Having direct or indirect experience of persecution and harrassment (including prison and the death penalty) at home, lgbti asylum seekers continue to face harassment and threats on arrival in the UK as research and the quality press increasingly discuss. This year, centres for lgbt asylum seekers have or are being opened in Berlin and Amsterdam after countless recorded cases of attacks from other new arrivals. TIME OUT YORK is working within this context, where lgbti asylum seekers are suffering specific stress and harassment from within communities here when the reasons for their asylum claims are made known. Different organisations such as UKLGIM and REACH OUT seek to support them in various parts of the country and testify to this further stress - in a country recognised internationally as one of the most lgbti friendly in the world. TIME OUT YORK works with support groups and reception centres within an easy radius of York to identify – as discretely as necessary in each case – lgbti asylum seekers in our region. It is linked to York City of SANCTUARY in terms of objectives and vetting of volunteers. To date, TIME OUT YORK offers the following:
• visits to York / coast / and countryside - a day where individuals can take 'time Out' and perhaps put the label 'asylum seeker' aside for a short time, spending time in a safe environment
• longer homestays - for those who are able to come over for several days / these visits are in liaison with lgbt or refugee centres
• friending - under clear guidelines - where some of the avoidable stresses of their temporary situation can be dealt with. All those directly involved in Time Out York have experience in the caring professions, though not all are lgbti. Each however, shares a commitment to dealing with the specific needs of this community and offers what they can: money, time, cooking, good humour and solid advice! The situation is delicate - we are working with arguably one of the most vulnerable adult groups of all, one which cannot even express themselves openly in this country at the moment. They suffer from lack of resources like all asylum seekers, but also need hope, morale-boosting as their friends are expelled following Home Office decisions, and aspirations that perhaps they can one day live here openly with partners, friends and neighbours without the kind of harrassment they were facing back home. That is who we are and what we do. How could you help? William Roche: [email protected]
