“Sexuality” through the Kaleidoscope: Sexual Orientation, Identity, and Behaviour in Asylum Claims in the United Kingdom

Alex Powell
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Alex Powell: School of Law, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Headington Campus, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK

Laws, 2021, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: The asylum system is a key site in which disputes over “sexuality” are contested. In refugee status determinations, administrative bodies are required to determine the actual or perceived sexuality of a claimant. This article draws on eight semi-structured interviews with refugees who claimed asylum in the United Kingdom based on their sexual diversity to deconstruct the distinct conceptions of sexual orientation, identity, and behaviour prevalent within the asylum system. It argues that the UK system overly privileges identity, falsely construing this as determinative of other aspects of sexuality. In doing so, it proposes a new framework of sexual diversity as a more relativist and inclusive way of making sense of sexual difference.

Keywords: sexuality; queer theory; asylum; refugees; sexual orientation; sexual identity; sexual behaviour; sexual diversity; judicial review; Home Office; immigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:10:y:2021:i:4:p:90-:d:685529

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