LGTBI refugees: looking for a place to be oneself

(Music)

"In many parts of the world,

be oneself and awareness to lose your life.

While in some countries their citizens live

And they express themselves freely,

In others, getting out of theNorm pursues.

In some cases, with prison sentences.

In others, even with death.

Through the laws of the country of which imposes

society itself.

Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mauritania,

Arab Emirates, Somalia or Afghanistan

They are some of the most complicated countries

and dangerous to live as a gay, lesbian or trans person."

-Afganistán is a clear exemplary how LGTBI people

discrimination suffer from a structure

not only social,

but also political and, of course, the familiar,

where, through various social laws,

They are even subjected to death sentences.

"Spain added its asylum law in 2009

and sexual orientation as a reason

of request

of international protection.

Our countries the third in Europe

With more asylum requests, behind Germany and France.

But it isNot known exactly

How many of these requests respond to persecutions

and gender identity violence or sexual orientation."

It is difficult to know the figures

of the refugees lgtbien Spain,

since, when countries in conflict come out,

as the case of Afghanistan,

almost always when they arrive in safe territory to request

international protection,

What happens is that the fact is generalized

or the reasons why this protection only.

And this is also linked to fear that they could have the fact

to completely make visible that are LGTBI people

and that request international protection for these reasons.

"Millions of people in the world live with fear.

It is pointed out and punishes being and loving in another way.

Some are killed.

Others hide and a few get out

and reach safe places."

-In Colombia we kill usNothing happens.

The life of us in Colombia doesNot matter.

The life of people transEN Colombia doesn't matter.

Nothing happens at all.

So, they are always telling us that you have to report,

But I denounce

To the aggressor, that is, I am denouncing an aggression against my aggressor,

Because who attacks me the State too.

So, I don't know, I don't find how...People are afraid of denouncing.

Bogotá is still a cither

With trans people, above all, part of the police.

The entity that violates us, above all, trans women,

in prostitution exercise and all that.

So when you suffer violence

by discrimination in Colombia,

go to the police and end up being violated

by the police, because you make fun of you,

They doNot pay attention to you or take the story,

And it's like: "Go from here, that we don't care".

So, we doNot have an absolutelyNothing.

Those messages that indirectly directly

Public institutions send to society,

Well, they make the Odiode the society reinforce towards us.

And, of course,Nothing will happen to me.

-Our experience shows us that there are certain different nuances

that lgtbi people mark a little

and refugees based on the country that come.

That distinction on Todolo brand, for example,

If you come from Latin America from the Caribbean,

or for example, from Africa or North Africa,

more specifically.

What does it depend on?

Mainly representativeness also

and of the visibility of the LGTBI collective

In those countries of origin.

The more visibility there is,

how much more vindication of the collective itself,

Refugee people are able to identify

and feel belonging to the LGTBI collective.

That also has a consequence,

which is that their families, from an early age,

They are able to detect that there is something that is happening

And, usually, they are usually punished,

It is usually abused, it usually violates.

-During my stages, all of adolescence,

I had how those questions

In my head of "What's wrong with me?

Why don't I feel good about myself or myself? ".

Because my mother used to, for example, tell me at some times:

"It is fine that you like women,

But it is well,

Machine, wear heels ".

And clearly told me annoying,

But I also understand it, because she didn't know either

What was happening.

And a specific day, I remember what he told me

All those things that meme hurt a lot,

And I locked myself in the bathroom and looked at me in the mirror

And he said: "It's that my mother is right.

What does one thing has to do with the other?

What does it have to do that I have a girlfriend, that I like girls,

What isn't it like my sisters?

That my sisters get makeup put another type of clothing

that I didNot use, and they combed different...

And what is the difference? What does this have to do?

I didNot understand.

Adolescence passed, questioning me, but without understanding.

I hadNo idea.

I knew the most in Colombia, women transvestites

who worked in a hairdresser, and that was the best.

There wasNo talk about anything else.

In my life I had seen a trans man,

I hadNo idea that they existed and one day I arrived from the university,

I enter my laptop and place, without any expectation

absolutelyNothing,

Because I didn't expect Google to answer anything,

And I simply put on Google:

"I'm a girl, I want to be a boy",

But without expectations.

