QUEER DISPLACEMENTS: SEXUALITY, MIGRATION AND EXILE 13 - 15 NOVEMBER 2019 Name of the publication 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY We would like to show our respect and acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, of Elders past, present and emerging, on which this event takes place. This event is presented by the ANU Humanities Research Centre, Research School of Humanities and the Arts. We would like to express our gratitude to the following supporters who made this event possible: • the ANU Gender Institute; • the ANU Research School of Humanities • the Herbert and Valmae Freilich Project for the Study of Bigotry; • the ACT Government Office for LGBTIQ+ Affairs; • UNHCR Regional Representation in Canberra; • AIDS Action Council and Canberra Inclusive Partnership; • Settlement Services International; • Asylum Seekers Centre; • Miles of Love, Planet Ally and • 23 individual donors: - 5 anonymous donors - Helen Goudie - Alfred Pek - Joshua Anlezark - Barbara Baird - Kate Ogg - Benjamin Oh and Nam Phan - Katrina Grant - Che Bishop - Lou Olliff - Cindy Li - Louise Boon-Kuo - Cristina de Nicolás Izquierdo - Merrindahl Andrew - Gordon McAllister - Michelle Ferns - Gulnara Abbasova - Morgyn Phillips - Hannah Gillard We thank Canberra 2019 SpringOut Festival for information and promotional support. Official hashtag: #QueerDisplacements 2 Who is presenting the publication WELCOME Despite improvements in human rights in some contexts, around the world many LGBTIQA+ people are still subject- ed to discrimination, violence, torture, imprisonment or death for simply being who they are. In many cases, the only way to survive is to flee, seeking asylum in other countries. However, the journey to safety is never easy. The right to seek asylum is under attack. It’s being replaced by the discourse of securitisation and border management. The lan- guage of people and human rights is being eroded. Refugees are no longer assumed to be telling the truth. To draw on anthropologist Didier Fassin, their traumas must be proven with visible scars, their stories must be corroborated by experts and in a hostile environment like this, the plight of LGBTIQA+ asylum remains even more marginalised. Not only are LGBTIQA+ people fleeing from persecution inflicted by various actors in their countries of origin, but they are also experiencing further violence: en route, in camps, detention centres and even in countries that prom- ised a safe harbour. Their sex, gender identity and sexual orientation are scrutinised and not believed by immigra- tion officials. They are subjected to harmful and unnecessary tests to prove who they are. They are still forced to live in closets when the only way to survive in asylum is to rely on ethnic community support. Homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and queerphobia are still really there. Racism is still alive. Heteronormativity is thriving. LGBTIQA+ asylum is still a rare debate in public discourses on asy- lum. When those narratives exist, they are often one-sided. LGBTIQA+ refugees are portrayed as a minority within a minority. Their stories of an oppressive past are craved for. Their victimhood is paraded. Their gratefulness is desired. Their pride and coming out are demanded. A Western way of living queerness is imposed with no possibility for alternatives. It’s time we change that. Queer Displacements: Sexuality, Migration and Exile is an inaugural conference to discuss the issues of LGBTIQA+ asylum in its complexity. It aims to centre the voices of LGBTIQA+ people seeking asylum and people from refugee backgrounds at the forefront of the discussion. It takes the lived experience as a starting point for this conversation. A lived experience of queer forced displacement is a source of expert knowledge. This is not just a story of the past. Displacement does not stop at the point of border crossing or even when a visa is granted. It is ongoing. These experiences have the capacity to inform policy, practice and research. Meaningful engagement with people who face displacement must be a best practice principle in any of those spheres. This conference brings together academics, activists, policymakers and people with the lived experience to learn, share, discuss, coordinate and improve access to support and justice for those who are living queer forced displacement. We are so proud that with the generous support of many organisations and individuals we were able to sponsor 22 LGBTIQA+ people seeking asylum and people from refugee backgrounds to be with us at this conference. We hope that this is just the beginning of a conversation that will grow into an ongoing dialogue. It is time we all come together to champion the voices of LGBTIQA+ people from refugee backgrounds and support them to make