ATHENS — Besides dealing with the trauma of being uprooted from their homelands and living in refugee and migrants detention centers and camps while hoping for asylum in Greece, those who are LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning) say they face a range of other problems, including attacks from other refugees.
That was found in a first-ever survey of their life, conducted by the Transgender Support Association that was presented digitally by the group's President, Marina Galanou, said Kathimerini.
They said they are subject to vague directions during the asylum application and examination process, precarious housing situations, and discrimination in the workplace or public services.
“Multiple stigmas and often invisible,” said Galanou when describing what they feel, noting that there had been little to no information on their lives among other groups of refugees seeking sanctuary in Greece after the European Union closed its borders to them.
The Assistant Co-ordinator of the Network for Recording Cases of Racist Violence, Garyfalia Anastasopoulou, told the paper that from 2014-20, recorded violence against this group was less than 8 percent of recorded incidents of racially motivated violence.
There were 17 asylum applicants and recognized refugees participating in the survey, who had applied for asylum for reasons of sexual orientation or gender identity (10 for sexual orientation and seven for gender identity).