"What is going to show me this, if this doesNot exist?".

And the first option that a YouTube video that I got into

To look and was a girl in a gym

who was training with a boy

And the boy was training her

to lower his chest, because he was very big and,

With exercises, it reduced the size.

Everything was based on that, I there looking like "and this, what?".

And, in the end, the girl says: "But you don't know

Who really Mitchel ".

Mitchel was the boy who was training her.

And there begins his story,

Well it turns out that he was a trans man.

And when he begins to count on history, it is from Peru,

I immediately said: "That's me".

-There are many LGTBI people, above all,

The case of trans women,

In the case of transque men they leave their countries

because they had to defend them rights of LGTBI people

In their countries and, for these reasons, they have been attacked.

Colombia, El Salvadorhan been specific cases

where they have to flee from their countries

And they arrive in safe territory, to Spain, and of course,

They don't leave activism behind.

Here continues with an important job,

which is to work for human rights,

What are the rights of LGBTI people

And also from here,

From Spain, to its countries of origin.

-I

and even laws that haveNothing to do with LGBTI law

but that we also favor LGBT,

very good as laws,

and within, even, of the Political Constitution of 91,

which is a constitution and one of the best constitutions

that exist worldwide, is that of my country.

It's very good, it's paradise if you read it,

but...No.

So there is a reality that is totally contradictory

What the role says.

Of course we have tools in Colombia,

sí queNos podemos cambiarelNombre,

They can make them free surgeries

y queNo se demora mucho, también.

But, at a social level, what happens?

I can go out with my chest surgery,

A woman transposes her chest...

Yes, very nice and everything,

but en la callenos siguen violentando.

In schools you don't want to talk about the trans subject,

You don't want to talk about sexual education,

In schools, less.

We do not exist for the State, we do not exist.

In Colombia nobody goes to prison for being LGBTI,

porqueNos protegeuna Constitución y unas leyes.

No one is going to prison to be this,

but sí tenemosuna condena social diaria.

Yes we have a murder of LGBTI people daily.

So, that and jail, because it has been the same.

-At arriving, they are notified

that, indeed, they can receive threats perhaps,

or above all, street harassment.

And, in these cases, what they are told is:

"Go to the police, because in the police they exist

units specialized in hate crimes ",

And in addition, we have a legislation that, indeed, protects them.

And it is true that it is very sad,

porque, hace unos años,estoNo lo hacíamos.

We did not consider that it was necessary.

But lately,

With this increase that is having

of hate crimes,

yes we consider it necessary to do so in this first interview.

-We here, the people migrant trans people,

We have a double discrimination:

como trans o como LGBTI,comoNos leen.

Porque a míNormalmente en la calleme suelen leer como gay,

Not as trans.

Then I could be very murdered gay man,

For example, because they read me as gay,

You can violate me as gay, and also, as a migrant.

Entonces,No me dejan vivo.

I have received many violence, a lot of discrimination:

In public transport,

In restaurants and others for racism

And when getting a floor or a room

where they rent, for racism,

but tambiénhe sentido que por LGBTIfobia,

Because they read me as a gay man.

I don't want to imagine when I realize that I'm trans.

-In Spanish society there is still a lack of knowledge

About different gender identities.

TodavíaNo se entiende bienlo que es una mujer trans,

lo que es un hombre trans,lo que es una personaNo binaria

And what is the fluid genre, for example.

There is a lot of ignorance,

And precisely this ignorance,

This leads to many violence

Against these people.

Partiendo desde el hechode queNo se les reconoce

as a real identity.

-For me, the need and what I believe

that should always be based on pedagogy.

Pedagogy for me is fundamental, because of course,

If there were more pedagogy, there would be fewer laws.

SiNos enfocáramos un poco másen la pedagogía, en la educación,

In the educational system, reform it, include us,

no excluir,No es imponer,es contar la verdad.

Is to say that we exist.No one is imposing anything.

I'm just telling you: "Hey, I exist.

Could I respect me, please? ".

-He there are 69 countries that condemn LGTBI people.

There are six countries where there is death penalty,

but estoNo implicaque de los demás países

There are also aggressions,

because even in Latin America,

that have laws that protect LGBTI people,

There are even aggressions.

