The Queer(y)ing Asylum Podcast S1E1: Spectrum Rainbow Community

Welcome everyone to this inaugural episode of Queering Asylum, the podcast that delves into the heart of LGBTQ+ refugees, stories and also the stories of those seeking asylum, their battles and their victories. I am your host Diego Arthea, and I am thrilled to launch this series where voices that don't even go unheard or brought to the forefront to share, inspire and educate. Before we dive into today's theme, I would like to introduce myself in a bit more detail. I am a research here at the University of Nottingham focusing on the lives of LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers in the UK with a particular interest in how religion, faith and spirituality intersect with their experiences. Every episode of this podcast will focus on a specific theme, featuring special guests from the asylum and refugee sphere who bring their unique perspectives and insights. I am very excited to start this journey with you, and I can no wait to tell you more about what we will be doing today and about the next episodes. So let's move to explore today's focus. Today we are going to be exploring the emergence of LGBTQ+ civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations founded by LGBTQ+ refugees and people seeking asylum themselves. Our spotlight is on Spectrum Rainbow Community, an NGO, by and for LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum. Before we start, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the University of Nottingham and also the Leberhume Trust for their generous support. Their backing is crucial in bringing these important conversations to you. Joining us is Jason Thomas Funilier, the founder of Spectrum Rainbow. Hi Jason, how are you, thanks for being here today. Oh, thank you for having me, Diego, it's really great to be here. Thank you, so before we start our conversation, can I ask you to introduce yourself to our audience, please? Sure, we'll love to. Hello, my name is Jason Thomas, I'm Funilier. I'm a queer asylum seeker from the 7th Rebin of Trinidad and Tobago. I am the founder of Spectrum Rainbow Community which I founded in November 2021. I wanted to have a more in-depth area and focus on queer asylum seekers and humanitarian rights campaigning globally and nationally here in the UK where I'm seeking asylum. And our focus on our mandate is to socially integrate as much queer asylum seekers coming into Britain and living in British communities, towns, municipalities and villages, integrating them within British culture and society. And our mandate also is awareness of human rights, making aware of all LGBTQ orientations and having the public understand the narratives of the community. Just making sure and clearing up misinformation that is spread about the LGBTQ community and also having a queer agenda for positive social and political and a cultural background for our community within the British culture and society. Thank you Jason for sharing those objectives with us and also to introduce for introducing yourself. Now, I would like to ask you in terms of the birth or foundation of Spectrum Rainbow Community, how did your experiences, someone that has an experience of the asylum system actually shape that vision and mission that you were just sharing with us of Spectrum Rainbow Community? My main thought was because I've had that much experience from non-LGBTQ, chargeable groups, social groups, that when I did go in and join different groups as time to be out, which is run by William Roach, Malcolm, Ren and David Sylf, it's a wonderful charity that helps queer asylum seekers and other chargeable organisations through leads, square leads and throughout West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and as well Rainbow Migration and other chargeable organisations down south. I wanted to focus mainly on having a group where there's a different Spectrum, not only just gay men or lesbian women but bisexual men and women, intersectional, talking about intersectionality within the community and how it's adapted, especially within the home office interviews, but also dealing with those intersectional trends, probed to gender, fluid to gender, queer, following every aspect of our community that's under the umbrella of queer asylum seeker, because I just think sometimes it gets lost, one of our members of our community gets within okay, well, since if you're bisexual, there is a different format of questions that is versus to a gay man and vice versa, if you're a bisexual woman, vice versa, vice versa to a bisexual man, there are different adaptations, they are not one single lining of questioning for queer asylum seekers, it changes the narrative, changes because of the home office not having an understanding of gender affairs and how and the contradictions of having gender critical feminists or said persons within the establishment that go all about. So I've created Spectrum Rainbow to show the different spectrums of our community and not how different we are, but how similar we are in all aspects of the world and of the genre. Thank you Jason, and that's so important, both I think from the side of the organizations that sometimes are dominated by particular groups, like it could be gay men, and an absence of bisexual people you were mentioning in the case of a bisexual member or lesbian women, but also we see you referring to the interviews done by the home office, that we see how many people who might not identify in a normative way, how challenging it is for them to actually explain their identities or their subjectivities because this is not understood by the home office because of those very, kind of like rigid and normative frameworks that they use of an informed by Western centric approaches to gender and sexuality. You were mentioning some of the kind of like organizations