The importance of being gay: the perils and possibilities of LGBTI asylum seekers’ involvement in Rights of Passage

ABSTRACT

In order to claim asylum in the UK, lesbians and gay men are required to ‘prove’ their sexual orientation during an interview, demonstrating the dangers that their sexuality poses for them in their countries of origin. Playwrights who create verbatim theatre addressing LGBTI asylum issues will also interview contributors eliciting personal testimony, and such work may mirror or re-trigger some of the more traumatic aspects of previous interviews. Focussing on Rights of Passage (2016), this article examines how the positionality of the playwright/interviewer and the identity of the audience can refigure the ethical terrain of verbatim theatre processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Verbatim theatre
• LGBTI
• asylum seekers
• ethics

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors

Clare Summerskill is a doctoral candidate at Royal Holloway, University of London, researching the role, value and experience of contributors in verbatim theatre processes. She has written and produced several verbatim plays for her theatre company, Artemis, including Gateway to Heaven (2006), Hearing Voices (2010) and Rights of Passage (2016).

Notes

1 Since the period during which I interviewed contributors for Rights of Passage, the Home Office has reversed its policy on admitting sexual explicit evidence into an interview. In December 2014, The European Court of Justice ruled that ‘Detailed questioning in regard to sexual practices must not be asked.’ (UK Home Office, Asylum Policy Instruction. Sexual Orientation in Asylum Claims. Published by the Home Office Staff, 3 August 2016).

2 Regarding the Detained Fast Track system operating in the UK, the 2016 Stonewall report stated that ‘This system was inappropriate for LGBT asylum seekers, many of whom have experienced persecution and abuse in those “safe countries” even if the country officially does not criminalise being LGBT.’ Bachmann, Chaka L. No Safe Refuge, Stonewall: London, 2016, 16. The Detained Fast Track System has also now been reversed. On 12 November 2015, the Supreme Court refused the Government permission to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s 29 July judgment which found the Detained Fast Track (DFT) asylum appeals process to be unlawful. (Electronic Immigration Network. ‘Supreme Court refuses Government permission to appeal over Detained Fast Track.’ November 12, 2015. Accessed 6 November 2017. https://www.ein.org.uk/news/supreme-court-refuses-government-permission-appeal-over-detained-fast-track)

3 The LGBT Asylum Monologues was launched on 10 October 2017, at Slam, Kings Cross, London. Other recently staged (although not verbatim) LGBTI asylum-related plays in the UK include Nine Lives (2016) by Zodwa Nyoni, and Eye of a Needle (2014) by Chris Macdonald.

4 Rights of Passage was also produced and performed in October 2017 for five nights at Corpus Playroom, Cambridge, England, by OxCam (Oxfam at Cambridge University).

5 The 2010 High Court judgment found that gay and lesbian asylum seekers should be granted refugee status if going home would result in them being forced to conceal their sexuality. However, Home Office guidelines dealing with LGBTI claims, acknowledge that ‘Caseworkers should be aware that some claimants may find it difficult to substantiate their claim or provide full disclosure of sensitive information.’ (2016, 14). https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/404372/EXT_Asylum_Instruction_Sexual_Identity_Issues_in_the_Asylum_claim_v5_20150211.pdf

6 ‘Miremba’, personal communication, 10 March 2014.

7 Erin Power, who worked for UKLGIG and was a contributor to Rights of Passage, states that ^‘There are very few places LGBTI people who are refugees or asylum seekers can go and feel safe. So, there might be refugee support groups, but they have not to be LGBTI in those spaces or in the churches’ (Rights of Passage 2016, 59).

8 ‘Miremba’, personal communication, 10 March 2014

9 Lewis details how this was the situation for Iranian filmmaker and gay rights activist Kiana Firouz, who played herself in the 2010 docudrama Cul De Sac. Because this film featured a lesbian sex scene and was dispersed through social media networks, Kiana was granted leave to remain in Britain, since it was deemed impossible for her to return to Iran and live discreetly, something which a judge had previously ruled possible.