scale accommodation for queer people seeking asylum. The aim is to show how the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and the plans for accommodation provision will impact sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) asylum claimants who are accommodated within them. As part of the changes, the Home Office is proposing that people seeking asylum will be housed within large-scale accommodation centres, instead of housed within communities. I argue if these proposals are implemented, they not only put SOGI claimants at risk of harm, but will cause additional barriers to their ability to access refugee protection. Drawing on 26 interviews with SOGI asylum claimants in the United Kingdom (UK), I demonstrate how these centres pose a risk for those with queer subjectivities as they are configured within heteronormative assumptions. Using the experiences of SOGI claimants housed in large contingency hotels, I will demonstrate how people in these spaces face daily negotiations regarding their queer subjectivity, which can impact their ability to ‘prove’ their SOGI asylum claim.