There are aggressions by society

that condemns them by the simple fact of being lgtbi,

for the simple fact of loving

or by the simple fact that being trans women.

(Music)

(Foreign accent) Reda is a 23 -year -old boy, Moroccan,

that his country has left due to homosexual,

He has also left his studies.

Those dreams have changed their destiny

entre un día, unaNoche,

for being homosexual.

Reda has chosen to leave a closed society

And he has chosen to build his future

In Europe, in Spain,

In a country of freedom, a country of law.

Najat is a personality

y unNombre.

What my followers have sent,

Because I sing a famous singer, *.

My voice is similar to your voice.

Y Najat is a personalityde una chica

who wants to change your look.

Najat "is medium" by Rede.

Reda is Najat and Najat is rede.

It is a personality also Instagram,

from Tiktok, social network.

Read, when you want to change your look, change with Najat.

And Najat, when he wants to change look, change with Reda.

When my family discovers I am gay

And my ex -boyfriend has made me blackmail,

That is why I am discovering, I am gay,

And they threw me out of the house.

Because they tell me...

My father works

In a little sensitive job.

And my mother, too.

Por esoNo me aceptan.

Has a single child,

butNo lo aceptan al ser gay,

because it is prohibited from Islam,

of the mentality, of the association, of all.

That's why they told me one day: "Look for life".

I remember very well of saying my things,

I leave the house.

(Get excited) How some...?

Because my parents are my friends.

But as a friend who leaves me...

I was 19 years old.

I can't find anyone next to me.

When I need my parents, I can't find them, they throw me.

Like what...

Like whatNo ha pasad...como queNo soy su hijo.

Like whatNo soy...

un humano también, por lo menos,es queNo me tratan como...

Me tratan como siNo estoy.

No lo sé,No sé cómo te explico.

The exit,

Of course, it comes after suffering.

they're coming from...much pain.

A lot of really.

One thing, what I tell you,

is that I, when my parents throw me from home,

What hurts me a lot that my mother was

Like my best friend,

es que yo pierdo hablar 15 días,que es queNo hablo,

I don't speak like or anything, I just drink water,

How to build a recession war chest: Savings rates are at rock bottom and the stock market is volatile...So How C ... https: // t.CO/AHHFODD2S5

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15 días queNo hablo.

I'm alone at the hotel, I don't talk to anyone,

I don't go out or anything.

And after much effort,

I help myself,

No one helps me.

I wake up myself and say: "No, read,

You have to wake up,

You have to endure, life is ahead ".

because I am looking for my life and I come to Europe,

to Spain.

-The LGTBI refugees

yes they have peculiarity

that they have suffered a persecution

Many times by the closest circle,

What is the family, friends...

Many times the family is the persecuting agent itself,

The one who has denounced, the one who has tried to kill

To the person for his belonging to the LGTBI collective.

So when someone has been betrayed

by your own family, we can understand how difficult it is

Trust someone again, right?

Read something again, say who I am, right?

And well, that's a very difficult part

of the principle of our work,

Create that climate of trust

so that people begin to feel safe,

begin to trust and that we can develop a good intervention.

The life of gay boy in Morocco is a fucking life,

a life...No es suya.

Una vida de otro,a life de sociedad.

He doesn't do what he wants.

It has to be "very careful".

Walk "very careful", he speaks "very careful"...

Se quiere quedar con uno,o si tieneNovio,

It has to be very discreet, of course.

Really, this topic...

Is that when I talk about this subject it really hurts.

LoNormalNo es,

We don't have to talk about him,

because each person has to live their life

As he wants.

As he wants, not how people want.

But because a gay in Morocco, of course,

Live how other people want, as their family wants,

para queNo lo echen,para queNo tenga problemas,

With his family and also with the police.

-We can talk about the case of Morocco,

that being so close to Spain, we are so far

In terms of defense of LGTBI rights.

Marruecos se ha convertido tambiénen esa entrada to Spain

in which both people from sub -Saharan origin come

as Moroccan people

that request asylum in Spain for this reason.

In Morocco there is prison penalty

for belonging to the LGTBI collective.

You can spend up to eight years in jail for this reason

and condemn in this way the people

to lead a double life,

to have to hide your identity your sexual orientation.

