GSRM Refugees

A number of immigrants in the UK are refugees seeking asylum in the country for a number of reasons, one of which includes sexual orientation and/or gender identity, since there are still a number of countries which outlaw homosexuality, for example, Uganda and Russia. The result is that GSRM refugees come to UK in hopes for a better life, but many end up in destitute situations. In a research done by the Micro Rainbow Organisation (2013) where they interviewed 50 lesbian and gay asylum seekers in the UK, it was revealed that only 38% (19 people) of respondents were currently working, with 14 in permanent positions. Their work mainly involved security, housekeeping/cleaning, care or administrative work, with only 5 respondents feeling that their current occupations were relevant to studies undertaken in their home country, and 13 feeling unsatisfied with their current place of employment. For 50% of them, it is because the qualifications they obtained in their country of origin is not valid in the UK, hence they were unable to get suitable jobs. Many hence felt the need to re-train or obtain an education in the UK in order to earn the necessary qualifications. Furthermore, refugees are not allowed to search for work while they are seeking asylum, which means that they are lacking in work experience, and as a consequence they subsequently have difficulties handling work in the UK. In fact, 60% of interviewees find that the lack of work experience was a major obstacle to their finding employment in the UK. Another major obstacle they faced in obtaining a job was discrimination, due to their status as immigrant refugees, and/or their being GSRM, as well as race-based discrimination. For example, one respondent, an Algerian gay man, mentioned how during an interview, the interviewer began asking inappropriate questions pertaining to their sexual orientation. Due to trauma from having been in a queerphobic environment, he was unable to perform in the interview and int the end failed to get the job. A Ugandan woman who identies as lesbian also reported being denied a reference from her previous employer due to both her refugee status and her sexual orientation. This kind of rampant discrimination hence hinders GSRM refugees in the UK from improving their own economic status and situation. With regards to problematic issues that come with their refugee status, one commonly-cited example is the fact that banks do not accept refugee papers, so they are unable to open a bank account. This also means they are unable to obtain bank loans, for one thing. Other reasons for being denied a bank loan include a lack of credit history due to their status as new immigrants, as well as the belief that immigrants would not be able to pay off their loans and would end up in debt. This distrust of immigrants also makes people less inclined to want to employ refugees, as people often question their refugee status. Their financial issues are worsened by the lack of support they can get in the UK. For many, familial support is absent, often due to the fact that they have been disowned by their family living in queerphobic countries. Support from people of the same country of origin is also perceived as undesirable, as many fear it would be a trigger for traumatic flashbacks should those people display the same kind of discrimination previously experienced from their home country. There is hence lack of stability in both their social and financial support. In fact, none of the respondents report having financial support from their social networks. A lack of traditional capital coupled with a lack of social capital hence makes it difficult for them to build a secure life in the UK, and also impedes their ability to improve their situation. GSRM Youth Homelessness It has been estimated that of the total amount of youths who are homeless in urban areas, around 30% belong to the GSRM group. Many youths are either thrown out of their homes or leave of their own violation in order to avoid dealing with discrimination from family members, which, for some, manifested in the form of physical and / or sexual abuse. Such abuse is found to be more common in GSRM youths than heterosexual youths. Thereafter, they are likely to migrate to more urbanised areas like London where the GSRM population is perceived to be bigger and more active, and hence a better support system. However, this instead exposes them to the dangers of the city, where they are more likely to be exploited (Roche, 2005), and perhaps eventually even forced into prostitution (either by external parties or by necessity, when money proves insufficient). Apart from the issue of risky sexual behaviour, homeless GSRM youths are more likely to engage in substance abuse and drink alcohol, as compared to non-homeless GSRM youths.

Furthermore, homelessness often result in interrupted schooling, sometimes temporary and sometimes permanent. This makes it difficult for youths to get a job in the future, due to insufficient qualifications. Even if they do eventually manage to break away from their unfavourable conditions (perhaps due to finding support from external organisations or finding a guardian) it may be difficult for them to return to schooling, if they are no longer qualified for government subsidies or scholarships. Hence, it will be difficult for them to escape from poverty. Taking a step back and looking at the overall picture of GSRM Youth Homeless shows that the general attitudes and environment of the UK does not provide support towards GSRM immigrant refugees- instead, the trend shows that people who are GSRM have a higher poverty rate than heterosexual, cisgender UK citizens. In an examination of sexual / romantic orientation, gender identity and poverty undertaken by Uhrig (2013), it is revealed that 6.9% of the heterosexual and cisgender respondents have an income which is less than 50% of the median in UK, compared to 8.2% of gay and lesbian people, 7.8% of bisexual people, and 12.9% of people of other identifications. People of other identifications include people who identify as asexual, transgender, transsexual, genderqueer and other identifications, as well as people who go by the more generic queer label, or do not wish to label themselves at all. It has also been noted that people of certain ethnic minorities often prefer this category of self-identification. For example, Asians are 3.1 times more likely to choose this category as opposed to other respondents. Hence, it could be deduced that one reason for there being a higher percentage of poverty in this group is the intersection of the different discriminatory attitudes in the sense that a queer person of colour would be more disadvantaged than a gay white male. Since several minorities within minorities are being concentrated in the other category, it would serve to explain the overall higher poverty rate. Another reason is that several groups contained within the others category are the more vulnerable ones. Even while the overall attitude towards gay and bisexual people has improved in recent years, many people are still prejudiced against transgender individuals, who often get the least amount of representation (as compared to LGB individuals), and who are still often misunderstood by the general public. Furthermore, a trans* person who is visibly transgender would be immediately discriminated against. This would result in difficulty in obtaining a stable job. For instance, 2 out of 3 trans* workers have reported having to leave their jobs because of discriminatory attitudes, resulting in 83% of them doing lower-paying work (Whittle, 2004). Furthermore, 1 in 10 have experienced discrimination that prevented them from getting promoted to a position of higher pay. Promotional discrimination would mean a lack of a means to increase ones income, so an impoverished person would have little alternatives in order to escape poverty. This, coupled with the unwillingness of people to employ trans* workers on basis of their gender identity, results in poverty amongst transgender people, poverty that may as well be inescapable.