Our members call us their family

Credit: LGBT Asylum

From its roots at Copenhagen Pride, LGBT Asylum has grown into a lifeline for LGBTQI+ refugees in Denmark. In this piece, Ali Lewis shares its journey and impact.

Photographs: Various

Text: Ali Lewis

Last month, more than 250,000 people flocked to Copenhagen Pride, the annual, week-long celebration of LGBTQI+ culture and community. Right now, with an unstable and unsettling global landscape for LGBTQI+ rights, Pride feels more vital than ever.

Pride is particularly important for LGBT Asylum, which supports and campaigns for LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and refugees in Denmark. Besides Pride’s political and cultural significance, it’s where the organisation was founded back in 2012.

A need for structured support and advocacy

Chairperson and co-founder Mads Ted Drud-Jensen recalls: “A friend who worked in an asylum centre knew a lesbian living there, having a really difficult time. We met her and she told us about other LGBTQI+ asylum seekers. We all attended the 2012 Pride event together and discussed forming a network to offer support. So LGBT Asylum was very much founded by asylum seekers themselves.”

Thirteen years on, LGBT Asylum has grown to a large network of volunteers who support, counsel, mentor and advocate for hundreds of people every year, and Mads has been there every step of the way - volunteering since the start. “We soon realised as well as counselling and social activities, we needed more structured support networks and strategic advocacy,” he says. “And we needed to offer support to those granted residency as they built new lives.”

They have noticed “quite a significant increase” in the number of LGBTQI+ asylum seekers approaching the organisation, as global developments make it more dangerous to be LGBTQI+. “Criminalisation and persecution have increased in countries such as Uganda, Ghana and Russia, while we are seeing a global backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion,” says Mads. “There have also been dramatic reductions in the global humanitarian budget.”

A gruelling process

LGBT Asylum has worked hard to raise awareness of LGBTQI+ asylum seekers’ and refugees’ specific challenges. “One of our first slogans was ‘LGBTQI+ politics are also asylum politics and asylum politics are also LGBTQI+ politics’, " Mads says. We always have to link them”.

Many people don’t understand how difficult applying for asylum is, Mads says. “Credibility is key. You have to convince the authorities that it’s too dangerous for you to return to your own country. For an LGBTQI+ person, proving that is even more difficult. How can you prove you’re gay, for example? Usually, you won’t have any documents to show, such as belonging to an LGBTQI+ network in your home country. Even if one existed, you could be pursued by public authorities, your local community or even your family for being part of it. You might never have spoken about being LGBTQI+ to anyone.

"Many members see this group as family, making it a special and rewarding experience for volunteers.”

Credit: Pratik Hariharan

The asylum process is like preparing to sit an exam

LGBT Asylum supports people through this gruelling process, often involving multiple interviews of many hours. “We encourage people to be as honest as possible from the beginning,” Mads explains. “The authorities will look for a coherent story. We meet people who cannot bring themselves to speak about their sexuality or gender identity at all in initial interviews - they mention it later and are seen as untrustworthy.”

The authorities will also look at social media history, Mads says. “They will ask about how you identify. If you have an identity that’s less straightforward, like bisexuality or a non-binary gender identity, it can be harder for the authorities to understand. In the past, people would often be asked intimate details about their sexual experiences. That’s actually not allowed, and we’re very glad we see it less frequently now. However, this is precisely why counselling is necessary. We can’t tell people what to say, but we help them understand what’s at stake and give them a space to talk about their story before they’re in the interview. In reality, it’s like preparing to sit an exam.”

Asylum seekers’ living conditions can pose specific challenges for LGBTQI+ individuals, Mads explains: “During the gruelling interview process, you’re living in an asylum centre with a lot of other people from all over the world, perhaps from the same country as yourself, who believe being LGBTQI+ is wrong. There’s very little privacy. You’re typically in the closet, living day to day with a lot of anxiety and pressure. It’s very difficult. As well as proper counselling, you need a supportive place where you can be yourself in order to navigate that. That’s what we work hard to provide.”

And the work of LGBT Asylum doesn’t stop when an individual is granted residence. “You might be placed anywhere in Denmark; all the municipalities have to take a quota of refugees,” Mads explains. “We hear this political notion that LGBTQI+ people can live anywhere in Denmark. But that’s not the reality, especially not for a newly arrived refugee. Networks are such an important resource in building a new life. We have long argued that LGBTQI+ refugees should be placed in, or close to, major cities with established LGBTQI+ communities and resources.”

“For LGBTQI+ asylum seekers, the process is gruelling - it’s like preparing to sit an exam, while living in an environment where you can’t be yourself.”

Credit: LGBT Asylum

Members talk about this group as their family

Mads has seen the strong impact the organisation has had over the past 13 years: “We have built a special, sustainable community. Many members describe this group as their family. It’s quite special and as a volunteer, it’s very rewarding to be part of that.”

Mads is also proud of the impact LGBT Asylum’s advocacy and campaigning has had: “We’ve created visibility and a greater sensitivity in the systems that are supposed to provide support. Before, the experiences of the individuals we work with were just invisible.” Conditions in asylum centres are better for LGBTQI+ people now, Mads says, and they have seen a change in the way asylum cases are handled.

Inevitably, emotional bonds are formed between LGBT Asylum volunteers and those they work with. “When we go to court hearings of the Refugee Appeals Board and see someone we work with who has had a very long, very difficult asylum process finally get a residence permit, it’s very emotional,” Mads says. “Many people in this organisation have made a big difference for other people. You’re part of the community; it becomes part of your identity. We have volunteers who have been active for many years because it’s so meaningful.”

We are in this together, and we collaborate

Direct involvement of asylum seekers and refugees in running LGBT Asylum is crucial. “We have quite a few people who started here as beneficiaries and have become volunteers and board members themselves,” Mads says.

Above all, LGBT Asylum wants asylum seekers and refugees to be properly valued for what they can bring to Denmark. “Of course, the people we work with are vulnerable and facing specific barriers, especially at first,” he says. “But these are strong people with a lot of resources, and the LGBTQI+ community is a super important resource. You need a community to build a new life, and often that is the only network people have, in the beginning, at least. There are real challenges, but there are also possibilities being LGBTQI+ because you can connect with people on that basis and use those resources.”

LGBT Asylum welcomes new volunteers from all over Denmark. You must identify as LGBTQI+, but Danish is not a requirement.

Find out more, including how you can donate, at lgbtasylum.dk