UKLGIG Annual Report 2009

ANNUAL REPORT 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAIR’S REPORT...... 2

TREASURER’S REPORT FINANCIAL YEAR 2011...... 3

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT...... 9

UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group 32-36 Loman Street London SE1 0EH

Information/Helpline +44 (0)20 7922 7811 Monday - Friday Asylum enquiries (office hours)

Administration +44(0)20 7922 7812 www.uklgig.org.uk UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 1

CHAIR’S REPORT

are much needed and beneficial to asylum UKLGIG is a remarkable organisation that has seekers and include a theatrical production been working tirelessly for the rights of same sex bi-national couples and lesbian, gay, called “Babel” in partnership with The Young bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) asylum Vic. This work builds on the regular monthly seekers for almost 20 years. While still meetings, social support groups for men and providing a safe place for same sex bi-national women, and visits to galleries and exhibitions couples to meet and receive professional that the group provides. advice on their cases, the vast majority of the group’s resources are used in supporting The work of UKLGIG, once again, went beyond hundreds of LGBTI asylum seekers that every supporting asylum seekers directly to include month walk through the door of an asylum various delicate advocacy and policy activities. meeting, call the helpline or send an e-mail. It encompassed pressuring detention centre Asylum seekers approach the group not only management and raising awareness, amongst to look for help with their asylum cases but other things, of the serious safety issues faced also to be listened to and to be treated with by LGBTI asylum seekers in detention; the humanity and professionalism that our engaging with the Chief Inspector of UKBA in team Erin Power, Jill Power, and Jacob including LGBTI issues in the Foreign National Matthews are renowned for. Prisoners Report; and providing information, advice and guidance to UKBA on how to 2011 has been a year of many achievements assess and improve the quality of their asylum and some challenges too, which the group decisions. It is commendable that, despite successfully managed thanks to the limited resources and conflicting priorities, the determination and leadership of our Executive group managed to engage at such high levels Director, Erin Power. I am pleased to report and I would encourage it to continue to do so that, over the year, the group was able to in the years to come. support over 700 LGBTI asylum seekers, some of whom were regularly visited in detention Not only did the group engage with policy centres, and many were referred to some of makers nationally, but it also started to the best immigration lawyers in the UK, expand and share its expertise and best increasing exponentially their chances of practices internationally. UKLGIG engaged in success. various activities that had an international focus but the one that I would like to highlight In addition to providing legal information to is UKLGIG’s involvement in the European asylum seekers, it was also exciting to witness Asylum Group (of which the group is also one the considerable expansion of the group’s of the original founders) that started at the work in providing social support to asylum ILGA world conference in Brazil in December seekers by offering alternative ways to 2010. This group aims to share practices, express sexual or gender identity and to tell strategies, policies and information on the their stories. These alternatives to the UKBA many aspects of LGBTI asylum and has the narratives that often fail to capture many support of various high profile organisations aspects of one’s sexuality or gender identity such as RFSL (Sweden), COC (Netherlands), ORAM (US), ILGA-Europe and many others. done both nationally and internationally to The example of UKLGIG as an organisation engage with and influence policy makers. that improved the situation of LGBTI asylum While I am pleased to welcome Jacob seekers in the UK by supporting them directly Matthews to the team as our new asylum and by engaging constructively with policy support worker, I am also conscious that the makers and institutions is a best practice story group might need to expand its team even that other organisations could benefit from further especially considering the on-going and could be instrumental in their fight to legal aid cuts. I would therefore encourage achieve similar advances in their own funders reading this report that do not countries. currently support the cause, to consider adding to their funding criteria supporting a Unfortunately, the above achievements, very vulnerable client group which is affected although impressive, have been hindered by by multiple levels of discrimination: for being two major challenges, one political and one asylum seekers and for being lesbian, gay, organisational. bisexual, trans, or intersex.

