The Home Office has resisted the idea that gay men and lesbians who faced persecution in their home country because of their sexual orientation should be recognised as refugees. This has changed, but the home office remains reluctant to recognise gay men and lesbians as refugees because of their sexuality.
This shows in the way Lesbians, gay and bi sexual men and women are treated when they apply for asylum status. The system is unfortunately open to abuse and as a result the Immigration Service and other agencies subject LBGT people to a second-class service. This could be addressed more directly, if the law was changed regarding goods and services, so it protected LGBT men and women from discrimination and made this illegal.
There is Human Rights abuse all over the world to LGBT people. Amnesty International have been heavily involved with publicising the plight and treatment of LBGT people in certain countries.
In Colombia a woman was paraded on a donkey with the word lesbian around her neck, then she was raped and later found later dead with her breasts cut off.
There was similar story of a man in the Eastern block that was found to be gay; He was also paraded around on a donkey with toilet seat around his neck saying he was gay. He was sentenced to be stoned and then to be buried alive. He was put in jail awaiting sentencing to be carried out. His parents managed to pay the police to let him go so he could escape, he fled his country and eventually applied for stay in this asylum in England.

The government are refusing applications from LGBT people telling them, “ go back and keep their sexuality quiet and they will be all right.” They are sending these people back to be tortured, persecuted, raped and in other instances killed.

Pressure needs to be put on the government to change the way applications are dealt with so that a lot of LGBT people do not have to go back to countries where they would not be safe. Policies need to be changed around this so that a lot of applications do not have to the Appeal Courts costing the government a lot of money. The application form I have been informed around LGBT people is discriminating in a lot of ways. The application form is type casting and offensive, asking questions about decoration and whether you use Laura Ashley or liking the music of Barbara Stressed etc. While some gay men do like these things gay men are very different in their tastes in music, culture and film and anybody who bothered to find out this would find this to be the case.
There needs to be monitoring of the applications from people who seek Asylum.
There are concerns that there are no guidelines issued to IND caseworkers or Immigration Judges concerning how to deal with sexual orientation claims in a sensitive and non-prejudicial way. The absence of such guidelines leads to the making of insensitive and derogatory remarks concerning sexual practices and expressions of orientation in IND refusal letters and determinations of Judges
There are many applications turned down by the home office by people who go out of their way to find reasons to refuse an application due to a prejudice against lesbian and gay men.

Fleeing persecution, death sentences, torture LGBT people apply for Asylum and protection then face continual prejudice by the system that is supposed to help and protect them.
Legal Aid is very limited to LBGT asylum seekers and often Asylum seekers are given solicitors who are not experienced in dealing with Asylum and often not gay friendly
Second the interrupters are anti- gay and also not understanding the background culture of the country the asylum seekers come from means a lot of the translation is misinterpret. This interview is crucial and cannot be left to chance.
Thirdly the information given to the home office workers by the home office is based upon reports that include little information about the plight of gay, lesbian and transgender men. They need long-term continual training both external and internal in refugee and human rights of the countries where the refugees are coming from. Without this they cannot give a fair and non-discriminatory service.

Fourthly, how can you prove that you are gay? How do you prove you have been tortured? Many asylum seekers find it really difficult to talk about their terrible experiences and do not always go into great details as they are ashamed and talking about the experience is re-living their horrific experience. These cases need to be death with extreme care by staff that understand and have the empathy and experience to deal with these cases.

90% of applications are denied and LGBT people sent back to countries where concrete proof and the killing, torture, death and persecution of LGBT people. People are often told to hide their sexuality and not cause any problems and sent back to these countries.

We propose that the system is changed and that the home office work with PCS Proud, the uk lesbian and immigration group, BLUK and Amnesty International to look at the training, support and services delivered to gay lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered asylum seekers.

JAY PCS BLACK MEMBERS REP 2006