3. Borders, legal precarity, and xenophobia
| Migration status also shapes exposure to harm. Asylum and immigration systems often rely on ‘credibility tests’ that force people to perform gender and sexuality according to Western norms; those who do not conform face disbelief or deportation. |
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Legal insecurity, such as unstable visas, restricted travel, dependency on sponsors - all limit participation in activism and advocacy. Those most affected by repression often become the least visible in transnational spaces. |
| For queer Belarusians in exile, ‘anti-gender’ hostility in host countries merges with xenophobia: stigmatised both as ‘sexual deviants’ and as ‘unwanted migrants.’ Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian-speaking Belarusians reported being discriminated against in a two-fold way — for being queer and for being associated with an aggressor state. |
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The examples below show how border regimes and ‘anti-gender’ politics reinforce one another, turning legal insecurity into emotional and social marginalisation. As you watch them, please reflect: How does migration status shape whose stories of gender and sexuality are recognised as ‘credible’? |
LGBTQIA+ refugees need support
Video about forced displacement because of sexual orientation and gender identity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIAHGZ36JkM