Held and Apata, ‘Intersections of gender, sexuality and “race” in queer asylum claims‘, 2024

Held, N. and Apata, A., ‘Intersections of gender, sexuality and “race” in queer asylum claims‘, in Jane Freedman and Glenda Santana de Andrade (eds.), Research Handbook on Asylum and Refugee Policy, Elgar, 2024, pp. 239-250 (Chapter 15)

Introduction (excerpt)

After finishing her training, on 13 October 2022 one of the authors of this chapter, Aderonke Apata, was called to the Bar to become a barrister. Five years earlier, on 3 March 2014, she was sitting in the UK’s second highest court, the High Court, to continue her fight to be accepted as a refugee. As a volunteer for the Lesbian Immigration Support Group (LISG), the other author, Nina Held, was there too, as a supporter. They met in 2013, when Aderonke joined LISG. Because of traffic jams on the motorway, the group of supporters coming from Manchester arrived late and the large hearing court in the impressive London High Court was already at capacity, with people standing at the back. When Nina was able to go in halfway through the hearing, she sat down a couple of rows behind Aderonke and her legal representative and observed what was going on in the room. It was packed with many mainly white queer activists, and other supporters.