As we have been reporting for some time In conclusion, I would like to thank my fellow now, legal aid cuts have continued to trustees for their professionalism, guidance jeopardize the work of all lawyers, but and for giving up their free time in supporting especially those immigration law firms who the organisation’s work. I would also like to are committed to deliver a humane and high thank our funders and individual donors for quality service to LGBTI asylum seekers. Not supporting the cause and to applaud the being able to spend enough time with clients, commitment and great work of dozens of who often need many hours to “come out”, to volunteers who attend the asylum and explain a part of themselves they have never partnership meetings, provide admin support talked about, or to overcome the shame that in the office, manage the online forum for for so long has grown inside them for being L, same sex bi-national couples, and last but not G, B, T or I, is a major setback and some least the team of volunteer solicitors. A good firms had no option but to close their special thank you goes to the team, Erin, Jill legal aid department. The group has and Jacob without whom we would not have considered and is always exploring new ways been able to report such a successful year, to strategically tackle this challenge, but and to the hundreds of asylum seekers who ultimately policy makers really need to have entrusted the group to walk with them in acknowledge the fact that the asylum system their journey for freedom. should be designed to give safety in the most dignified and humane way and for that to happen resources have to be allocated to the right activities, including lawyers’ time. Sebastian Rocca On an organisational level, the group needs Chair more resources to be able to deal with the ever-increasing number of asylum seekers May 2012 requesting our services and to cope with the immense amount of work that still needs to be UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 1

TREASURER’S REPORT FINANCIAL YEAR 2011

In 2011 the group had an income of just over financial constraints of reduced funding £61,600, which represents a decrease of availability and many small charities have 22% if compared with the income of the been forced to close. previous year. Mainstream funding in support of asylum seekers who are also The trustees, staff, volunteers and, more LGBTI is not easy to identify however the importantly, the asylum seekers would like to group did well in securing the support of a thank The Sigrid Rausing Trust, The Law new funder The Sigrid Rausing Trust and of a Society Charity, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation previous funder The Law Society Charity. and Matrix Chambers Causes Fund for The support of UKLGIG members continues to believing in the group and supporting the be a core element of our income and fight of the many LGBTI asylum seekers who represents almost 14% of our incoming we continued to support in 2011 in the hope resources. of helping them secure a future without persecution. Expenditure in 2011 was £77,800, almost exactly the same as the previous year. The We would also like to thank our members for largest proportion of this expenditure is their exceptional solidarity without which the salaries 64.5% and rent 24%. Cash reserves group would struggle to undertake its for the year were just over £14,500 of which activities, and those individuals who donate approximately 50% are restricted funds. through the online facility for their support which, in many cases, goes beyond the The unexpected resignation of the newly financial contribution, and extends to many appointed Executive Director during the year, hours of volunteer work. A special thank you caused considerable pressure on remaining to those donors who have also signed a gift staff and meant the fund raising did not aid declaration, which allowed the group to reach the anticipated level. The trustees took raise an extra £1,300 in 2011. the decision to employ the Group Manager as Executive Director and to employ an assistant Last year the treasurer reported that he was to the Asylum Co-ordinator, thereby reducing proud to be part of a grassroots group that is salary costs and providing the opportunity to capable of achieving so much with so little focus on fund raising in the short term. funding. As a new treasurer, but with a long Already in 2012 £65,000 has been raised involvement in UKLGIG’s work, I share my from funders - more than the total income for predecessor’s pride. Funding will continue to 2011. be one of the major challenges for the future. However, the reputation of the group has Although the reserves of just over £14,500 increased tremendously in recent years which were less than we had hoped, the position helps to secure additional funding. I am has changed since the end of 2011 and it is confident that this will continue to be the predicted that reserves will be approximately case. £25,000 at the end of 2012. This is deemed to be sufficient for the prudent running of the UKLGIG continues to be a success story, a organisation (representing over three story of hope and enjoyment of one's sexual months’ running costs). Although we have a orientation and/or gender identity. However goal to increase reserves to cover the more resources are needed to be able to cope equivalent of six months’ running costs, all with the increasing demand on our services. charities are currently suffering from the We hope that more and more funders will UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 3 consider including asylum, sexual orientation and gender identity issues within their priorities and funding criteria and join our fight for equality.

