Though LGBT people have been able to seek asylum in the United States since the ‘90s, they still face a multitude of challenges upon arrival in the US as well as in their application process, leaving an air of uncertainty for many whether they will be successful in their cases. This thesis seeks to understand these challenges and how they relate to the perception of identities of LGBT asylum seekers, especially as it relates to Western stereotypes of gender and sexuality. To examine these issues, this thesis includes in-depth interviews with four officials who work closely with asylum seekers to incorporate their input on the asylum system as a whole and how the system impacts LGBT asylum seekers. Based on the analysis of court cases and supplementary qualitative data, this thesis aims to reveal the implications of relying on “consistency” as evidence of credibility based on the stereotypes and how this can harm LGBT asylum seekers as well as others outside of the LGBT community. Finally, this thesis proposes an intervention to alleviate these challenges not only for those in the LGBT community but for everyone seeking asylum in the US and suggests a new framework for how to understand and communicate identities of asylum seekers without limited definitions of their sexual identities or stripping them of autonomy.

Trauma is increasingly experienced by people in transit as border militarization increases migrants’ exposure to violence and forces them into more precarious situations. For queer migrants, this includes situations where they are more likely to experience persecution and sexual violence. This paper explores the availability of care for queer undocumented migrants in the United States after surviving a precarious and potentially deadly journey from their country of origin to the US, as well as forms of alternative care developed by the undocuqueer community. In particular, it focuses on access to care for LGBT migrants, who face stigmatization on multiple levels and as a result are more likely than their straight counterparts to experience extreme mental health consequences pre-, in-, and post-transit. Faced with a number of obstacles that prevent them from receiving appropriate mental health care, the undocuqueer community utilizes various strategies to ensure that the health and needs of the community are supported. I argue that in spite of facing traumatic experiences and being unable to fully access healthcare to alleviate these problems in the US, LGBT migrants demonstrate extreme resilience and resist the mechanisms that otherwise threaten their mental well-being.