26th June 2024
[…] Homophobic language in Home Office interviews
The report also details incidents of homophobia and transphobia from interpreters during asylum interviews and court hearings, as well as in translated materials.
Some people reported incidents of interpreters refusing to translate words such as ‘gay’ and ‘bisexual’, not understanding basic concepts of sexual diversity, and perpetrating homophobic or transphobic abuse in interviews and court settings. Because no one else in the room speaks the language other than the asylum seeker and the translator, no one knows it is happening.
One Scottish service provider said: “So many of our community members have had actively homophobic translators when they’ve been in a meeting with the Home Office….and the person feels like they can't engage in the interview properly because they're experiencing this homophobia towards them. We've had instances like that or another one where that was the situation, but it was in court and the translator that turned up was being LGBT-hostile in the situation and no one else spoke the same language, just the community member and the translator. No one else knew what was going on.”
Issues were also reported in the quality of Home Office translated information. One document, a welcome guide provided by Migrant Help and translated into Arabic, contained an offensive homophobic term for lesbian in text providing signposting to LGBTQI+ support organisations. […]
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