IDAHOBIT 2025 – Standing Against the Rising Tide of Discrimination

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre is proud to celebrate IDAHOBIT – International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexphobia, and Transphobia. Observed on 17 May each year, IDAHOBIT commemorates the day in 1990 when the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from its Classification of Diseases.

While IDAHOBIT is a day of celebration, many of the gains that have been made in ensuring equality and protection of LGBTQIA+ people continue to be systematically attacked and dismantled across the globe. ASRC stands firmly in solidarity with all LGBTQIA+ people seeking asylum, facing persecution and suffering inequality, and we will continue to raise our voices against all forms of hate and fear stoked against these communities.

Our one-of-a-kind Gender Clinic offers specialised immigration advice and legal assistance to people seeking asylum based on their gender identity or sexuality. When dealing with complex issues, ranging from persecution due to sexual orientation, sexual identity or gender identity to forced marriage, honour killing, female genital mutilation, sex trafficking and family violence, it is extremely important to be able to provide a safe space and targeted support.

LGBTQIA+ refugees and people seeking asylum often face additional barriers and hurdles when seeking protection in Australia, including inappropriate and discriminatory lines of questioning by Department and Tribunal officers. 

Recently, the Gender Clinic has been able to assist Carla, a trans woman from India, who is not able to return to her home country due to ongoing violence and discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community. 

When Carla arrived in Australia, she travelled to regional Victoria to work on a farm with her siblings who had bullied Carla all her life. Unfortunately, like many asylum seekers in exploitative work without any English language skills, Carla was taken advantage of by a person posing as a migration agent, who took her money and lodged a Protection visa application without her consent, and without consulting her about her true reasons for fearing harm in India. 

Carla had no idea she had lodged a Protection visa application, and when her application was refused after only 1.5 months, without the chance to put forward her claims at an interview with the Department of Home Affairs, she had no idea the agent who completed her application was lodging an appeal at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

After moving to Melbourne, away from her siblings and the exploitative environment she found herself in when she first arrived in Australia, Carla was able to build English language skills and connect with the transgender community in Melbourne. There she found out about the ASRC. When she contacted us, we were able to connect her with the Gender Clinic. We were able to provide a safe, trauma informed environment for Carla to obtain legal advice and put forward her true claims for protection for the first time. With our assistance, Carla was successful at the AAT. She is now waiting for the Department of Home Affairs to grant her Permanent Protection visa, which will allow her to remain in Australia, and continue to build her life, indefinitely. 

Carla has found work and a community in Melbourne, has been able to access gender affirming healthcare, and is now working towards legally changing her name. 

Initiatives like the Gender Clinic are made possible through the generous and ongoing support of our community, and we thank you for your generosity.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Forcibly Displaced People’s Network (FDPN), the first LGBTIQA+ refugee-led organisation in Australia that mobilises community in the fight for justice for LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people, conducts research and shares knowledge, and empowers LGBTIQA+ displaced people to start new lives in safety.

Many Coloured Sky who support LGBTQI+ organisations and communities with capacity building, planning and project development.

Iceberg Foundation’s Manaya Pride Program who work alongside LGBTIQAP+ forcibly displaced communities to support their mental health and wellbeing through therapeutic support and social inclusion programs.

Queerspace, an LGBTIQ+ health and wellbeing support service established by LGBTIQ+ communities for LGBTIQ+ communities.