Recent Posts1
Immigration/Border / As countries tighten anti-gay laws, more and more LGBTQ+ migrants seek safety and asylum in Europe
« Last post by rangerrebew on Today at 03:47:49 pm » As countries tighten anti-gay laws, more and more LGBTQ+ migrants seek safety and asylum in Europe
Story by VERONICA ANDREA SAUCHELLI, MARIA GRAZIA MURRU and GIADA ZAMPANO, Associated Press • 11h
RIETI, Italy (AP) — Ella Anthony knew it was time to leave her native Nigeria when she escaped an abusive, forced marriage only to face angry relatives who threatened to turn her in to police because she was gay.
Ella Anthony and her partner Doris Ezuruike Chinons show photos of themselves during an interview in their house in Passo Corese, near Rome, Monday, March 11, 2024. Knowing that she faced a possible prison term since Nigeria criminalizes same-sex relationships, Anthony fled with her partner to Libya in 2014 and then Italy, where they both won asylum. Their claim? That they had a well-founded fear of anti-LGBTQ+ persecution back home. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Ella Anthony and her partner Doris Ezuruike Chinons show photos of themselves during an interview in their house in Passo Corese, near Rome, Monday, March 11, 2024. Knowing that she faced a possible prison term since Nigeria criminalizes same-sex relationships, Anthony fled with her partner to Libya in 2014 and then Italy, where they both won asylum. Their claim? That they had a well-founded fear of anti-LGBTQ+ persecution back home. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
© Provided by The Associated Press
Since Nigeria criminalizes same-sex relationships, Anthony fled a possible prison term and headed with her partner to Libya in 2014 and then Italy, where they both won asylum. Their claim? That they had a well-founded fear of anti-LGBTQ+ persecution back home.
While many of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrive in Italy from Africa and the Mideast are escaping war, conflict and poverty, an increasing number are fleeing possible prison terms and death sentences in their home countries because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, advocates say.
And despite huge obstacles to win asylum on LGBTQ+ grounds, Anthony and her partner, Doris Ezuruike Chinonso. are proof that it can be done, even if the challenges remain significant for so-called “rainbow refugees” like them.
“Certainly life here in Italy isn’t 100% what we want. But let’s say it’s 80% better than in my country,” Chinonso, 34, said with Anthony by her side at their home in Rieti, north of Rome. In Nigeria, “if you’re lucky you end up prison. If you’re not lucky, they kill you,” she said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/as-countries-tighten-anti-gay-laws-more-and-more-lgbtq-migrants-seek-safety-and-asylum-in-europe/ar-BB1mtqN2?cvid=377ea4cb5993428a87b827e3f2da074c&ei=32
Story by VERONICA ANDREA SAUCHELLI, MARIA GRAZIA MURRU and GIADA ZAMPANO, Associated Press • 11h
RIETI, Italy (AP) — Ella Anthony knew it was time to leave her native Nigeria when she escaped an abusive, forced marriage only to face angry relatives who threatened to turn her in to police because she was gay.
Ella Anthony and her partner Doris Ezuruike Chinons show photos of themselves during an interview in their house in Passo Corese, near Rome, Monday, March 11, 2024. Knowing that she faced a possible prison term since Nigeria criminalizes same-sex relationships, Anthony fled with her partner to Libya in 2014 and then Italy, where they both won asylum. Their claim? That they had a well-founded fear of anti-LGBTQ+ persecution back home. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Ella Anthony and her partner Doris Ezuruike Chinons show photos of themselves during an interview in their house in Passo Corese, near Rome, Monday, March 11, 2024. Knowing that she faced a possible prison term since Nigeria criminalizes same-sex relationships, Anthony fled with her partner to Libya in 2014 and then Italy, where they both won asylum. Their claim? That they had a well-founded fear of anti-LGBTQ+ persecution back home. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
© Provided by The Associated Press
Since Nigeria criminalizes same-sex relationships, Anthony fled a possible prison term and headed with her partner to Libya in 2014 and then Italy, where they both won asylum. Their claim? That they had a well-founded fear of anti-LGBTQ+ persecution back home.
While many of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrive in Italy from Africa and the Mideast are escaping war, conflict and poverty, an increasing number are fleeing possible prison terms and death sentences in their home countries because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, advocates say.
And despite huge obstacles to win asylum on LGBTQ+ grounds, Anthony and her partner, Doris Ezuruike Chinonso. are proof that it can be done, even if the challenges remain significant for so-called “rainbow refugees” like them.
“Certainly life here in Italy isn’t 100% what we want. But let’s say it’s 80% better than in my country,” Chinonso, 34, said with Anthony by her side at their home in Rieti, north of Rome. In Nigeria, “if you’re lucky you end up prison. If you’re not lucky, they kill you,” she said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/as-countries-tighten-anti-gay-laws-more-and-more-lgbtq-migrants-seek-safety-and-asylum-in-europe/ar-BB1mtqN2?cvid=377ea4cb5993428a87b827e3f2da074c&ei=32
