The Big Issue has reported how the government’s attempts to reduce the asylum backlog are already making refugees homeless, by giving them little time to find accommodation and pushing support services to breaking point.
Sonya Sceats, chief executive at Freedom from Torture, told The Big Issue: “LGBTQI+ people are tortured in many countries for who they are and who they love, and their pain is no less than other survivors we treat in our therapy rooms. They deserve precisely the same protection too. For a liberal democracy like Britain to try to weaken protection for this community is shameful.”
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In her speech to the American Enterprise Institute, Suella Braverman is expected to lay out her solution to the refugee crisis, arguing we “now live in a completely different age” to when the refugee convention was drawn up in the wake of world war two.
“The status quo, where people are able to travel through multiple safe countries, and even reside in safe countries for years, while they pick their preferred destination to claim asylum, is absurd and unsustainable.”
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Labour MP Ben Bradshaw called on LGBTQ+ Conservatives to speak out and condemn Braverman.
“Any LGBT or other Tories prepared to condemn Braverman for this? She doesn’t seem to grasp that simply being gay is enough to result in persecution or death in many countries,” Bradshaw said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Sebastian Rocca, the founder of Micro Rainbow, a charity which helps LGBTQI asylum seekers find housing, told the Big Issue Braverman’s comments were contributing towards fear and mistrust of migrants for political gain.
“Micro Rainbow is deeply disturbed by the comments made by the Home Secretary. Claiming asylum in the UK as an LGBTQI person is incredibly difficult and the standard of proof is very high. By making comments like: ‘Fearing discrimination for being gay or a woman should not be enough to qualify for international refugee protection’, Suella Braverman continues to push a narrative that is of fear and mistrust towards migrants, and in this case of LGBTQI asylum seekers,” Rocca said
“The Home Office own guidance states that “to establish a claim under the Refugee Convention the treatment feared must amount to persecution”. It is disheartening to see that the Home Secretary is more interested in making headlines for political gain instead of building safe routes and a humane asylum system.”
