The genders

The Swedish Immigration Service requires an in-depth and detailed description of the applicant’s “inner journey” regarding sexual orientation. Almost every application is rejected. Illustration image. EPA/AOP

Imagine the following situation: you are sitting in the office with a foreign official. You must describe your thoughts and feelings about how you understood your own sexual orientation. This “inner journey” must be described extensively, in detail and in depth.

The fact that you have always known your sexual orientation or that it is self-evident to you does not qualify as an answer. Your own relationship or sex history is not enough as an answer either.

Sounds like an easy task? This is required of a person who applies for asylum in Sweden on the basis of belonging to a sexual minority. That is, when at home it would cause a threat.

Here are a few excerpts from negative asylum application decisions:

16-17 years is quite a late age to discover one’s homosexual feelings in Bangladesh.

You have not been able to explain how you came to the conclusion that you are homosexual. You only said that it was obvious, because you like to have sex with men. You said that you felt different because of your sexual orientation. Your description lacks depth.

You didn’t tell right away [turvapaikkaprosessin alussa] that you are homosexual. You said that you did not dare to tell before, because you were afraid that homosexuality would be forbidden in Sweden as well. The Finnish Immigration Service does not find this explanation credible.

You have not been able to share deeper reflections and feelings about your inner journey, which you can be expected to take.

You haven’t been able to explain why you don’t have information about Tunisian rainbow organizations.

It is difficult for the applicant to describe his feelings when he realized that he is interested in men. He talks more about sexual activities, which is not the same as sexual orientation. He grew up in a country where homosexuality is not allowed. Nevertheless, he is unable to open his thoughts.

Some of the decisions sound just like feedback for a school assignment? More description, reflection, own reflection.

A person belongs to a sexual or gender minority if he himself feels that way. Relationship and sex history do not determine how a person identifies himself. The Swedish Immigration Service has understood this, but therein lies the crux of the problem.

The asylum seeker must be able to verbally express this “inner journey” well enough.

Even in spite of the fact that the applicant may never have spoken about it out loud and does not necessarily have the necessary vocabulary even in his own language. In Finland, homosexuality may be prohibited by the death penalty and access to the internet may also be restricted.

In many countries, it is not appropriate to talk about any kind of issues related to sex or sexuality, even if it is about married straight people.

And then there’s also the consideration that not everyone is simply good at expressing themselves verbally about anything. Or about sexuality. For the Vento guest. With the help of an interpreter.

Of course, belonging to a sexual minority is taken advantage of, everything is used, always. However, it is not an easy way: 96 percent of these asylum seekers receive a negative decision.

You have to be careful because of misuse. You cannot get asylum only by declaring that you belong to a sexual or gender minority. But the current practice seems quite inadequate and humiliating for asylum seekers. According to the RFSL organization, which promotes the rights of sexual and gender minorities in Sweden, it is also illegal.

In the asylum application process, the applicant is free to present whatever evidence they want, but the main focus is on the interviews. The RFSL organization has suggested that written evidence should have more importance. They could include statements from people who know the applicant, such as a partner, psychologist or support person.

In Sweden, sexual and gender minorities are known to have a good position when compared to other countries in the world.

So good that gay refugees have come to Sweden from Finland as well – homosexual acts were decriminalized in Sweden in 1944, i.e. 27 years before Finland.

During that time and much later, many representatives of the sexual minority moved to Sweden in the hope of a freer life. This is told, among other things, in the Swedish Radio documentary Sateenkaaripakolaiset. Although homosexuality was still taboo in Sweden for a long time, it was not illegal after all.

(Of course, technically the Finns did not come as refugees, because it has always been easy to move between countries.)

Sweden is now the country that is sending Davita, a Ugandan, back to her home country, where being gay can mean a death sentence. The Immigration Office does not see Davita as belonging to a sexual minority, even though the woman is married to another woman, spent time in prison in Uganda for being a lesbian and is currently active in Swedish rainbow organizations.