Sexuality as Grounds for Asylum: the Dichotomy of The Brazilian Case

Abstract

Migration motivated by sexuality is defined as a pursuit of LGBTI+ people to freely express their
sexual identity, which is repressed in their place of origin. In several countries, such repression takes the form of state-sponsored homophobia through the criminalization of homosexuality. Thus, since the 1990s, LGBTI+ people have increasingly fled their home countries and sought asylum in more tolerant places. Brazil is among the few countries in the world that not only received asylum claims based on sexuality over the last two decades, but also recognized a considerable part of these requests as legitimate. Through a literature review and qualitative and quantitative analyses, this article will seek to understand the existence of a dichotomy in the Brazilian case, a country with one of the highest rates of violence against the LGBTI+ community in the world and that has become the destination of people who are running away from homophobic violence. In addition, based on the interpretation of official data from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and Brazil’s National Committee for Refugees (Conare) from 2010 to 2018, it is intended to understand how Brazil behaves towards these requests, which constitute an intersection between the categories “refugee”
and “LGBTI+”. The research points out that, despite the existence of that dichotomy, Brazil became a relatively attractive country for LGBTI+ refugees between 2000 and 2016.