Sharalyn R. Jordan, ‘Un/convention(al) refugees: Contextualizing the accounts of refugees facing homophobic or transphobic persecution’, Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 26(2), 165-182, 2009 Abstract Propelled by fear of violence and flight from stigma, impelled by desire for connection and belonging, the movements of people whose sexualities or genders defy and offend norms cover a complex … Read more

David K. Seitz, ‘Limbo Life in Canada’s Waiting Room: Asylum-Seeker as Queer Subject’, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 35(3), 438-456, 2017 Abstract This paper puts queer theory’s ‘‘subjectless critique’’ of identity to work in challenging the state’s biopolitical use of essential, authentic identities in asylum law and practice. It not only builds upon, … Read more

Robert Leitner, ‘A Flawed System Exposed: The Immigration Adjudicatory System and Asylum for Sexual Minorities’, 2004 University of Miami Law Review 58 (2), pp 679-699 Abstract Debate over immigration policy and immigration law has taken on an unprecedented prominence for the American body politic in recent years. The growing clout and numeric prominence of the … Read more

Nicole LaViolette, ‘Sexual Orientation and the Refugee Determination Process: Questioning a Claimant About Their Membership in the Particular Social Group’, University of Ottawa, 2004 Abstract For many years now, gay men and lesbians have been granted asylum in Canada on the ground that they face persecution as sexual minorities. In 1993, the Supreme Court of … Read more

Sharalyn Renee Jordan, ‘Un/settling: a critical ethnographic inquiry into settlement by refugees making claims based on sexual orientation or gender identity persecution’, University of British Columbia, 2010 Abstract Propelled by fear of violence and flight from stigma, impelled by desire for connection and belonging, the movements of people whose sexualities or genders defy and offend … Read more

Swetha Sridharan, ‘The Difficulties of U.S. Asylum Claims Based on Sexual Orientation’, Migration Policy Institute, 2008 Abstract Since 1998, the United States has processed an average of 46,000 asylum applications each year, according to estimates from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Winning asylum in this country, however, is not an easy task. On … Read more

Adena L. Wayne, ‘Unique Identities and Vulnerabilities: The Case for Transgender Identity as a Basis for Asylum’, 102 Cornell Law Review 241 (2016) Abstract On September 3, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit suspended the deportation of a transgender Mexican woman because the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA or Board) had … Read more

Rachel Lewis, ‘Deportable Subjects: Lesbians and Political Asylum’, Feminist Formations, vol. 25 no. 2, 2013, pp. 174-194 Abstract This article explores how deportation as a state of emergency structures the queer migration narratives of lesbian refugees and asylum-seekers. The first part of the article discusses the ways in which the political asylum system produces queer, … Read more

Nicole LaViolette, ‘Sexual Orientation and the Refugee Determination Process: Questioning a Claimant About Their Membership in the Particular Social Group’, in S. Levy (ed.), Asylum Based on Sexual Orientation; A Resource Guide, San Francisco: IGLHRC, 1996 Abstract For many years now, gay men and lesbians have been granted asylum in Canada on the ground that … Read more

Fatma E. Marouf, ‘The emerging importance of “social visibility” in defining a “particular social group” and its potential impact on asylum claims related to sexual orientation and gender’, 2008 Yale Law and Policy Review, 27: 47-106