Oxford, ‘LGBTQI+ Asylum Cases in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’, 2025

Connie Oxford, ‘LGBTQI+ Asylum Cases in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’, Sexes 2025, 6, 39

Abstract

This article examines LGBTQI+ asylum claims in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The data are part of a larger study that has identified 520 LGBTQI+ claims in the U.S. Circuit of Appeals from 1994 to 2023. It focuses on examples from the 115 cases that were granted a review and analyzes the logic that U.S. Circuit Court justices use when deciding to grant a review of a petition that was denied by a lower court, such as the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and immigration courts. This article argues that the U.S. Circuit of Appeals contests lower court rulings from BIA and immigration court judges based on assumptions about credibility, discretion, persecution, and criminalization for LGBTQI+ asylum seekers. By granting reviews, the Circuit Courts provide an opening for the acceptance of queer asylum claims.

Keywords: LGBTQI+; queer; asylum; U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals