Queering migration temporalities: LGBTQI+ experiences with waiting within Germany’s asylum system

Abstract

Since 2016, the European Union has made further efforts to streamline and simplify the procedure for international refugee protection. Despite this, asylum claimants in Europe often wait up to four years (or even longer) for a final decision. This article focuses on LGBTQI+ experiences with waiting. This paper examines “waiting” as an inherent part of EU migration policy and practice that is sexualized and racialized. What does it mean to live a life in limbo where the anticipation of the future collapses into the insecurity of the present, and, how is this tied up with sexual orientation and/or gender identity? Based on empirical data collected over 14 months in Southern Germany and using the lenses of migration and queer temporalities, this article shows how LGBTQI+ asylum claimants navigate wait time and create spaces of resistance from where to challenge racialized and sexualized forms of state legal violence.