Sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds for seeking political asylum first entered the conceptual realm of national and international law in the early 1980s, following decisions in the Netherlands and Germany. Yet even in Western Europe, gay asylum rights have been applied patchily, and often only after sustained campaigning. The situation has been exacerbated by a succession of EU border-strengthening treaties and by lists of so-called “safe countries of origin” maintained within some member countries.
This paper will look at how LGBT activists have addressed this issue legally and politically within different countries of the EU (not only Western Europe), from direct assistance to asylum seekers, to EU-wide research and lobbying coordination, to transnational solidarity with non-EU LGBT rights movements, to campaigns within some EU countries to either improve asylum procedures that are below European standards, or strengthen gay rights more generally where, decriminalisation notwithstanding, persecution continues.
