LGBT Asylum News: About us

This website was established in January 2008 to help save 19yo gay Iranian Mehdi Kazemi from deportation to execution by the British government. He was saved but many other LGBT asylum seekers face appalling treatment at the hands of the UK government as well as many other countries.

We document the situations in countries from which LGBT people are fleeing hoping for a safe haven and the problems they can face from the asylum system in many countries.

We know this helps LGBT people gain their right of sanctuary.

We have helped individuals but in the UK we generally refer onto the specialist group UKLGIG (see this page for UK asylum seeker support groups and useful resources). See our international links for help elsewhere in the world. We have also been involved in lobbying the UK government as well as supporting developments for asylum seekers elsewhere.

In January 2011 we published a round-up of highlights and calculated our 2010 audience across web, email and other routes at c250k.

As well, stories featured on LGBT Asylum News regularly feature elsewhere online plus we're a source for reference websites like asylumlaw.org

Contributions, ideas and any other issues about this website are welcome, contact gayasylumuk@gmail.com

If you would like to financially support us (producing this website does come with a cost) please consider making a donation to the Editor, Paul Canning, via PayPal account paul.canning@gmail.com or make a direct payment to Halifax Bank of Scotland, sort code: 111431 account #: 00105866

Note: If they use a credit or debit card on PayPal there will be a small fee. You can decide to pay this or pass it on.

Praise for LGBT Asylum News

LGBT Asylum News has been described as "invaluable", "indispensable" and "an essential service".

"LGBT Asylum News is an important, valuable source for news and information on LGBT refugee issues; reporting on the plight of LGBT people in the 'global south,' which other news and asylum outlets have frequently neglected. This work continues and expands my own endeavours with LGBT asylum seekers over the last two decades. In recent years, I have worked with the editor, Paul Canning, on individual cases. His dedication in supporting LGBT refugees and challenging the way they are often mistreated is very impressive. I commend his efforts."

Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner and Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation

"LGBT Asylum News was an invaluable source of information, analysis and context for a campaign that our organization ran - and won - on behalf of a Ugandan lesbian asylum seeker in the UK. And the website over all is a thorough and excellent source of information on issues relating to LGBT asylum seekers, not to mention important but sometimes hard to find LGBT news from the global south. I can't imagine the web, or the work of countless activists and campaigners who depend on this information, without it."

Joseph Huff-Hannon, Campaigner, All Out

"As a professor of European asylum law and practice, I find LGBT Asylum News an indispensable source of information on issues relating to LGBT asylum seekers and the LGBT community's response. Its worldwide coverage of LGBT asylum issues is unique on the net, and it manages to balance LGBT advocacy with objective, serious reporting. It should also be the place of first reference for anyone assisting LGBT asylum seekers. It is a great asset for activists, service providers, and academics alike."

Bruce Leimsidor, Professor, European Asylum Law, Ca' Foscari University, Venice, Italy

"Just as the Iranian LGBT are silenced and have no voice inside Iran, the LGBT who are left with no choice but to run away and take refuge in the West have no voice if they're not picked up and written about by those reporters who care for for the life and well-being of the LGBT. The LGBT Asylum News was first launched when in IRQO we were worrying over the the fate of Mehdi (Kazemi), who was lucky enough to be heard and defended and eventually accepted as refugee. The weblog has served so many times since, to defend LGBT asylum seeker and so many times I have counted on this weblog to send word out about a life-threatening situation of an Iranian queer who was just stuck in the complicated procedures of seeking asylum, or a scary fate in Iran. Thank you Paul and the team."

Saghi Ghahraman, President, Iranian Queer Organization

"It has been a real honor to be associated with LGBT Asylum News and also for being a contributor to its news. It has been my one stop source for news, events, highlights and updates on LGBT, sex workers, asylum seekers, and a host of other people. Its coverage is surprisingly wide, divergent and concrete making it an authority in human rights reporting, LGBT issues and asylum developments. Through the concerted efforts of its editor Paul Canning and a team of contributors who share stories and information, I can scarcely believe the impact it has had and the small number of people working behind the scenes at LGBT Asylum to bring all this to you. It shows how small things can have great impact. I am glad that this rings true for LGBT Asylum. Our support would greatly help."