-I remember the first day, when I arrive in Madrid,

They take my rescue,

My social worker, Alba, has given me confidence.

He tells me: "You are in Madrid,

It's not like Algeiraso as Morocco.

Here in Madrid you can be makeup,

You can leave calm ".

I remember very well, they have given me confidence,

Finally well, it's fine,

really.

Eso seNota cuando yo salgo,seNota.

Now I'm also in Madrid and I get feminine

I leave as I want then

Not like Morocco.

The pasolo I have made in my life

to leave a country to come to another country.

It is also one step...

A very big step for me, one step....

I don't know how I explain you,

A very important, very important step.

I take another force.I take another energy.

Lame...Far from my parents.

Far from everything.

Madrid.Other life.Another challenge.

I could say that most LGTBI refugees have lived

A double life in origin.

I could not rescue a specific country,

but in this case it could generate the criminalization,

violence and rejection that suffer

In most countries in the world.

What does it mean by living a double life?

Well, have to cheat, the feeling of guilt

that this double life usually generates,

very high levels of anxiety too

for trying to balance spaces

que ellos consideran segurosde aquellos queNo.

I ask asylum to change my life

PorqueNo encuentroninguna solución.

I can't find any life for me.

And I say this...

I can't live here, I can't live in Morocco

Really in Spain that I want I find it.

We do not go to...I am not going to lie.

But life in what I want, I find it.

I want to go as I want,

I leave as I want, I speak as I want.

I speak as I want.I record videos.

No one tells me: "Why do you record videos?"

No one...I am free.I do what I want.

I don't do what people want.

Reda, Spain has found first

Find an open newociety,

a new life, a new trust,

a new... really.

España me ha cambiado mucho,really.

Lo que te digo,la de hoyNo es ser la de ayer.

When I'm talking about this, change,

I speak it with great joy,

I speak it with great confidence.

I like to talk about my change, I don't like talking about my pain,

of my past, of all that.

I am pride, I am proud of myself,

I am pride of this change,

I am proud of this big step, big step,

really.

I like it, I like it, I love it.

Spain has traditionally been a country

of reception of refugees,

but luego con la segundamodificación de la Ley de Asilo,

where were the great organizations working

To perfect this law,

is when they join

In 2009 what is gender and gender identity

o Sexual orientation.

And from that moment on, it is when the organization begins

to establish a work protocol,

accompaniment and intervention

of refugees lgtbien a fairly broad way,

where there is a psychological intervention,

There is a social intervention.

There are, of course, a legal accompaniment.

I have suffered two attacks

Two serious attacks simply by being homosexual.

Even without having recognized people

Yes, I am homosexual,

I have been attacked that specific reason.

I am lucky to follow with life right now.

I didn't want to risk spending a third time.

It happened to me the first time.It was horrible.

It was a threat to my life.

The second time was even more intense.

So after the second attack,

me dije queNo iba a permitirque me ocurriera una tercera vez,

So I decided to leave there.

My life as a gay person in Jamaicaera basically non -existent.

Nevertheless,

I had to learn how to adapt

to the reality of living a double life.

For example, now, if I compare myself,

then before coming here, or even last year,

Before coming here, they are like two different people,

because I had to adapt to life

where I had to be masculine to exist in a society,

paraNo ser ridiculizado,

queNo hablaran de mí

yNo me mirarancon desprecio como persona.

I had to learn how to pretend, basically.

So I had a good job, I lived in a decent site,

I even had a car,

So the vidatampoco was so bad to exist

as a heterosexual person,

porque me mostraba públicamenteas a heterosexual person,

but como una persona gaypara ser realmente como yo soy,

It was practically non -existent.

I had to act all the time

fingiendo ser quienNo soy.

De las personas refugiadas LGTBIque vienen to Spain

To ask asylum suffered a great trauma

And therefore its emotional, cognitive and physical deterioration is tremendous.

In that case, psychological accompaniment is fundamental.

Is that for being and being part

of the LGTBI community has a series of defense mechanisms

and survival that makes them start here too.

Muchas de las personas refugiadasLGTBINo se muestran tal

And as they are in a first start, but later,

Once we have generated environments of trust, respect,

acceptance and validation of who are.

It is when they can start showing,

to make visible and accept.