that are working in particular locations across the UK. In your case, where do you do your activities, could you tell us a bit more about your kind of like geographical skull, if you have connections, also throughout the country or even abroad? Yeah, it's quite spread out throughout the UK and Scotland, Northern Ireland, as much as possible as getting the grassroots and community groups, which are the foundation that drives any massive organization to eclipse and grow throughout the world, such as report out based in Sunderland, the founder and chairperson for that is Drew Dalton, absolutely wonderful researcher, and as I said, time to be out with William Roach and others, Rainbow Migration with Aisha Elise, there's so many enleads from trans leads to Lass in Sheffield to down south where there's a sort of quota to there's a path out there, a constant, one of a lot of my parents is living free UK, which is a, and as you know of African rainbow community, there is so just so many spread out and back in my native country, we have very limited LGBTQ charitable organizations, but the biggest is Kaiso sex and gender, and they have since decriminalization things are not improved and the silver foundation is another, because we do not have any gender firm and care system built in, even after decriminalization in any country that the most important thing is working on LGBTQ policies and protective policies for the community members, and other members are free to be gay, there are no policies used in protecting, there are no insurances or such, or legislative barrier, you know, openings for our community, even in any country that goes through decriminalization, hence for me this is the issue with the Rwanda Bill and the policies that the government is enacting, any queer asylum seekers being sent to that country, where yes, it is a mandate that there's free to be gay, but there are no protected policies and any discrimination and persecution can happen at any time, that country is still under reconstruction from the 25 year of genocide that has gone through, so I'm significantly bothered, drastically, both for non-LGBTQ persons and queer asylum, who will be attending going to that country or sent to that country, and so the campaign is ever so vigilant to make sure that doesn't happen. Thank you Jason, so he sounds like Spectrum Rainbow Community has those connections with lots of different charities, so he's not limited to a particular location, and I also found very interesting your reflection on this Rwanda plan, and also for our listeners I would recommend them to listen to "Gender Is a Spectrum", which is Jason's podcast that is available on Spotify, where there was actually a recent discussion on this, on one of the episodes focusing on the Rwanda Bill policy, and also on trans-related issues in relation to the trans-conversion therapy ban, so now that I was mentioning your podcast, I wanted to ask if you could tell us a bit more about the kind of activities that Spectrum Rainbow Community is engaging in among what you've done so far since the creation of the organization. I think having a platform for our community where everything is free to talk about. Yes, we have queer gender politics, and we talk everything under queer, we queer them, I call it, it's all about queer them. Politics, what are dislikes, the issues within our community, versus the pronouns, versus the issues, on who does not get enough attention in disparities from intersex to trans, to pansexuals, to asexuals, to such. Everything, it's on, it's called queer them, that's what it is, and the topics that we don't get to hear in mainstream media or politics, we talk about on the podcast gender as a Spectrum, so everyone, and especially the best part of the LGBTQ is the queue part that does not get a lot of airtime is the question, those who are questioning their sexuality, so it's putting a spotlight on every letter in LGBTQ+ and the plus as well. And in terms of the people or the, I don't know if you'll call the members of Spectrum Rainbow Community or your colleagues or people that you engage with, could you tell us a bit more about their, you were speaking about that fluidity of identities and that diversity, but could you tell us a bit more about the other members of the organization and for this activity, such as the podcast from what I've listened to in the bus, there are like other people's you engage with, could you tell us a bit more about their kind of like demographics and the members of the group? Yeah, we have four admin administrators, we have a four transgender affairs and intersex affairs that admin, and also our allies admin, who is allied in helping the community and boasting the community up and showing about misinformation, about the LGBT community, and on friends and friends and allies of our community. Also, I am in charge of social development and making sure that activities and awareness and the campaigning because we are, we campaign for human rights, both LGBT rights and humanitarian rights all over all over the spectrum of the world covering the ceasefire we want on both sides of the Israel and Palestine conflict and also covering the fact that the rollback of women's rights and LGBTQ rights around the world, the rollback of it, and also the ultra conservative policies and legislative legislations that are occurring now. Our activities include, as I said, integration within the community and British culture and community. I always, one thing I make very, I try to platform in both personally and professionally, is that in coming to Britain, one's identity is in loss. I think there's so much to gain and engaging within the communities because coming from a Caribbean LGBT community is different to a British LGBT community. There are different ways of interactions, different methods and of an understanding, but