Tim Barnden Treasurer

May 2012 UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 5

Receipt and Payments Account for the Year Ended 31st December 2011

Unrestricted Restricted 2011 2010 Funds Funds Total Funds Total Funds £ £ £ £

Opening Balances 15,577 15,220 30,797 30,425

Add: Receipts Membership 8,596 - 8,596 9,061 Donations 6,360 - 6,360 4,525 Solicitors Affiliations 1,220 - 1,220 5,610 Meeting Collections 340 - 340 410 Training 774 - 774 2,435 Fundraising - - - 7,688 Gift Aid 1,332 - 1,332 3,804 Interest 190 - 190 226 Sigrid Rausing Trust - 35,000 35,000 - The Law Society Charity - 5,000 5,000 - Esmée Fairbairn Foundation - - - 20,000 Matrix Chambers - 2,800 2,800 2,800 City Parochial Foundation - - - 11,250 Garden Court Chambers - - - 1,000 Oak Philanthropy (UK) Ltd. - - - 10,000 Other - - - 75

Total Receipts 18,812 42,800 61,612 78,884

Less: Payments Salaries and ENIC 9,956 40,340 50,296 43,049 Rent 10,620 7,891 18,511 18,665 Advertising - - - 1,595 Internet service provider - - - 37 Telephone 364 919 1,283 858 Meetings 71 - 71 253 Affiliations 780 - 780 502 Postage 232 - 232 317 Stationery 678 - 678 523 Insurance 339 - 339 629 Volunteers 1,840 - 1,840 2,332 Audit fees 800 - 800 750 Fundraising expenses 163 - 163 4,346 Equipment 837 - 837 157 Training expenses 60 - 60 610 Travel to detention 92 - 92 - Other 1,501 400 1,901 3,889

Total Payments 28,333 49,550 77,883 78,512

Closing Balances 6,056 8,470 14,526 30,797 UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 6

Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31st December 2011

Notes 2011 2010 £ £ Monetary Assets Cash at bank 14,465 30,478 Cash in hand 61 319 Prepayments 2 8,761 8,776

23,287 39,573

Other Assets Tangible fixed assets 1e - -

TOTAL ASSETS 23,287 39,573

Less: Current liabilities Creditors 3 650 800

TOTAL LIABILITIES 650 800

TOTAL NET ASSETS 22,637 38,773

Represented by Funds Restricted funds 4 8,470 15,220 Unrestricted funds 14,167 23,553

TOTAL FUNDS 22,637 38,773

The notes on pages 7 and 8 form part of these financial statements. UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 7

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31st December 2011

Accounting Policies 1. A. Basis of Preparation I. The accounts have been prepared on a Receipts and Payments basis as cash is received or paid.

II. The recommendations of the statement of recommended practice (Accounting by Charities) have been followed in the preparation of these accounts.

B. Fund Accounting I. The charity's unrestricted fund consists of funds which the charity may use for its purposes at its discretion.

II. The charity's restricted funds are these where the donor has imposed restrictions on the use of the funds which are legally binding.

C. Voluntary Income I. All voluntary income is included upon receipt.

II. Grants receivable is credited to income immediately upon receipt.

D. Investment Income I. Credit is taken for interest when the interest is received.

E. Fixed Assets and Depreciation I. Capital items have been charged to the Receipts and Payments Account rather than to the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

F. Taxation I. No provision has been made for taxation on the charity's income as it is assumed that it qualifies for the taxation exemptions available to charities.

