Queer asylum politics of separation in Germany: homonationalist narratives of safety

Abstract

Despite the increasing awareness of the difficulties facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) refugees worldwide over the last few years, there has been little research undertaken to critically investigate discourses of LGBT refugee accommodations in Germany. Separate living spaces for LGBT refugees aim to minimize experiences of discrimination and violence. However, homophobia and transphobia also occur in LGBT-exclusive refugee accommodations but remain unrepresented in the media and undiscussed in academia. In this paper, I aim to explore the paradoxical argument for separation of LGBT refugees in the context of homonationalist narratives. Deploying homonationalism as an analytical tool, the paper examines narratives about LGBT refugees found in 117 German LGBT magazine articles. The study reveals simplistic representations that reinforce orientalist imaginations of refugee accommodations as an unsafe space for LGBT individuals. Narratives about LGBT refugees, coherent with existing metanarratives of victimization and saviorism, my study suggests, cement essentialist assumptions of progressiveness and liberation by equating the situation in their countries of origin with living conditions in refugee accommodations. Media coverage reinforces a line of argument where ‘vulnerable’, ‘passive’ LGBT refugees in a threatening environment depend on the rescue by German LGBT organizations. The establishment and promotion of LGBT-exclusive accommodations, therefore, must be read in a political context where LGBT organizations navigate tension between accessing resources and permanently legitimizing their work. My in-depth analysis of the textual structure and spatial connotations reveals a pattern of an odyssey in which the LGBT-exclusive accommodation is presented as a safe haven.