real and sustain- able changes in their lives. Name of the publication 3 SCHEDULE Wednesday 13 November 5.30 - 7.30pm PANEL Conference Room (1.02) LGBTIQ Refugees: Erasure, Silencing and Heteronormativity v Professor Eithne Luibheid, University of Arizona Lilith Raza, Project: Queer Refugees Deutschland, Lesbian and Gay Federation Germany Renee Dixson, PhD Candidate, Australian National University Azlan AP, Organiser and Campaigner, Democracy in Color Thursday 14 November 8.00 - 9.00am REGISTRATION Tea and coffee upon arrival 9.00 - 11.30am WELCOME TO THE CONFERENCE Conference Room (1.02) Acknowledgement of Country v Associate Professor Samia Goudie, University of Canberra v Official ANU Welcome d Professor Kylie Message, Senior Fellow, ANU Humanities Research Centre v Professor Fiona Jenkins, ANU Gender Institute Convenor, Associate Professor, v School of Philosophy v David Momcilovic, ACT Government Office for LGBTIQ+ Affairs v UNHCR Canberra Office Welcome d Kate O’Malley, UNHCR Multi-Country Representation based in Canberra v v Conference Convenors’ Opening Remarks v Tina Dixson, ANU, Queer Sisterhood Project v Renee Dixson, ANU, Queer Sisterhood Project v KEYNOTE ADDRESSES Conference Room (1.02) Telling to Transform: LGBTQI Migrants Protest Detention d Professor Eithne Luibheid, University of Arizona v Project: Queer Refugees Deutschland d Lilith Raza, Project: Queer Refugees Deutschland, Lesbian and Gay Federation, d Germany 11.30am - 12.00pm COFFEE BREAK 4 Who is presenting the publication SCHEDULE 12.00 - 1.30pm PARALLEL SESSIONS Theatrette (2.02) SESSION 1: International Policy and LGBTIQA+ Refugees v International Co-operation and Solidarity with LGBTIQ+ Refugees d Kate O’Malley, UNHCR Multi-Country Representation based in Canberra Silence Written in Policy: Global Compact on Refugees and LGBTIQA+ v Persons v Tina Dixson, Australian National University Global Compact on Migration and LGBTIQA Refugees and Migrants d Carolina Gottardo, Jesuit Refugee Service Australia The Yogyakarta Principles Plus 10: Advocacy Opportunities at the v National, Regional and International Level v Paul Dillane, London School of Economics and Political Science Conference Room (1.02) SESSION 2: Colonial Impositions: Ideal, Deserving and Vulnerable v Subjects v We Name Ourselves: Beyond Dispossession, Displacement and Erasure d Associate Professor Samia Goudie, University of Canberra Not Queer Enough? The Imposition of a ‘Western’ Cultural Understanding of v ‘Queer Identity’ on the Credibility of Asylum Seekers in the Netherlands v Lotte Wolff, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies “Had I Raised the ISIS Flag, I Wouldn’t Be Facing Half of What I Am Facing v Now.” The Homosexual Homo Sacer as the Ideal Subject of Orientalist Asylum v Regimes: The Mashrou’ Leila Affair In Egypt v Julie Youssef, University of Melbourne Saving’ Gays in the Former Metropole: Tracing the Pattern of Queer Persecution d in Formerly Colonised Nations v Lotte Wolff, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies v Unsettling LGBT Resettlement: Queer Vulnerability and the Politics of v ‘Deservingness’ in Lebanon and Turkey v Aydan Greatrick, University College London Seminar Room 1 (3.02) INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP v Moving Forward in Cultivating an Inclusive Organisation v Justine Harris, Susan Cameron-Jung, Christin Winata, Settlement Services v International (60 mins) 1.30 - 2.30pm LUNCH Lunch event: Launch of the African LGBTQI+ Migration Research Network v (ALMN), Conference Room Name of the publication 5 SCHEDULE 2.30 - 4.00pm PARALLEL SESSIONS Theatrette (2.02) SESSION 3: Documenting Experiences: Art, History and Ethics of v Storytelling v A Digital Archive of LGBTIQ Oral Histories about Forced Migration d Renee Dixson, Australian National University Beyond the ‘Liberation’ Narrative: the Ethics and Politics of Representing v LGBTQI+ Migration within and from the African Continent v John Marnell, African Centre for Migration and Society, University of the v Witwatersrand Homosexuality and Australian Borders: Refugees in the Margins of Gay v Community Immigration Activism, 1980s Onwards v Annalise Humphris, Macquarie University The Costs of Trauma Storytelling: Reflections of a Queer Refugee through v Creative Practice v Kavita Gonsalves, Queensland University of Technology v Rasel Ahmed, Columbia University Seminar Room 1 (3.02) SESSION 4: Queer Forced Displacement and the Law v Protection Visas and LGBTIQA+ Claims v Sophie de Rohan, Refugee Legal Denied Dignity: Assessing Protection Claims Based on Sexual and Gender v Identity v Hannah Gray, Refugee Advice and Casework Service Intake and Inclusion: Asking the Right Questions and Listening to Queer v Refugees v Niamh Joyce, HIV/AIDS Legal Centre Conference Room (1.02) SESSION 5: