Advertisement
Politics

Are you gay enough for Suella Braverman? How Home Office expects LGBTQ+ migrants to ‘prove’ themselves

With comments suggesting LGBTQ+ asylum seekers are pretending to be gay, how do you successfully prove your sexuality to the UK Home Office?

Pornography, queer gym memberships, intimate photos and knowing the complete works of Oscar Wilde could all be forms of evidence to prove your sexuality to the Home Office. 

In 2022, 2% of asylum claims in the UK (1,334 claims) included sexual orientation as part of the basis for their claim. This has almost doubled from 2021’s figures. 

Home secretary Suella Braverman has suggested “many instances” where asylum seekers lie about their sexual orientation to receive preferential treatment in the asylum system. Preferential treatment doesn’t exist for LGBTQ+ applicants, instead, they have to go through an extra step of the process and prove their sexuality to the Home Office.

People seeking asylum in the UK must provide a credible “fear of persecution” to be granted refugee status. For LGBTQ+ asylum seekers this means proving their sexuality.

An applicant must first provide an oral testimony explaining why they are claiming asylum in the UK. This narrative must show a believable – as far as whichever interviewer they get that day is concerned – level of fear of returning to their home country and detail how their sexual orientation puts them at risk. 

In 2013, transcripts showed interviewers asking inappropriate questions, such as: “Did you put your penis into X’s backside?” and “Did X ejaculate inside you?”. The leak led to further discussions of explicit content deemed acceptable as evidence by the Home Office. 

Advertisement
Advertisement

A ‘culture of disbelief’ existing within the Home Office has resulted in an increase in pornographic videos being submitted as part of an asylum seeker’s claim. Large numbers of rejected asylum applications have led to claimants needing to take “desperate measures”, according to immigration lawyers.

UK Home Office tribunal transcripts detail various types of evidence which have been submitted by LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, in an effort to prove their sexuality to the court.

Your support changes lives. Find out how you can help us help more people by signing up for a subscription

Experiencing the system over and over again can have a huge mental effect on asylum seekers, with many being unsure of how to convince the immigration office that their story and sexuality are true. In Cameroon, homosexuality is criminalised and carries a risk of up to five years in prison. One applicant who fled to the UK due to fears of persecution experienced the cycle of rejection in 2017 within the Home Office process. 

After already having their initial application rejected on the basis of providing a “vague explanation” of their ‘coming out’ story, this applicant had no choice but to provide physical evidence to support and verify their sexual identity.  

In this case, the applicant produced further proof, including messaging history between themselves and their same-sex partner in which the endearing terms used with one another such as “dear” and “sweetheart” were scrutinised. Even the types of emojis, from hearts to kissy faces, were analysed by the court. 

A digital Valentine’s Day card sent between the couple was also accepted as evidence to prove the applicant’s sexuality.

Get the latest news and insight into how the Big Issue magazine is made by signing up for the Inside Big Issue newsletter

Other forms of evidence which have been previously accepted in an asylum seeker’s application include memberships to queer gyms and photos in queer spaces such as Pride marches or nightclubs. An applicant may also have witness statements from prior sexual partners, screenshots of their dating app profiles and further intimate images of themselves in queer settings. 

Braverman’s recent comments suggesting applicants are pretending to be gay to “game the system” ignore the huge difficulties faced by those who, for most of their lives, have had to pretend to be straight. Entering a space where there are expectations to be vulnerable and open about sexual orientation, ‘coming out’ and sexual relationships can be a totally new concept for many LGBTQ+ asylum seekers in an already stressful and overwhelming situation. 

In fact, for lesbian asylum applicants, there are further challenges in proving they are members of the LGBTQ+ community to the Home Office. Within the legislation criminalising homosexuality in 64 UN member States, women often aren’t included in the written law as only he/him pronouns are used. 

A 2020 court transcript reveals a female applicant being labelled ingenuine as the intimate photos she submitted of herself and her same-sex partner appeared to be “staged”. Her appeal was dismissed on these grounds. 

Attending a Pride protest, having read a novel by Oscar Wilde and talking about the gay bars they have frequented all constituted as proof for lesbian asylum seekers in the UK, according to research from Claire Bennett and Felicity Thomas

Western stereotypes and perceptions of queerness also shape the way lesbian applicants are reviewed and, ultimately, decide the fate of people trying to flee from danger. Failure to conform to cliches such as the ‘butch lesbian’ negatively affected a person’s chances of being granted asylum. 

Media outlets and public figures have attempted to explain how you could prove your sexual orientation to the Home Office. From The Mirror publishing a quiz titled ‘‘Does the Home Office think you’re gay?’ in 2015 and Joe Lycett’s recent letter to Suella Braverman. His letter attacked the notion that people are pretending to be gay, instead offering a satirical alternative to proving sexuality involving choosing between a Lady Gaga CD and an M&S Blue Harbour fleece  It shows that, of course, there is no step-by-step method to proving your sexual orientation to the Home Office. 

Proving your sexuality to the UK Home Office is a vague and difficult process with asylum seekers left with no information on how to verify their identity.

Jess Walmsley (@jess11.walmsley) is a queer migration researcher and a member of The Big Issue Breakthrough programme, designed to help young people begin a career in the media industry

Advertisement

Become a Big Issue member

3.8 million people in the UK live in extreme poverty. Turn your anger into action - become a Big Issue member and give us the power to take poverty to zero.

Recommended for you

Read All
'It could have been from Gordon Brown': Experts weigh in on how radical Labour's budget really is
Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares for the autumn budget 2024
Autumn budget

'It could have been from Gordon Brown': Experts weigh in on how radical Labour's budget really is

'We want a society that works for everyone': These millionaires want Rachel Reeves to tax them more
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been urged to extend rough sleeping funding to help homelessness services
Wealth tax

'We want a society that works for everyone': These millionaires want Rachel Reeves to tax them more

Real change or austerity 2.0? Here's how Labour can deliver a budget that works for everyone
Autumn budget

Real change or austerity 2.0? Here's how Labour can deliver a budget that works for everyone

What Tory leader hopefuls Badenoch and Jenrick think about poverty, benefits, housing and more
Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick
Politics

What Tory leader hopefuls Badenoch and Jenrick think about poverty, benefits, housing and more

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue