At the intersection of transness and refugeeness: ‘I don’t want to wear another label that adds even more vulnerability.’
2026-01-14
This article analyses how trans applicants for international protection navigate the categorization of their identity in their country of arrival. Based on fieldwork with two LGBTIQ+ organizations and in-depth conversations with trans applicants in Belgium, this article demonstrates the need for a grounded, intersectional understanding of their gender identity, gender expression, and migration status. The applicants’ encounters with a variety of discourses and practices expand their understanding of transness as a category of protection and vulnerability. In addition, the applicants’ transness constantly intersects with their refugeeness, forcing them to navigate new isolations and discriminations instead of enjoying the freedom they expected to find. This article not only shows how interconnected and fluid transness and refugeeness are, but how this affects the lived experiences of trans refugees, and how they strategically learn to adapt their self-identification and -presentation to the gendered, racialized, and classed structures of their country of arrival.