Abstract
Recently, the situation for queer asylees, who have been or could be persecuted on account of their non-normative sexuality, sexual identity or sexual orientation in their countries of origin, has been drawing attention as an important human rights issue. Based on interview data, this paper argues that queer Mexican asylum seekers in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States may constitute a specific group in the asylum-migration nexus, and it examines how the members of this group become asylees. Discussing the narrative construction in part of the asylum application process, the paper aims to discover the nuanced reality and meaning of asylum for those asylees who have trans-national mobility and mixed motives in moving. In this legal process, a representation of non-normative gender performance as a fixed sexual identity and a traumatized body can be seen as a valid reason for qualifying for asylum.
