Vice <\/em>that she had to spend nights at friends\u2019 homes in Britain before she could approach the Home Office and make her claim. <\/p>\n\n\n\nWith homelessness on the rise, asylum seekers not being allowed to work while receiving a meagre \u00a340 a week for survival, affirms that UK fosters a hostile environment for migrants. The recent Rwanda policy has been criticised for being perilous, particularly for LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum, as the country does not protect the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aloysius believes that the risk of sending queer asylum seekers to Rwanda is immense. He feels that the Home Office does not engage with LGBTQ+ refugee communities, which has led to this policy coming to effect. \u201cThe Home Office is also part of the community, but they behave as though they are outside of the community,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He feels that the government does not do enough to ensure the mental wellbeing of queer asylum seekers. Back when he was claiming asylum in 2010, there weren\u2019t any organisations that were willing to help him when he was struggling with isolation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I was in the system, I tried a lot of organisations. Very well-known organisations. Big names. Big budgets. Big offices. They\u2019d give you a cup of tea but the moment you mention \u2018I am a gay man; from Uganda\u2019, they would just tell you, ‘Oh, maybe you need to see a solicitor’,\u201d he says. \u201cNoone was there to engage with you; There was a total absence of understanding.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\nPeople are scared of refugees because of the propaganda. Some of the politicians are very hostile.<\/p>Aloysius Ssali, queer refugee and activist<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe impact that the asylum process leaves on queer refugees while they grapple with past trauma, is extensive. Aloysius was abandoned by support groups that he thought would guide him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was no kindness. But what made it worse, I made phone calls to different organisations. I was crying out for help because I was scared. None of them replied. None of them ever sent me an email,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For queer asylum seekers, their mental health concerns go unaddressed because of a lack of signposting towards organisations that support LGBTQ+ people of ethnic minorities. But it doesn\u2019t get much better once they\u2019ve been granted asylum, especially as they struggle to find work to sustain themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he was granted asylum, Aloysius was denied work as he was looked down for being a refugee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI used to apply for jobs but the moment you produce your ID, people begin to wonder: Why are you a refugee? People are scared of refugees because of the propaganda. Some of the politicians are very hostile,\u201d says Aloysius. \u201cSo, if you are a refugee, it’s like they have put a mark on you, that you are not a good person and that is a problem.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He says that access to the labour market is a problem for any refugee but is amplified when you belong to the LGBTQ+ community, as many refrain from seeking help from diaspora refugee communities because they believe that they could be faced with discrimination based on their sexual and gender identity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aloysius\u2019 struggle to find work back then, remains a reality even today. Like many queer refugees in Britain, Azi*, who is currently on the UK benefits scheme, says that his mental wellbeing was severely affected when he was financially exploited. Dispirited that the system doesn\u2019t do much to protect the rights of refugees in the country, Azi feels like he is stuck in limbo after he had to quit his job as a security guard when he faced racism at the workplace and from customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI went through that. I just held it in me. The issue is that I’ve been holding, holding it in for so long and so I said before I commit any crime, I quit. As a black man, people will have prejudice against you,\u201d says Azi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many queer refugees who were high achievers academically back in their native country, have to start from scratch because Britain does not recognise their educational and professional qualifications, according to Khakan Qureshi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s only a few who are able to finance themselves, some might even work cash in hand. Some unfortunately, do slip through the nets and they end up on benefits, long-term. Again, that would feed into their self-esteem and their self-worth,\u201d says Khakan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As many refugees struggle to secure a job, Numair Masud, a queer refugee and activist in Wales, says that by denying work to those who have transferrable skills, you are potentially depriving the economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also believes that if the Welsh government considers itself to be inclusive, then offering training opportunities for asylum seekers and refugees will be a two-way benefit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While struggling to finance themselves, integrating and finding a community, can also be rather difficult for many queer refugees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIntegration is challenging even if you are born and bred in a country… And then if you add to that, the fact that you are someone claiming asylum, someone who is LGBTQ+, you’re a sexual minority and an ethnic minority, those challenges are amplified,\u201d says Numair. <\/p>\n\n\n\nNumair Masud is part of Glitter Cymru, a Cardiff-based organisation that supports LGBTQ+ people of colour. Photo Credits: Alice Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cYou would want them to be well integrated and part of that process is to make sure that they are aware of what resources are available. I think that is really important and that\u2019s something that is lacking,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like Numair, Aloysius also thinks that integration is a key concern for queer refugees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having lived in another country his whole life, accustomed to the cultures and traditions that come with the place, adapting to the norms of a new society felt strange and intimidating, which is why he decided to set up a support group for LGBTQ+ refugees to address problems and socialise, after being granted sanctuary in the UK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to create a community that could go out there and look out for people who are in detention centres who identify as LGBTQ+,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The London-based organisation, which he named Say It Loud Club<\/a>, a means to revive the spirit of his old club back in Uganda, aims to help LGBTQ+ asylum seekers access mental health services and get the support that they need through the often-disheartening