2. Prepayments 2011 2010 £ £

Security deposit (rent) 3,995 3,995 Rent prepaid 4,075 4,075 Other prepayments 691 706

8,761 8,776

3. Liabilities: Amounts falling due within one year 2011 2010 £ £ UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 8

Independent examination 650 800 UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 8

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31st December 2011

4. Restricted Funds Source Balance Received Spent Balance 1st Jan 2011 £ £ 31st Dec 2011 £ £

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation 12,761 - 12,761 - Oak Philanthropy (UK) Ltd. 2,459 - 2,459 - Sigrid Rausing Trust - 35,000 27,130 7,870 Matrix Chambers - 2,800 2,200 600 The Law Society Charity - 5,000 5,000 -

15,220 42,800 49,550 8,470

5. Remuneration of Trustees The trustees received no remuneration in the year.

6. Reserves Policy The trustees regularly review the charity's reserves. A detailed commentary is included in the Annual Report. UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 9

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

In order to best explain the most exciting new development in our work, I will share Despite being a small organisation with a talk delivered in February at the London only three staff, UKLGIG is now working Metropolitan University Interdisciplinary with close to 1,000 people each year who Spring Seminar entitled “Queering have come to the UK seeking safety Migrations: orientations rights and because of their sexual or gender identity. sexualities in motion” which focused on identity. In our work we constantly struggle with, and have many lengthy discussions about I would suggest that how we feel about the damage done by being forced into a issues and indeed ourselves, is as relevant sexual or gender identity at all, let alone as how we think in making us human – the narrow and limited view of what that and our identity is all about being human. is, that is imposed on our clients.

If we were to have no connections with Unless we are vigilant, unless we keep anyone else, then we would need no having these discussions, that damage is identity. It is only in connection with done not only to our clients, but to us and others, with other humans, that there to our organisation – and unquestioning comes a need to identify. So what are our staff and a damaged organisation are not connections? much help to anyone.

For most people, the first and primary In the UK, we make and interpret laws to connection we make is with family, effectively define sexual and gender spreading from that to community – or a identity, we create and interpret policy to number of communities, ethnic, religious, enact those laws, we make judgements in regional, etc., further spreading to a wider courts using those laws, that are based on society of many communities, then an understanding prejudiced by our perhaps to our nation or country. culture, our class, our gender, our privilege, and our own history of The first connection, with family, starts, constraint in identity. nowadays sometimes before we are born, with identifying our gender. Certainly, at I use “we” to emphasise the responsibility birth, “boy or girl?” is almost always the those who are UK citizens have, because first question. If I’m honest, I find myself only by seeing ourselves as responsible for asking it when friends have a child. something, can we also see ourselves as having the power to change it. And so the process of fitting into the view of others, the view of what our family, I will describe what identity, what view of community, society, nation can tolerate, themselves, our clients bring with them to begins. And from that moment, our the UK; potential is constrained. We cannot imagine how far that potential could go what view of themselves, what identity without all the conditions we must meet to the UK asylum system imposes on them; identify acceptably. UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 8 what we are doing to oppose those constraints; UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 10 and what you can also do to oppose those What did he do when he reached the UK? constraints – because they damage not He married and had a child because he only our clients, they damage us all. was desperate to rebuild a family he could belong to. Those who seek and have any chance of getting asylum in the UK come from I was told by a client that his mother countries where all the human handed him over to the police knowing connections – family, community, society, that it was likely she would be asked some nation – hold very rigid views of what is time later to come and collect his body for acceptable or tolerable in terms of sexual burial. or gender identity. I wondered what would make a mother do So how does it feel to be someone who is that. To be LGBTI in many countries is intolerable to your first human connection, like being a serial child rapist in the UK. I to your family, and how far will you go to know the analogy doesn’t hold up in all hold that connection? respects but it is the closest I can get to having an understanding of how friends, Many of us, for many reasons, have family, community, the police and society experienced some form of rejection by in general feel about our clients in their family, but it is the degree that separates home countries. That is what you have to us from those we work with. One of our imagine you are to have any comparable clients telephones his mother at least once sense of what you might feel about a month, and for 16 years she has refused yourself, what your family might feel to speak to him. When I asked him “why about you, what your community and do you do it?” he said, “I love my society might feel about you. mother”. Using this analogy in an LGBTI context Many of our clients have married because sometimes upsets people even though we of family pressure, making them far less all know that the vast, vast majority of able to fit the narrow and rigid box we – child sexual offences are committed by the government, UK Border Agency, the heterosexuals. courts – create that defines a “genuine” LGBTI asylum seeker. So what happens when you get to the UK?