My mother when she learned that I was gay

literally had a psychological crisis,

but como era madre,

She lives right now in the foreigner.

As was a mother, he did the work and looked for help.

Investigate to understand what your child is,

What does it mean to be gay.

He has done that job and now we have a better relationship.

That relationship continues to progress.

We keep growing,

but tenemos una mejor relación

because he has done the job of understanding who I am

or what is a homosexual person.

When it refers to my past in Jamaica,

Where I had a double life, I tried to live a double life,

because I think you can't really hide what you are.

It is very difficult to do that, although you can try.

I tried to show people, society in Jamaica,

a person other than what I am.

Here, now that I live in Spain

aúnNo soy yo al 100 por ciento,

Because the only thing I have always known

It was to pretend in public

or offer a face of miDifferent in public.

I think it's going to take me for a long time to develop that trust

one hundred percent for Serquien I am actually

And to appreciate that as a person.

The fact that a person request international protection in Spain

It does not mean that you are going to accept the refugee statute

Or you will be granted the person's refugee status in Spain.

This depends almost always on the instructor

or the instructor that is studying its case.

Depends.

Depends mucho de la situación país

And it also depends on an interministerial decision that is carried out

In certain meetings to know these cases are admitted

oNo son admitidoscomo personas refugiadas.

This is almost always attached to the Geneva Convention

And if it meets all the requirements, it is likely to be accepted.

There are some countries where it is very, very marked,

high rates of violence,

As for examples we talk about Jamaica.

Very high violence levels

And they are being approved

In almost 90 percent these requests.

In Jamaica there is a law called Sodomy Law.

If they find two men having sex,

They can go to jail.

Para el gobierno los derechosde los homosexualesNo existen.

Now we see how small organizations

están empezando a ayudar a la gente,but sin el apoyo del gobierno.

A few years ago,

The previous prime minister was called Bruce Golding,

They did an interview in the United Kingdom

And they asked him for homosexuals in Jamaica.

Specific,

They asked if he would like

That a member of his government was gay.

Su respuesta fueNo.

Con esa respuesta dejó muy claroqueNo apoyaba a la comunidad LGTB.

I think in everything that has to do

With the rights of the LGBT community,

The government has to play a very important role.

TodavíaNo han hecho naday creo que va a pasar mucho tiempo

until they do something about it.

Y todo estoNos llevaa nuestra cultura.

Our culture weighs a lot and that has to change.

It is very common that in the means of focus all the information

depending on the moment in the wars that occur,

The coups suddenly specific events

that make many people to flee from a country.

Pero es verdadque lo queNo se focaliza tanto

It is the people who have to flee to belong to groups

as the lgtbide collective many other countries.

And I have already had how many bad experiences

since I am here.

Racism is one of them.

They have treated me different

Due to the color of my skin and my hair,

because many people have stereotypes about it.

It wasn't a pleasant thing, it's not something that desires people.

But I have to understand that Spain

It is a country in which it can be strange

See someone from my nationality.

Because when people ask me where I am from

When I say I'm from Jamaica,

I see the surprise in the face of the people.

And the next question they ask me is:

And what are you doing in Spain?

¿Por qué has venido to Spain?

Sometimes I think it is a bit insulting,

but si me pongo en su piel

creo que esNormalque hagan esas preguntas.

So most of the time I took them badly.

Nevertheless,

I think there should be greater awareness

about why different people from different countries reach a country

like Spain.

¿Si quiero a life distinta aquí?

Sí que quieroa life distinta aquí.

Si me hacen la pregunta, sí,me gustaría a life diferente aquí,

si quiero olvidar mi pasado,No,

Because I think the past

It is very important to anyone.

If you have a past, you have a future.

There must be something for you to take sight

And say: "Ok, I come from here, and I want to go here,

I want my life to be like that.

For me it is very important to know who I am, where I come from,

The life I have had before that I can move forward

and build the life I want.

Because today's rede is that yesterday.

A lo mejor la Reda de ayerNo puedecontar lo que siente,

You can't tell your pain.

La Reda de hoyNo es la de ayer.

If I had stayed a week in Colombia

y muy seguramenteNo estaríacontando el cuento

I am alive,

that surely in Colombian would be.