“Sexual orientation” is a personal characteristic that forms part of who you are. It covers the range of human sexuality from lesbian and gay, to bisexual and heterosexual. Sexual orientation is different from gender identity, which is protected under the ground of “sex.”
-Ontario Human Rights Commission. http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/sexual-orientation-and-human-rights-brochure. [Accessed 21 September 2013].
“Sexual orientation refers to: “each person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate relations with, individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender”.14 Gender identity refers to: “each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the body and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and mannerisms”.
– UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidelines on International Protection No. 9: Claims to Refugee Status based on Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, 23 October 2012, HCR/GIP/12/01, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/50348afc2.html [accessed 22 September 2013].
“Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes. Sexual orientation also refers to a person’s sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions. Research over several decades has demonstrated that sexual orientation ranges along a continuum, from exclusive attraction to the other sex to exclusive attraction to the same sex. However, sexual orientation is usually discussed in terms of three categories: heterosexual (having emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to members of the other sex), gay/lesbian (having emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to members of one’s own sex), and bisexual (having emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to both men and women). This range of behaviors and attractions has been described in various cultures and nations throughout the world. Many cultures use identity labels to describe people who express these attractions. In the United States the most frequent labels are lesbians (women attracted to women), gay men (men attracted to men), and bisexual people (men or women attracted to both sexes). However, some people may use different labels or none at all.
Sexual orientation is distinct from other components of sex and gender, including biological sex (the anatomical, physiological, and genetic characteristics associated with being male or female), gender identity (the psychological sense of being male or female), and social gender role (the cultural norms that define feminine and masculine behavior).
Sexual orientation is commonly discussed as if it were solely a characteristic of an individual, like biological sex, gender identity, or age. This perspective is incomplete because sexual orientation is defined in terms of relationships with others. People express their sexual orientation through behaviors with others, including such simple actions as holding hands or kissing. Thus, sexual orientation is closely tied to the intimate personal relationships that meet deeply felt needs for love, attachment, and intimacy. In addition to sexual behaviors, these bonds include nonsexual physical affection between partners, shared goals and values, mutual support, and ongoing commitment. Therefore, sexual orientation is not merely a personal characteristic within an individual. Rather, one’s sexual orientation defines the group of people in which one is likely to find the satisfying and fulfilling romantic relationships that are an essential component of personal identity for many people.”
-American Psychological Association. “Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality.” http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sexual-orientation.aspx.
“In many parts of the world, individuals experience serious human rights abuses and other forms of persecution due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity. While persecution of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (hereafter “LGBTI”)1 individuals and those perceived to be LGBTI is not a new phenomenon,2 there is greater awareness in many countries of asylum that people fleeing persecution for reasons of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity can qualify as refugees under Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and/or its 1967 Protocol (hereafter the “1951 Convention”).3 Nevertheless, the application of the refugee definition remains inconsistent in this area. 2. It is widely documented that LGBTI individuals are the targets of killings, sexual and gender-based violence, physical attacks, torture, arbitrary detention, accusations of immoral or deviant behaviour, denial of the rights to assembly, expression and information, and discrimination in employment, health and education in all regions around the world.4 Many countries maintain severe criminal laws for consensual same-sex relations, a number of which stipulate imprisonment, corporal punishment and/or the death penalty.5 In these and other countries, the authorities may not be willing or able to protect individuals from abuse and persecution by non-State actors, resulting in impunity for perpetrators and implicit, if not explicit, tolerance of such abuse and persecution.”
– UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidelines on International Protection No. 9: Claims to Refugee Status based on Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, 23 October 2012, HCR/GIP/12/01, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/50348afc2.html [accessed 22 September 2013].
“A narrative of sexual identity must be presented as comprehensively as possible early in the claim process because the requirement of consistency of later testimony is such a significant feature of refugee adjudication, leading to an undue focus on the ‘first’ account and concurrent neglect of any original content presented at oral hearing (Amnesty 2004: 20; Byrne 2008: 627; Kneebone 1998: 82; Coffey 2003: 388–389). While many claims to refugee status rest largely, or entirely, upon the personal narrative of the applicant, this is more likely in claims which are based upon sexual orientation. Refugee claims based upon political opinion, nationality, race or religion will more commonly have some form of independent verification of group membership, whereas a claim to belong to a particular social group on the basis of sexual orientation depends upon the presentation of a very internal form of self identity. We found a common refrain in case law that ‘allegations’ of gay identity are easy to make and hard to disprove (Millbank 2009b). Furthermore, while claimants on all grounds often face the difficulty of speaking about experiences of torture and trauma, including sexual assault, in recounting past persecution, sexual orientation claims are unique in the sense that extremely private experiences infuse all aspects of the claim. Feelings of shame and self-repression in revealing the kind of information necessary to make a claim of group membership manifest distinctively in sexual orientation claims, even though similar difficulties may arise in detailing persecution on other grounds (LaViolette 2004: 5).”
– Berg, Laurie and Jenni Millbank. 2009. “Constructing the Personal Narratives of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Asylum Claimants.” Journal of Refugee Studies 22(2): 195-223.
ICJ, Yogyakarta Principles – Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, March 2007, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/48244e602.html.
UNHCR Refworld. “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.” http://www.refworld.org/sogi.html.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidelines on International Protection No. 9: Claims to Refugee Status based on Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, 23 October 2012, HCR/GIP/12/01, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/50348afc2.html [accessed 22 September 2013].
United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Guidance for Adjudicating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Refugee and Asylum Claims, 27 December 2011, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4f269cd72.html [accessed 22 September 2013].
Arguelles, Lourdes and Anne M. Rivero. 1993. “Gender/Sexual Orientation Violence and Transnational Migration: Conversations with Some Latinas We Think We Know.” Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development 22(3/4): 259-275.
Berg, Laurie and Jenni Millbank. 2009. “Constructing the Personal Narratives of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Asylum Claimants.” Journal of Refugee Studies 22(2): 195-223.
LaViolette, Nicole. 2007. “Gender-Related Refugee Claims: Expanding the Scope of the Canadian Guidelines.” International Journal of Refugee Law 19(2): 169-214.
LaViolette, Nicole. 2010. “UNHCR Guidance Note on Refugee Claims Relating to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: A Critical Commentary.” International Journal of Refugee Law 22(2): 173-208.
Millbank, Jenni. 2005. “A Preoccupation with Perversion: the British Response to Refugee Claims on the Basis of Sexual Orientation, 1989-2003.” Social and Legal Studies 14(1): 115-138.
O’Leary, Barry. 2008. “’We Cannot Claim Any Particular Knowledge of the Ways of Homosexuals, Still Less of Iranian Homosexuals…’: The Particular Problems Facing Those Who Seek Asylum on the Basis of their Sexual Identity.” Feminist Legal Studies 16(1): 87-95.
Ottoson, Daniel. 2010. State Sponsored Homophobia: A World Survey of Laws Prohibiting Same-Sex Activity between Consenting Adults. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2010.pdf.
Rehaag, Sean. 2009. “Bisexuals need not apply: a comparative appraisal of refugee law and policy in Canada, the United States, and Australia.” The International Journal of Human Rights 13(2-3): 4155-436.