24/10/2023
Grimsby Hospital Radio on Tuesday afternoon reported with some horror that the right wing Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, was to use a speech on immigration to say that persecution for being LGBTQIA by overseas governments would no longer be considered grounds enough for an asylum application in the UK. The BBC News Channel added that Ms Braverman wanted to take aim at the United National Convention on Refugees, drawn up in 1951 and endorsed by Britain as a response to the horrors of the Second World War, when right wing fascism and consequent conflict displaced millions. According to the far right Daily Mail newspaper, Braverman claims that seven hundred and eighty million people could come to Britain and file asylum claims. This is of course, a gross exaggeration and based on a loose interpretation of UN rules. The real number of refugees anywhere in the world, at any given time and affecting all countries,not Britain, is likely to be thirty five million, says the United Nations. The BBC News Channel reports that Braverman’s speech was made to a right wing United States think tank. The Guardian reports that Andrew Boff, a Conservative London Assembly member and patron of the LGBT+ Tories group, said Braverman should stop engaging in “dog whistle” politics and focus on the “basket case” that was her department. “Talking about the victims of persecution as if they are the problem is incredibly unhelpful and really paints us an an uncaring party. I’m deeply unhappy with it”. Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, who overcame homophobia in the General Election of 1997 to take a seat contested by an anti-gay obscuritant candidate, questioned whether the public would want Britain to adopt such ugly asylum policies.
The Communist daily newspaper The Morning Star reported on Wednesday the remarks of the Home Secretary, who has earned the monicker Cruella Braverman for her attack on immigrants, including LGBTQIA asylum seekers. The paper reported that her address was "Trumpian" and quoted many groups and organisations horrified at the implications for human rights of her extremist right wing position. Women for Refugee Women called Ms Braverman’s comments “absurd and outrageous.” The group said in a statement: “The majority of women, including LGBTQ+ women, we support are survivors of persecution including gender-based abuse, sexual violence, rape, and other torture.” Labour peer Alf Dubs, who arrived in Britain as a child fleeing the Nazis, said that the Home Secretary was “repeating the shameful policy that people should not be treated as refugees if they arrive here by boat. “But she’s closed virtually all other means of arrival,” he said. SNP justice and immigration spokesman Chris Stephens branded Ms Braverman’s comments “ignorant and offensive,” demanding she retract them and issue an apology. Shadow women and equalities secretary Anneliese Dodds called the statements “dangerous rhetoric from a Home Secretary blaming everyone else for her failures.” The left weekly newspaper Socialist Worker added "Braverman—a global leader in racist attacks" whilst LGBTQIA news specialists Pink News spoke to several groups uniting the LGBTQIA communities to support migrants of all sexualities and genders. Sebastian Rocca, the founder and chief executive of LGBTQ+ asylum charity Micro Rainbow said "“LGBTQI people often face death, imprisonment and violence. When they come to the UK to seek safety, they have to go through an asylum system that is re-traumatising and dehumanising. In addition, the standard of proof is very high. The system, as it is, is incredibly difficult. These comments seek to scapegoat migrants and LGBTQI people for political gain once again.” Rainbow Migration, another charity advocating for LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum, said they were appalled, noting "“Many LGBTQI+ people who we support every day tell us how they faced life-threatening situations back home. For example, Adam was violently attacked in the street on several occasions by members of his community in Ghana because he was bisexual, and his partner was killed, and Miky’s brother threatened to kill him when he came out as a gay man in Azerbaijan." Diane Abbott, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, representing the Labour Party in Parliament, remarked "Braverman wants to pretend that gay people are being granted asylum for trivial reasons ... There is no evidence of this ... and Instead, these claims are because the Tories are so far behind in the polls. But I do not believe public opinion will follow her descent into the sewer.” Activist groups, progressives, the left, faith and church groups and trade unionists will unite on Sunday 1st October to march on the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester to express their opposition to the policies of the government, particularly in respect of migrants.
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