the conversation is the same, but there is so much to learn from each other. So sitting down and having the hard conversations about our communities and the duality of them is a must for us to grow as a people and as a community in it. And our members vary, as I said, covering from disability, covering from those who are within in the homes that are LGBTQ, are lowering their homes and do not have their families to members who are special needs to member all spectrum of our community. That's what spectrum rainbow community represents, the entire spectrum of it. And our members are our representation and how we are and what we think and what we do. So we have members, as I said, from asexual to bisexual to to intersex and they activism, we have activist members around the world. Our members cover from activists in San Diego to Botswana, to Kenya, to South Africa, to Sudan, to in Canada, to the United States, to South Korea, to Malaysia. We have a wide spectrum of members and activism. And activism is the main course where we're always having meetings, a global meeting, and interacting to see what may be going on in India can be used in the UK or what is going on in the UK can be used. But it will be have to be, you know, reformed, but the idea is still positive in how we can gain followers and also gain policies and enact policies in that would better serve for our community worldwide. Thank you Jason and that's so important because something I've noticed throughout my research is the obligation of efforts and the lack of connections between people, doing work in different locations. So I think building those engagements and working in solidarity as you are describing with people from different backgrounds and in different locations, different organizations can be very helpful to kind of like maximize the strength of the community. Something that I wanted to discuss with you and that is I would say unique when I reflect on the work that you do at Spectrum rainbow community. And also something I've been thinking about in relation to the research I've done with a range of charities and groups in the UK is that there's only a few I've come across that have been created actually by LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers themselves. We often see and this is I think also reflective of a wider problem within academia for example that has to do with the privilege that certain groups of people have over others if we think about like quite dominated discussions in academia but also in the charity sector. We often see people with no experience of the asylum system making decisions from ethics committees to actually research designs that are not done in solidarity with the people you are kind of like aiming to work with through your research. And from many of the groups I've come across is often white people who are in leadership positions and in the case of the UK British people. I know of another group called Rainbow 3 that is led I don't know if you're familiar by Bangladesh in Vivo who came here also seeking asylum. So that's there are some positive kind of like examples. There are some others also in London. So we know that often charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the UK are led by white individuals who often do not have that personal experience with asylum. So what are your thoughts on the significance and impact of having refugee led groups like spectrum rainbow community especially in contrast to these more common leadership structures. And also I think apart from that aspect there's also the aspect you were mentioning that there is someone focusing on trends and in their six issues there are people kind of like focusing on that diversity that is not always recognized in other groups. I think it's the same in looking at as you know the British culture has a caste system and the caste system is levied on elitist those those who are elite or semi elite and then the middle class and then there's the little man at the bottom. And it shows not only in its culture but also in its economy and work ethic as you go to organizations companies and such. Now in saying that in one out of ten companies and organizations you will have someone who is either have a friend of a friend who is queer or in relation has supports or joins a charity whether it's from British Heart Foundation to the Legionnaires to sending money abroad to Africa or Asia to donate into RSPCA and such. And so it is a structure in Britain that's always been that way as to donate give and such. But I also found that the caste system also gets into every aspect of organizations community groups and focus groups where you will see someone who is who's have a friend of a friend who is LGBTQ and they've been around and such an unaware of our agendas and issues but there is still not for me a full in-depth idea and ideology of what it is to be clear and the challenges that continuously come with it as with any person being human there are challenges right but when you're in a minority their challenges are much bolder they're much wider and they do not get smaller they expand and get bigger generation by generation and we can see that over the 54 years of LGBTQ rights and looking at black rights looking at Asian rights wherever people migrate and the community expands and grows and there is a theme I've grown into where I do not like there's an idea ideology now more than anything since Covid for both humanitarian and the LGBTQ community where as winners as we've won the battles and we've kept on winning battles the war is still ongoing but there is this narrative where as winners the losers are trying to rewrite the history of LGBTQ by banning books by positive LGBTQ rights as scientists they're trying to erase and rewrite history as if we did not put anything into the history of the making of the world and that is a