LGBT Freedom Asylum Network, ‘Stronger Together’, 2015
- Category: Other
- Source: Other
- Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Gender Identity, Refugee/Asylum, Human Rights, LGBT+
- Place: Americas
- Year: 2015
- URL: http://www.lgbt-fan.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Stronger_Together_FINAL.pdf
LGBT Freedom Asylum Network, ‘Stronger Together’, October 2015
Abstract
Every year, untold thousands flee from persecution that is directed at people because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI)—because they are, or they are thought to be, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT), or because they support someone who is LGBT. Many seek safety in the United States, and face the daunting task of building new lives in an environment that is alien and often hostile. Like asylum seekers in general, most cannot access any form of government support and may be subject to immigration detention (a softer word for “prison”). Those who know or come to learn that they are eligible to apply for asylum must find their way through a dysfunctional and tangled legal system, and are legally barred from working for at least 180 days after formally submitting their asylum applications.