25/01/2022 | Writer: Defne Işık
Defne Işık wrote harmless social service practice for Equality file.
LGBTI+ is like sheep in the night for us during education period at social service, it is out of issue. Consequently, unless we give special attention to learn about, it is always an issue with question marks in our minds, at our professional life.
What should we pay attention to when working with LGBTI+s / LGBTI+ refugees?
I have been working with LGBTI+ refugees for about 3 years, I also served my internship at Kaos GL, with a team working at this field. I am going to try to write my experiences gained from internship period at Kaos GL and consultancy service.
When and where does working with LGBTI+s begin? In fact, LGBTI+ practice become a party of an activity as from our applicants come out with their LGBTI+ identity. From the coming out moment, we begin to pay regard to the clients’ needs arising from being an LGBTI+. However I would like to underline that these points to take into consideration is valid for all consultancy services provided, whether the applicant is LGBTI+ or not. The name is usually the leading issue when it comes to points to take into consideration. Asking the clients their name which they prefer to be addressed during the first contact, make the practice reassuring, more reliable. If we are working with refugees and they are talking in Arabic, we may also ask their pronouns because people may not feel belong to the sex assigned (by us) at birth. Although it depends on the organizations we work for, calling the clients by their surname instead of their names may be more functional, if there is an obligation related to calling clients to the visiting room by their names.
Addressing is the second issue right after names. Almost all the addresses refer to a sex; Mr. Mrs. aunt, uncle… Using these addresses means to assign an identity to the clients so this is the leading issue we have to avoid. We may prefer genderless addresses or we may ask the clients which address form they prefer.
Not making any assumptions about sexual orientation of the clients and not questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity before declared by them, is another issue to be considered. This is one of the frequently consulted issues among professionals: “I am sure that my client is a gay / lesbian, what should I do to make them come out?” The answer of this question is “nothing”. We cannot do anything to make them come out, we can just provide a safe space for them. We should neither force the clients to come out, nor should we worry about if they don’t prefer to come out. Surely, it should be noted that assigning an identity to the client is against the principle of doing no harm in social service.
LGBTI+s may come out with their different sexual orientations and gender identities anytime to the social service experts. We should never judge them. Especially when it comes to refugees, their social / information network may be insufficient at the countries they come from, as the time passes in Turkey and as they begin to relate with the community they may find and themselves feel more comfortable to express themselves freely. We also have to keep in mind that the sexual orientation / gender identity is fluid while considering all these.
LGBTI+ clients may curse themselves for being LGBTI+, and they may see themselves as responsible for the negative experiences they are exposed to. They may think that they are not “normal”. They need to feel that being LGBTI+ is normal, it is not something defective and they are not guilty.
It is essential not to talk only about heterosexual relationships and sexual health for heterosexuals while providing consultancy related to sexuality. When we mention this in the field, we may come across same question: “Why should we provide such a consultancy?” Associations and experts working there, are the main recourses where refugees, especially LGBTI+ refugees are able to receive exact and straight consultancy / information. Therefore giving a consultancy out of heteronormativity and based on up-to-date information collaterally with the field, is vital. This means that we have to be in the picture as social service experts and update our content knowledge.
LGBTI+ clients may try to prove their LGBTI+ identity to the professionals. This may be a fact that LGBTI+ refugees or citizens have been exposed to by the authorities they encountered. We may usually come across this fact which was experienced in the past or that is being experienced nowadays. Specific to refugees, as being an LGBTI+ provides a priority, they try to prove their gender identity at resettlement [1] processing. Clients should be made feel that they do not have to earn their spurs.
The social network of LGBTI+ clients may be limited, they may even have no friends. Therefore length of interview may be stretched out in order to provide them opportunity to talk, considering their special case. The social network issue is a more serious problem when it comes to refugees. Arabic-speaking refugees have less opportunity to socialize and they may have rarely community networks. Thus interviews may be restructured considering socialization opportunities.
While directing LGBTI+ clients to benefit from any service, we have to consider that the directed the person / institution is not reported because of their homophobic behaviors up to now. Although considering this is vital, it is not enough to ensure that they will not be exposed to homophobic behaviors during next time. Thus we have to inform clients about the risks in detail during the direction period.
LGBTI+s should not be considered only with their LGBTI+ identity. They may be woman, young, handicapped, refugee, teenager, elder, autist and so on, beside their LGBTI+ identity. They may have one or more of these identities at the same time. All these identities should be mentioned specifically while setting the consultancies and multidimensional discrimination, they may be exposed to, should also be put in work in case of necessity.
LGBTİ+ refugees may become addicted to social service experts because of the problems they experienced and the obstacles they met, during consultancy period. And this may be harmful for the principles like right to self-determination and self-healing in time. Therefore it is essential to focus on acting together with the client in every respect and to strengthen them during this period.
About working with LGBTI+ refugees:
While we were discoursing on this article we had felt the need of telling something related to working with LGBTI+ refugees. Therefore I would like to end this article with a few sentences considering the issue. When I speak of my profession I usually hear something on the lines of: “It must be very hard, it requires very strong psychology…” I agree with them about the difficulty of the field, however is there an easy field at social service? Too little of the difficulties we fight against are related to clients’ own identities, most of them are related to discrimination and violation of rights they are exposed to and access to service they are deprived of. On one hand coming across homophobia, xenophobia, biphobia and transphobia constantly and developing a work based on these is really compelling. On the other hand it may be strengthening. As social service experts we think that receiving a supervision support for social service practice is invaluable considering the compulsiveness.
With the hope of non-heteronormative and strengthening social service.
*This article was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Kaos GL Association and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
Source of information:
1. https://help.unhcr.org/turkey/tr/resettlement/
[1] Resettlement: Third-country resettlement is a solution that enables refugees to move from their country of asylum to another country, where they will receive protection and assistance.
Tags: human rights