Denis Nzioka, Editor, Gay Kenya

"LGBT Asylum News is always our first port of call for the latest news, information and advice to support the rights of LGBT people seeking sanctuary. We are a national organisation providing advice and information on migrant and asylum rights, and in the last year we have been increasingly calling upon the resources at LGBT Asylum News. Changes in UK legislation have brought more legal challenges, and more LGBT people coming to us for help, making LGBT Asylum News an essential service for us at NCADC."

Michael Collins, Campaigns Coordinator, National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns

"As the Asylum Documentation Project Coordinator for the National Immigrant Justice Center - A Heartland Alliance Partner, I deal with LGBT/HIV documentation on a daily basis. With LGBT Asylum News, busting on line in January 2008, I have seen a very vigorous, dynamic, up to date site grow to place itself among the leading sites in the internet for up to the minute LGBT/HIV news and information. They are right on top of every issue concerning the LGBT/HIV immigrant community worldwide."

Dusty Araujo, Asylum Documentation Coordinator, National Asylum Partnership on Sexual Minorities, National Immigrant Justice Center

"I conducted a successful campaign, mostly because this site supported me and publicised my campaign and helped me to make it international. When I arrived in UK, for a long time I felt isolated. I didn’t know anybody in a similar situation as me, and I couldn’t relate to anyone. So the LGBT asylum news is great because it offers stories about other LGBT asylum seekers going through the system. After reading the stories of people in similar situations, I didn’t feel so alone anymore. Most women found it hard to open up in the presence of men. So we formed a group called Lesbian Immigration Support Group. But we needed to advertise the group to reach a wider range of people who could use our help. We got in touch with Paul who runs the site and he put information about our group on the LGBT Asylum news website. We got contacted by a lot of women who had heard about our group through the site. Which I was not surprised by, because when I was an asylum seeker and I needed to find support, it was through this website that I found support groups."

Prossy Kakooza, Lesbian Immigration Support Group, Ugandan refugee

"As Editor in Chief of San Diego Gay & Lesbian News [SDGLN], I can count on Paul Canning and LGBT Asylum News to provide my readers, who hail from 175 countries on all seven continents, with great insight into the heartwrenching issues faced by LGBT people seeking asylum across the globe. When a refugee in Sweden faced deportation to a homophobic country, and he found SDGLN on the Internet, he reached out to me for help. And I immediately turned to Paul Canning as an expert on such issues, and we were able to connect the gay man in Sweden with people who could help him. That is the unique power of the Internet, the value of making connections with the right people across the globe, and the importance of websites like SDGLN and LGBT Asylum News in keeping up public awareness of global asylum issues."

Ken Williams, Editor in Chief of SDGLN

"I strongly believe that educating people about issues and providing them with information is key to getting people to act. Thankfully, information technologies and the Internet have enabled the LGBT community along with its advocates to shed light on the many problems and challenges faced by queer people worldwide. The same is true for the millions of migrants and their supporters. Unfortunately, there are those at the intersection and margins of both the LGBT and migrant communities whose lives remain precariously in the shadows. As LGBT and migrant rights activists struggle to maintain attention on the various LGBT and migration issues, queer refugees and their hardships are often left out. LGBT Asylum News is a much needed outlet to share the stories and plight of individuals who only want to live openly and true to themselves without threat of violence."

Erwin de Leon is a columnist at Feet in 2 Worlds

"An incredible resource, with well-written, well-researched daily news stories from all over the world dealing with a wealth of issues that might otherwise receive very little attention in the UK. Its writers are also wholeheartedly dedicated to a genuine “LGBT” approach: one that incorporates a wealth of perspectives and experiences relating to multiple sexualities and gender identities."

Ruth, Trans Youth Takes On World

“LGBT Asylum News is a very important website and valuable source of information for those political activists who require accurate, factual evidence to lobby and inform political representatives of current asylum cases and ensuring media attention is given where other news outlets completely neglect these issues. I have worked with the editor, Paul Canning over the past year or so, especially since becoming Chair of LGBT Lib Dems (Delga) and his insight and knowledge is invaluable and I recognise how much energy and enthusiasm he has to dedicate in support of refugees and challenging the authorities where mistreatment has occurred.”

Adrian Trett, Chair of LGBT Liberal Democrats (Delga)