In the UK we accept that we might get In more than half the 196 countries of the beaten and occasionally killed by a world it is unsafe or dangerous to be LGBT stranger because of our sexual or gender or I. identity. How does it feel when, as was the case with an Iranian gay man, it is Thanks to the research done for Refugee your father who is beating you and is only Support’s report Over Not Out, we know prevented from killing you because the there are an estimated 1200-1800 LGBTI neighbours – who have no sympathy with asylum seekers coming to UK each year. you identity – simply cannot bear to watch The floodgates argument – used in the a murder? Supreme Court when it was said that there are millions of gays in Iran - is a red Occasionally a family will, if not accept herring. The fact is that a tiny proportion you, at least attempt to save your life. of persecuted LGBTI people worldwide One of our Ugandan clients was beaten by come to the UK to seek a safe haven. a crowd, handed over to the police, Many brave people fight until they have no beaten again and only escaped because choice but to leave. the police believed him to be unconscious and too damaged to move. With the help Many of those we work with have been of a stranger and a lie about how he was beaten, tortured or imprisoned, injured, he made it to hospital and then prosecuted and abused because of their home to his family, who although sexual or gender identity. Almost all of ashamed of his admission to being gay, the lesbians and trans, and many of the hid him while they figured out what to do. gay men have been raped and/or genitally That night a mob – maybe the police, mutilated. maybe the community, maybe both – he doesn’t know – broke into his home and As well as having many of the same while he lay in the tiny space between the issues, such as the aftermath of rape or ceiling and the roof he listened while his torture, LGBTI people differ from all other father, his mother, his two brothers and asylum seekers in a number of ways: two sisters were murdered because of him. He was 15 years old. UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 11

 They may be ashamed about who said to me last November in reference they are - whatever other reason one to trans detainees “What we can’t do is seeking asylum, shame is not what is put them into the main centre one feels about political association or because life would become ethnicity for example. unbearable.”

 Secrecy - they will seldom, if ever, To get asylum in the UK you must: have spoken to anyone about who they are and what they feel and  Prove you are LGBT or I therefore take time to come to terms with discussing their identity. Yet, the  Prove that your country is dangerous Home Office expects all asylum seekers to claim at the earliest  Prove that you will not be safe opportunity and penalises those who anywhere else in your country – as do not. though some part of a country with a homophobic regime is going to be an  They may not know that their identity enclave offering basic human rights to is a ground for asylum, in which case LGBTI people. they will not tell their lawyer or the Home Office the true reason for their As we know from our work and the asylum claim resulting in a claim that researchers for Over Not Out and is hard to believe, and, if they raise Stonewall’s report No Going Back found the issue later, in their being seen as out, the things we consider important in dishonest. our lives and even the basic necessities – shelter, food, health, money, relationships  They are likely to be isolated and mean nothing to an LGBT or I asylum vulnerable because they cannot seeker until the one vital thing – their expect the support of their asylum claim is sorted out. homophobic and transphobic home community in this country or if they Proving persecution in your home country are getting that support they cannot can be difficult but proving your identity is be “out”. the primary hurdle and the grounds on which most LGBTI asylum seekers are  Most of them have insufficient refused. financial means to access LGBTI social interaction and LGBTI communities How do you prove your sexual or gender are no different from the general identity? The short answer is that you population and can be racist and can’t. ignorant. You could present evidence of sexual relations, like our client who managed to  The persecution of those who seek jam UK Border Agency’s fax machine he asylum for all other reasons is well sent so many photos of himself having sex documented. For LGBTI asylum – but anyone can have sex with someone seekers, and in some of the countries of the same gender. where the worst persecution occurs, their very “unmentionable” status will You can use the evidence of those who lead to an almost entire lack of know you – but they could be lying for information about the situation for you. LGBTI people in their country. If you are LGBT or I you might know how You can use medical evidence of torture, dangerous it is in Jamaica or Uganda for example, but as I heard a judge say to but the general population is a woman who had had bleach poured over frequently surprised to hear that her by police because she obviously those cool, laid-back Jamaicans kill wanted to be white, her scarring could be lesbians and gay men. self-inflicted.

