LGBTQIA+ Scholar Series: Apprehending Queer Forced Migrants: More than ‘Adding Queer and Stir’

Featuring Sandra McEvoy, Clinical Associate Professor of Political Science and Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies

McEvoy’s discussion explores an understudied subset of forced migration studies referred to as “acute migration” (AM). AM refers to the temporal process that characterizes the movement of LGBTQ+ people when forced to abruptly and immediately leave their homes when extraordinarily violent conflict, threats, or abuse and/or natural disasters require urgent movement. For purposes of this discussion, the research does not focus on asylum claims, the asylum process, or resettlement of LGBTQ+, all of which have their own robust sets of literature. Drawing on data from diverse sets of literature, international migration centers and aid organizations, and narratives from queer forced migrants (QFM) themselves, I seek a more fulsome understanding of the heteronormative processes and border controls that render LGBTQ+ people particularly vulnerable. Confronted with a sort of “heteronormative firewall,” these controls compound the hardships and danger already inherent in forced migration. The discussion will conclude by affirming that more than just an “add queer and stir” approach is needed if we are to develop more multidimensional understanding of the difficult journeys that many LGBTQ+ people endure when forced into AM.