Aderonke

Firstly, thanks for all the good wishes for my dad. He's given us all a bit of a scare this week but he had an operation yesterday and we're hoping that things will start to improve for him now although the recovery process may take a while.

I'm now back in Liverpool where I spent the day at an excellent conference about the experiences of LGBT asylum seekers in this country.

The event was attended by asylum seekers, voluntary and community organisations, academics, lawyers, NHS services and Home Office staff and provided a forum for discussion, information exchange and sowing the seeds of coordinated local activity to provide better support, advocacy and campaigning.

One of the keynote speakers was Aderonke Apata - an exceptionally brave and inspirational woman. She left her native Nigeria just over 10 years ago after a couple of spells in prison and the constant threat of violence, abuse and possible death. She sought asylum here because of the persecution she'd experienced back home but, like very many LGBT asylum seekers, she's found it difficult to 'prove' her sexuality to the satisfaction of the UK government. Again, like many LGBT asylum seekers, she'd been married (to a man) in her home country because she could not live openly as a lesbian and because unmarried women over a certain age are viewed with suspicion there. Now, the fact of her marriage counts against her and she's spent a year in the Yarl's Wood detention centre as well as time in prison here.

She's something of a reluctant activist in that she'd rather have come out in her own time and in her own way than become such a public campaigner and, I guess, she'd probably much rather be pursuing her chosen career in microbiology and public health than waiting for the outcome of a Judicial Review of her case (due next year), living on £35 per week and barred from working and contributing tax and national insurance towards the economy as she'd like. Although, as she noted, whilst in detention she was 'allowed' to work for less than minimum wage and was even made 'Employee of the Month' by the staff at Yarl's Wood.

Now she's campaigning hard for the rights of all LGBT asylum seekers to be respected and for Home Office staff to be better trained around cultural competency so that they don't rule that the man from Uganda who's never heard of Oscar Wilde, let alone read anything by him, can't possibly be gay or that the woman from Pakistan who's never attended a Pride march can't possibly be lesbian. These are real cases! As is the case of the man who was told that if he was really gay he'd have evidence that he'd been out clubbing in Soho... Unlikely, even if he'd been inclined to, when he was living on the standard rate for asylum seekers of £35 per week.

We're lucky to live in a country where senior politicians, including the Prime Minister, are prepared to condemn anti-gay legislation elsewhere in the world but we need to make sure that when the victims of that legislation seek to live their lives free from persecution over here they're not locked up for it. Seeking asylum is not a crime, it's a human right. And places like Yarl's Wood have no place in our society.

If Aderonke is deported she faces a 14 year prison sentence in Nigeria, simply on the grounds of her sexuality, and she fears for her life. Yet she's brave enough to stand up and speak about her situation and the situations of thousands of other women and men who are struggling to be believed by our current system.

Just last month she won the Positive Role Model National Diversity Award. It couldn't have gone to a more worthy candidate!

You can find out more about Aderonke's case here.

I've got very behind with your journals this week but will try to catch up very soon! xx