Globally, 65 jurisdictions criminalise private, consensual, same-sex sexual activity. People with minority sexual orientations and gender diversity can face the death penalty in 12 countries. Discrimination and persecution often leave LGBTQIA+ people with limited or no family or support networks. In fact, often it is those networks that present the greatest threat when someone comes out. 

Those who flee to the UK and Ireland due to their sexual orientation/gender identity to claim asylum rarely find a utopia here. Rather, they face a hostile asylum system spearheaded by an administration that increasingly demonises people seeking sanctuary. The current UK government follows its ‘hostile environment’ policy for migrants – working to end the right to claim asylum, and threatening those who do with removal to far flung places like Rwanda.