asylum-seeking process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cMental health is a big thing for refugees and asylum seekers in general. But it is worse for those who identify as LGBTQ+ people because they come here, and they find it difficult to engage with people who come from their home countries who come with their attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people. Therefore, people end up feeling lonely,\u201d says Aloysius. \u201cThey end up feeling isolated. So, we try to bring in different activities every time to engage with people and help with mental health healing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite working to create a support system for them, Aloysius believes that the government\u2019s indifference towards queer asylum seekers and refugees makes it harder for them to integrate. He urges the government to listen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are the children of the UK asylum system. We love the asylum system; we want to make it work… We know who needs help. We know people who are struggling because of the poor asylum system,\u201d he says. \u201cThe Home Office needs to reach out to communities like ours because the Home Office is also part of the community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Names of the people marked with an asterisk* have been changed to protect their identity.) <\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Queer migrants struggle to financially provide for themselves while they face challenges with their mental health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":802,"featured_media":12211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\u201cYou are always living in fear\u201d: LGBTQ+ refugees in Britain open up about their asylum woes\u00a0 - Life360<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cYou are always living in fear\u201d: LGBTQ+ refugees in Britain open up about their asylum woes\u00a0 - Life360\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Queer migrants struggle to financially provide for themselves while they face challenges with their mental health.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Life360\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-30T18:08:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-30T08:15:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/queer-refugees-feature-image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Roohi Mariam Peter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@roohipeter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Roohi Mariam Peter\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cYou are always living in fear\u201d: LGBTQ+ refugees in Britain open up about their asylum woes\u00a0 - Life360\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/queer-refugees-feature-image.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-30T18:08:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-30T08:15:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/#\/schema\/person\/fafcafc99cf341946af3ad6320640359\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/queer-refugees-feature-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/queer-refugees-feature-image.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u201cYou are always living in fear\u201d: LGBTQ+ refugees in Britain open up about their asylum woes\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/\",\"name\":\"Life360\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/#\/schema\/person\/fafcafc99cf341946af3ad6320640359\",\"name\":\"Roohi Mariam Peter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27e8c43c4d4dd40fac3116316339dd9bd7db6015062bc1b57f3755ad8abb9cdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27e8c43c4d4dd40fac3116316339dd9bd7db6015062bc1b57f3755ad8abb9cdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Roohi Mariam Peter\"},\"description\":\"Multimedia Journalist interested in social justice, mental health, literature and film.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/roohipeter\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/author\/peterr2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cYou are always living in fear\u201d: LGBTQ+ refugees in Britain open up about their asylum woes\u00a0 - Life360","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cYou are always living in fear\u201d: LGBTQ+ refugees in Britain open up about their asylum woes\u00a0 - Life360","og_description":"Queer migrants struggle to financially provide for themselves while they face challenges with their mental health.","og_url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/","og_site_name":"Life360","article_published_time":"2022-08-30T18:08:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-30T08:15:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/queer-refugees-feature-image.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Roohi Mariam Peter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@roohipeter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Roohi Mariam Peter"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/","name":"\u201cYou are always living in fear\u201d: LGBTQ+ refugees in Britain open up about their asylum woes\u00a0 - Life360","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/queer-refugees-feature-image.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-30T18:08:47+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-30T08:15:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/#\/schema\/person\/fafcafc99cf341946af3ad6320640359"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/queer-refugees-feature-image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/queer-refugees-feature-image.jpg","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/you-are-always-living-in-fear-lgbtq-refugees-in-britain-open-up-about-their-asylum-woes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cYou are always living in fear\u201d: LGBTQ+ refugees in Britain open up about their asylum woes\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/","name":"Life360","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/#\/schema\/person\/fafcafc99cf341946af3ad6320640359","name":"Roohi Mariam Peter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27e8c43c4d4dd40fac3116316339dd9bd7db6015062bc1b57f3755ad8abb9cdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27e8c43c4d4dd40fac3116316339dd9bd7db6015062bc1b57f3755ad8abb9cdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Roohi Mariam Peter"},"description":"Multimedia Journalist interested in social justice, mental health, literature and film.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/roohipeter"],"url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/author\/peterr2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11918"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13626,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11918\/revisions\/13626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/queer-refugees-story.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/oojal-banner-refugee-story-1024x576.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/Image-1024x768.jpeg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/08\/Queer-Asylum-in-Britain-A-History-1.jpg\")