We, the undersigned, petition the government of the United Kingdom to stop deporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people to countries or states where they may face persecution, imprisonment, torture and/or death as a result of their sexuality and/or gender identity. LGBT people are persecuted throughout the world as a result of political, cultural or religious prejudice about who they are. We believe that the institutional blindness of the UK Government towards the plight of LGBT people in counties that will not recognise their right to live and love in peace is unacceptable, and we call the UK Government to provide protection to those people who seek it as a result of serious threats to their health, wellbeing and life by prejudiced political structures of their home country. LGBT people are persecuted both as a social group, and as a result of outspoken objections to their treatment and work they may be doing to try and secure greater LGBT rights in their home country. The latter would constitute persecution due to political opinion. Both reasons for persecution clearly classify anyone suffering such persecution as a refugee, according to the Refugee Convention, as accepted by the UN. We believe that it is not enough to consider asylum cases from those who come from countries or states where the government is vocally anti-LGBT, but also to consider those who are fleeing from severe social persecution, or where the law enforcement agencies wilfully ignore the letter of the law in their dealings with LGBT people. We further ask for a review of the list of countries that the UK Government feels are safe for LGBT people, as we believe some of these (such as Jamaica) are not safe for LGBT people. Each signature represents an individual protest.

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