The Home Secretary will give a talk on Tuesday 26 Sept at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington
BY ELLA GAUCI, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
According to Home Secretary Suella Braverman, fearing discrimination because of your sexual or gender identity is not enough reasoning to qualify for asylum.
Braverman is set to give a talk at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington today (26 September) about her plans to crack down on asylum seekers. In a speech seen by The Times, Braverman will claim that we need to amend the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, signed by 146 countries because we “now live in a completely different time”.
In her speech, Braverman says: “Let me be clear, there are vast swathes of the world where it is extremely difficult to be gay, or to be a woman.”
“Where individuals are being persecuted, it is right that we offer sanctuary. But we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if, in effect, simply being gay or a woman and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection.”
Stewart McDonald, SNP MP for Glasgow South, tweeted in response to Braverman’s speech saying: “Gay asylum seekers and refugees make up a tiny minority of all cases, so to single them out in her campaign to be the next Tory leader, Braverman yet again displays appalling, nasty and cruel instincts that are at odds with common decency. Unfit for office.”
Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for Exeter, also commented on the matter: “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.”
Currently, there are 64 countries globally where homosexuality is illegal.
DIVA spoke to four queer women trying to gain asylum in the UK after fleeing homophobic and transphobic persecution from their home countries. Their stories will be available to read in our October/November issue.
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