 If they are perceived to be LGBT or I, Ultimately, it comes down to credibility – other detainees and sometimes staff is your story one that I can believe? will abuse them in detention and in accommodation provided by UK Yes, people do pretend that they are Border Agency. UKBA’s solution to lesbian gay or bisexual to make an asylum abuse in detention is to isolate the claim. And yes when there is media victim and confine them to their coverage of LGBTI asylum we notice a room. As the director of Colnbrook UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 8 spike in the number of people who contact us who are unable to tell us anything about the development of their identity. UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 12

However, it is my guess that overall the met a lesbian tourist and had a brief number is around 1 or 2 per cent and infatuation. having worked with LGBTI asylum seekers Her husband regularly beat her and raped for many years, I am in a good position to her. It became so serious that her mother estimate. Since UK Border Agency bases decided to pay an agent to get her and all the focus of its effort on detecting that her child out of the country. When it tiny percentage, I have no wish to spend came time to leave the agent refused to any more time on the issue. Last week take the child so she left him with her we received a letter from someone who mother. Her husband has since taken the did not have very good written English boy and refuses to allow her family any who referred to UK Border Agency as ok contact with him. Border Agency – we expectantly await the day! The agent took her first to Denmark where he raped her repeatedly and sold her for There is no room in the law, the courts or sex. Travelling across Europe she was government policy for the complexity that passed from agent to agent who all raped is LGBTI identity. her and sold her. When she arrived in the UK, she was arrested for entering with Despite it being some time since the false papers and sent to prison. In prison demise of the great British empire, the she was surrounded by lesbians and knew belief that we can define sexual or gender for the first time a sense of understanding identity requires the same arrogant, and belonging. Sadly, she says that the patriarchal, colonial thinking that held that safest she has ever felt in her life was in a we were the most civilised people in the UK prison. world with a superior culture that we benevolently wished to spread far and In appearance, she is indistinguishable wide across the globe. from any pretty, young, straight woman. How does she prove her sexual identity? The definition of sexual and gender identity used to assess how genuine an We worked with a Muslim couple for asylum seeker is, is only marginally more nearly two years before one of them subtle than the oft-quoted UKBA accepted that to get asylum she would caseowner’s idea that all gay asylum have to admit to her nine year relationship applicants will have read Oscar Wilde or with a woman and her lack of desire to be the reference to gay men as lovers of in any other kind of relationship. That’s Kylie and colourful cocktails used in jest about as round-about as you can get by a judge in the landmark Supreme Court about saying I’m lesbian, nonetheless, ruling. If we insist on such a restricted that admission resulted in a breakdown view of identity, we have no choice but to that had her admitted to a psychiatric agree with the African leaders who ward and released on heavy medication. regularly refer to homosexuality as an imported Western disease. To at least ease our guilt, and we do feel the responsibility of forcing our clients into In case you think that UKBA’s attitude is the law and policy box of LGBTI identity, anything other than a reflection of the she says the only good thing in her life is thinking of wider society, more than one the Babel project. of our clients has been turned away from clubs because they are obviously not gay. The Babel project is part of what we are doing to oppose the identity constraints A 42 year old doctor who had been in the imposed on LGBTI asylum seekers. UK for six years came to see us and I admit that I was losing patience with his For a long time we have provided social reticence when he told me “you’re the first support to those we work with, going on person I’ve ever said I’m gay to.” How trips and having parties and these things does someone like that begin to express are important. Last December, a an identity that UKBA or the courts will counsellor for one of our clients told us recognise? that the prospect of going on our pre- Christmas trip on the London Eye was the We have a young African client who is well only thing that in the preceding week kept educated and from a middle class and this woman from killing herself. comfortable background. She was married by her family in her late teens to But the first major project we carried out, a man of social and political influence. “Staying”, convinced us that to offer She has a child. In her home country she alternative ways to express sexual or gender identity is a vital part of our work. UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 8

