The Network is delighted to announce a Lush grant to support its work for genuine LGBT users of UK immigration and asylum services. As one of its three national level areas of work and expertise (the others being in sport and NHS engagement), the experiences of genuine [clear/substantial evidence-based] applicants & asylum seekers from sexual & gender minorities, we realised from cases that have come to us, which have enabled important national-level organisations to work with us to support those affected, through information provision.
Our work in this area has gained national respect with many organisations that have GENUINE interest in improving the quality of life of this micro-LGBT community (including same-sex UK Citizen partners), with exceptional vulnerability to mental health distress, minimal effective support, and suffering to in our experience and those at Gay Star News (with whom we partner closely on this issue) frequent abuses of process by the immigration services.
The Network has also received a helpful policy-statement clarifying letter (11th October 2018) from the Rt Hon Caroline Nokes MP, Immigration Minister on the UK immigration services obligations to support LGBT human rights – this clarification from a government minister is greatly appreciated, for government ministers are democratically elected politicians, not civil servants. For it is the latter, and their sub-contracted commercial partners that find themselves the centre of perceived anti-LGBT human rights controversies, which including putting knowingly or unknowingly genuine LGBT asylum seekers lives and their British same-sex partners lives at very real risk.