At Say It Loud Club, we are outraged by this government’s decision to continue with their ‘Nationality and Borders’ bill despite universal opposition from every organisation supporting refugees and people claiming asylum in the UK.
This cruel bill will harm every person needing safety and asylum in the UK, and will disproportionately discriminate against LGBTQ+ people with valid claims for asylum.
Unless we can stop this bill from being passed in Parliament, we know that:
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Fewer LGBTQ+ people will receive safety and asylum here in the UK
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More LGBTQ+ people will be deported to places where they face harassment, violence, and imprisonment
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LGBTQ+ people claiming asylum will be held in inhospitable offshore reception centres, which will amount to torture for many members of our community
This bill will do nothing to prevent the fact that some people need to come to the UK to protect their lives, and will cost the UK public billions of pounds to fund an unworkable and unnecessarily cruel asylum system.
In our response to the Home Office’s illegitimate consultation on their New Plan for Immigration, we outlined how the proposed changes will disproportionately harm LGBTQ+ members of our community with valid claims for asylum in the UK. You can read our full response here.
We agree that the current asylum system isn’t working. We want to see a fairer, more compassionate system that treats all people claiming asylum with dignity and respect.
However, this government has proven itself to be disinterested in engaging meaningfully with grassroots communities like ours to help build a better system.
We know that this proposed bill doesn’t reflect the views of the majority of the UK public. That’s why we are supporting our members to share their own experiences of the UK’s asylum process and together we will be launching a public campaign to demonstrate the breadth of public opposition.
We stand in solidarity with every other community being threatened by the horrific proposals outlined in the Nationality and Borders bill. We are committed to working in partnership to amplify the voices of refugees and asylum seekers to make sure that decision-makers never lose sight of the real human lives being threatened by this bill.
We call upon the LGBTQ+ community, our friends, supporters, and allies, to stand with us in the coming weeks and months, and speak out against this injustice.
In strength and solidarity,
Say It Loud Club
Write to your MP and urge them to speak out against the anti-refugee Nationality and Borders Bill
Next week the Bill will be debated in Parliament for the first time – and we need you to ask your MP to speak out for refugees at this crucial moment.
For this bill to pass it will need to win a majority vote in Parliament. You can help prevent this by writing to your MP and urging them to speak out and oppose the bill during the bill’s hearing.
Will you stand with members of our community and write to your MP?
https://act.refugeecouncil.org.uk/campaign/urgent-ask-your-mp-speak-out-refugees