In 2009 artist Oreet Ashery worked with a group of our lesbian clients to produce UKLGIG Annual Report 2012 13

“Staying”. “Staying” is a book, a September that involved building a city performance, photos, written stories, with a 150 foot tower in Battersea Park pictures and much more based on and performing in a variety of roles. alternative selves that women expressed WildWorks website says: Promising to be in the project. It was called “Staying” one the most talked about events of 2012, because one of the participants when Babel will be a theatrical experience of asked where she was living said “I’m not truly epic proportions. A spectacular living, I’m staying in Brixton – I won’t be outdoor show created for a major London living until I know if I have been given setting, Babel is staged through a unique asylum.” partnership between WildWorks and Battersea Arts Centre and will feature a Oreet Ashery says about the project: “I cast of 200 community and professional wanted to facilitate processes whereby the actors and musicians. writing and performing of oneself and one’s experiences are freed from the need As I said earlier, we cannot imagine how to ‘prove’ anything, to be true or accurate, far the human potential we are born with to remember dates and details, to account could go, without all the conditions we are for over and over again gaps that might required to meet to identify acceptably – appear in memory and recalling, in which but we must try. you are interrogated like a suspected criminal. I wanted the participants to be Academic research is the backing able to tell their stories and perform their demanded to prove the necessity for identity in a way that allows for gaps, change. Students and academics have an slippages, repetitions and new structures opportunity to change the view both in the of embodying and imagining the self. I UK and around the world of LGBTI identity did not want them to create, perform, initially and ultimately of imposing any speak or write fiction, I wanted them to sexual or gender identity at all. express themselves and their authentic experiences in new-to-them and When I asked a couple of the men who performative ways.” are participating in Babel how they were feeling about it, one of them, who I knew all twelve women involved in the incidentally has no evidence that fits the “Staying” project in the context of required criteria to prove he’s gay, said to assisting them with their asylum claim. me “It’s fantastic! At Babel I forget who I When I read what their characters were am.” saying, there was not one who I recognised. What this emphasised was Is he forgetting who his country of origin, how little of who a person really is can be society, community, family, see him as? expressed or has any value when attempting to contain oneself within the Is he forgetting who the government, UK box that describes LGBTI identity Border Agency, the courts, UK society acceptable to UKBA and the courts. I including the LGBTI community see him have begun to think of this particular as? narrow box as a coffin – one in which the real self, the complete self lies dead. Is he forgetting who he sees himself as?

Thibaut Raboin a Ph.D student at UCL Is he for two hours a week able to be spoke at the LSE STAR Conference last anyone and anything he momentarily October about the uses of self-narratives desires to be? in queer asylum, and critically examined the way they are used and interpreted by What better definition and expression of UKBA. He spoke about how the “Staying” identity is possible? project subverts and challenges the dominant narrative of UKBA and suggested that “Staying” offers a way to start looking at alternative self-narratives. Erin Power Executive Director Babel is our second major project being carried out in conjunction with The Young Vic theatre. In May, Babel will culminate in a WildWorks performance as part of London Stages 2012. Babel began last year with over 30 LGBTI asylum seekers taking part in short and longer workshops including a week long session in