“We must come together, organise, and fight back against this government’s cruel and divisive policies”
BY RAINBOW MIGRATION, IMAGE PROVIDED
An LGBTQIA+ person that we supported recently told us that their council’s homelessness team responded to their request for help with: “British people are also homeless”. Another, seeking food at a local foodbank, was turned away because they were told the service doesn’t “give food to asylum seekers”. A third person, newly granted refugee status, was threatened with their Universal Credit being stopped if they “didn’t find a job soon”.
These are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a hostile anti-migrant climate that people now face simply to access basic services. A climate that has been fuelled both by the rise of the far right and by this government, which has chosen to echo and legitimise racist narratives rather than challenge division and build a fairer country for everyone.
The Home Secretary’s latest asylum changes, including measures hastily announced a couple of weeks ago, outline an “earned settlement” scheme that could see people forced to wait up to 30 years before securing permanent status. Her framing of settlement as something to be “earned” reinforces harmful narratives that people seeking asylum do not inherently belong in the UK, no matter the danger they’ve fled or the lives they’ve built here. It would trap people into decades of uncertainty, of not being able to call the UK home, and always fearing their safety could be taken away.
Delaying the path to settlement also makes integration harder to achieve. Decades of temporary status, combined with financial barriers, restricted rights, and the emotional toll of instability, impose significant barriers to people being able to put down roots. This undermines any commitment to building strong, supportive communities.
Similarly, the government’s requirement for “contribution” as a criteria for settlement reinforces the idea that migrants are resources to be exploited, rather than people with inherent worth and rights. Lifting the ban on working would allow people to go through the system with dignity, rather than imposing mandatory volunteering.
What we continue to see is communities pitted against one another; a race to the bottom to distract from the failure to tackle the real structural issues we are facing, like rampant inequality, unaffordable housing, and rising poverty. But the solution is not diverting attention through demonising migrants, but political will. In the meantime, our communities are being made to suffer by an increasingly hostile state.
The real impact on LGBTQIA+ lives
Take Sam, a trans man from the Middle East, who had to flee his home country because he was threatened with violence if he didn’t reverse his transition. Or Jalal, a gay man from Pakistan, who was told by his family, “If you come back, we will kill you”, when they found out about his sexuality. For LGBTQIA+ people like Sam or Jalal, who’ve been recently granted refugee status, the prospect of having to wait for decades for secure status, of living with the fear of being sent back to danger, would be devastating.
This government has said one of the ways they will decide who can get secure status earlier or later will be based partly on “character and conduct,” including any perceived non-compliance with immigration rules. This could place LGBTQIA+ people seeking asylum in impossible situations.
For instance, we support many LGBTQIA+ people with histories of overstaying their visas because they were terrified of returning to danger or unaware that they could claim asylum on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Others become non‑compliant when support is wrongly refused or withdrawn, leaving them destitute and forcing them into desperate choices. Even when these decisions are overturned through judicial review or fresh evidence, the proposed rules would continue penalising people long after they’ve secured status, effectively punishing them for legitimate fears, lack of knowledge, or exercising their rights.
Refusing settlement to people with NHS debt would also punish people simply for accessing essential healthcare and being unable to afford it. This is profoundly unjust, particularly considering that most people seeking safety here are not allowed to work and therefore unable to avoid accruing debt in the first place. LGBTQIA+ people already face significant barriers to healthcare, and these proposals risk either penalising those who seek treatment or deterring people from accessing care.
Is this really the direction we want to take as a country? Do we want a system that resembles some of the worst aspects of the US model, with “ICE-style” enforcement and decades of insecurity for people who came here seeking to rebuild their lives in safety? Or will we come together and resist?
As we face an increasingly frightening era, solidarity is essential; we know that people up and down this country have always shown kindness, generosity and warmth to refugees, migrants and to each other. We must come together, organise, and fight back against this government’s cruel and divisive policies.
Learn more about Rainbow Migration here: rainbowmigration.org.uk/
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