As 2024 draws to a close, we want to look back and reflect on a year filled with challenges, wins, and moments of resilience. LGBTQI+ people fleeing persecution that come to the UK to rebuild their lives in safety should be met with kindness and compassion, but instead government policies expose them to harm. Yet, through our work this year, we’ve witnessed inspiring acts of solidarity, advocacy and change. From campaigning wins to moments of queer joy, let’s look at the moments we’ve shared in 2024: 

  • Many of you also took action on LGBTQI+ detention during history month by taking No Pride in Detention flyers and badges to your local LGBTQ venues or writing to your local paper to raise awareness of the harms LGBTQI+ people face when detained. 
  • June was filled with queer joy. We proudly marched alongside our service users at London Pride – a powerful and sometimes life-changing experience, especially for those attending their first ever Pride. Anel, a lesbian from Kazakhstan said: “It was amazing. Everyone was so free; everyone was so happy! It was incredible to see so many people there together, as a community, being just what they want to be.”  
  • Ahead of the General Election, hundreds of you also took action by contacting your local candidates to let them know you care about ending LGBTQI+ detention and ask for their views.  
  • Still in June, together with the University of Birmingham, we released the Queer SEREDA report, which shone a light on the danger and abuse that LGBTQI+ people face in the asylum system  
  • Some of you took part on our Miles4Pride challenge and raised unvaluable funds to support LGBTQI+ people seeking safety here. We were particularly happy to see Brody the dog doing our challenge. 
  • Shortly after coming into power in July, the new government announced the end of the plan to send people seeking safety here to Rwanda. This was a collective win for humanity, as it was utterly cruel to send people seeking to rebuild their lives in the UK to another country thousands of miles away where people had no connections. For LGBTQI+ people, it would have meant being sent to a country where LGBTQI+ people are subjected to discrimination, violence and abuse. 
  • In September, the government amended the previous government’s Illegal Migration Act to ensure that held up asylum claims could be processed. Since then, we have seen an increase in decisions for the LGBTQI+ people we support.  
  • We helped organise a conference in Amsterdam in September on stereotypes in LGBTQI+ credibility assessments, to convince the UNHCR to no longer endorse models and stereotypes.  
  • Thanks to several new connections in Parliament with new MPs, many from across different parties have committed to helping safeguard LGBTQI+ people in asylum accommodation   
  • In November, thanks to our brilliant No Pride in Detention campaign supporters who personally invited their MPs to it, we held a successful Parliamentary event in which we brought together policymakers, staff members and Joel Mordi, an LGBTQI+ activist from Nigeria who was detained when he came to the UK seeking safety from persecution. Many MPs and staff members representing several political parties came along to hear Joel’s moving story. They left with a clear message: nobody benefits from detention, but we could all benefit from an approach that sees people supported in our communities. 
  • Only a couple of weeks ago, we were pleased to hear that the last remaining people held in prison-like conditions at the Bibby Stockholm barge were relocated to safer accommodation. For months, we campaigned for the previous government to reverse the decision to house people seeking safety here in unsuitable and overcrowded conditions, and for the new government to do the right thing and house people seeking asylum in the community instead. During 2024, we stopped 19 LGBTQI+ people from being transferred to the barge or former military barracks. Like in immigration detention, LGBTQI+ people housed in these conditions are likely to experience discrimination and harassment from other people seeking asylum who can hold LGBTQI-phobic views. Faisal, a non-binary and gay refugee from Saudi Arabia who was later granted refugee status, told us that they felt unsafe on the barge, faced homophobic abuse from others in the barge and cruelty from staff.  
  • In 2024, over 55 LGBTQI+ people that we supported have been granted refugee status, like Olu, a lesbian woman from Nigeria who was a member of the women’s support group and first came to us in 2021. At that time, she had no appeal rights left and was homeless. We helped her with housing and to submit a fresh claim, and she is one of the people granted this year. We also delivered legal advice on asylum to 328 people. 

Thank you to everyone that did their bit to support LGBTQI+ people seeking safety here this year, whether you took actions, attended events, donated some money or shared your story of resilience.

See you in 2025 to continue working together.