Queer asylum: Between hostility and incredibility

The field of queer migration studies has significantly evolved in recent decades, with interdisciplinary scholars exploring the unique experiences of LGBTIQ+ people. This scholarship has emphasised that migrations are not solely motivated by economic or familial factors but are interwoven with migrants' sexuality and gender (Lewis & Naples, 2014; Luibheid, 2008). Initially, the focus was on the internal migrations of queer people from rural to urban areas, but the scope has since broadened considerably. By intersecting perspectives emerging from queer, feminist and migration studies, scholars started to focus their critique on the heteronormativity of immigration institutions (Giametta, 2017; Murray, 2015; Raboin, 2017). This literature underscored that individuals subjected to border control—irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity—systematically encounter gendered and racialised violence inherent to such policies. Amidst this, queer migration scholarship expanded its study beyond strictly defined sexuality and gender identities to investigate the power dynamics and inequalities that arise through migration (Lewis, 2019; Luibheid, 2008; Mole, 2018; Seitz, 2017; Williams, 2010). These studies have elicited original theorisations concerning neglected migration histories moulded by post-colonialism, asylum seeking and labour migration. [Opening paragraph]