new momentum from the right that is their culture of the wars they're infiltrating and putting in so the creation of spectrum for me as I said I thought of it as a scientific view of the spectrum of light on different ways we can view a spectrum of light from different angles from different perceptions and I wanted to spectrum rainbow community to be to show the the world and show our community from different spectrums and different angles where people may not from a religious point from a personal standpoint or opinionated point having the hard questions and and also putting people in place that that also diversified that shows our community and our worlds are queer them and they can see that oh so this person so LGBTQ and he's they're asexual so they're not sexually orientated making sure and redefining the word pedophilia because that's always tagged along with our community that we're pedophiles coming from the LGBT community making sure there are discussions and misinformation are clarified immediately so putting people who are very diverse and very bold in that spectrum and in that in that ideology is a big plus and step up because we can't be everywhere I can't be everywhere in every spectrum of LGBTQ plus but if I implemented people within my community who are strong in speaking about specific sections within our community that amplifies the message and it gives it gives kudos and it gives a platform for those members within our community so where they may not think they have a voice so the voices must not become voiceless it must be amplified where each voice is so loud that yes you you can hear us even though you're trying to muzzle us you're still you're you you're not going to muzzle all the voices so it is giving all the plus voices a voice because sometimes the letters LGBTQ can get lost the eye as well and the end so it's giving everyone within that spectrum of voice to hear to see their lane see oh I can be that yes I can do that and having that that that voice and have and seeing that representation is a is a is a is a plus as well so it's not only seeing and hearing it has to work in tandem thank you for reflecting on that I think that's amazing the opportunity for people to have a voice because I think something that we've seen other organizations is actually a lack of voice and some things decisions being made without really considering the experiences of people and I've seen kind of like disconnect or dissonance between the members of an organization who have that experience of the asylum system and the experience as you are mentioning of a diverse range of the genders and sexualities and the experiences of those leading the organizations now focusing on your experience with Spectrum Rainbow what would you say have been some of the challenges that you have faced in in running the organization because of course we know about the existence of other groups and charities and CSOs who have a lot of funding who have a lot of resources but in your case starting this from scratch what was your experience on so far after these years have you received any support in overcoming any challenges I expected the road to be rocky and it it should be that way nothing that is positive or meaningful comes without pain or suffering so one has to nullify not nullify it accept it and breathe it in so I expected it to be as not as contentious or hard but it challenging and the first year we got a lot of members that 2025 members and it was by challenging in balancing the admins to and in getting their potential the best potential out of the admins so what I related to them and what we will just work but what we can do within the group of 50 that we have as as we are a small community group and we're not expansive and we had we're working with our own budget personally before funding applying for funding we needed to be first deal with the fact of assessing and vetting where asylum seekers making sure that they understand the process in going through the UK asylum system and having the best well-being and mental health counselling available within the group before moving on to the funding aspect of it so for me the most important thing was well-being a great mindset understanding the challenges of having and speaking conversations of and everyone getting to know exactly what of their strengths and weaknesses in talking to someone or as well campaigning and choosing where to put tagline our name on campaigning what we support understanding the duality of what is positive and what is what is supported within our community and what look is a bit misconstrued in in our community as well so that year was a really lovely probation period for us to understand what works what doesn't works and how to visually put ourselves in market spectrum and and how the community will see spectrum and members will see spectrum in that as well after that that's when and speaking in podcasts is and getting our names out doing case studies speaking at symposiums making sure writing columns within for our queer queer magazines online magazines and being a contributor for queer queer magazines and columns that assisted in building the reputation and building the narrative and character spectrum rainbow community and then we had successive claims right to remain status for our members from different parts from one bisexual to two lesbians to a gay person and two transgender persons so and supporting them and making sure they have the best knowledge and country profiling and support from our international partners and and organisation hub and also building a collective WhatsApp hub of of LGBTQ forum and social group and grassroots groups to speak and and help and to get information for when needed and that assisted with the activities in going and know your neighborhood in funding us for activities throughout south Yorkshire and more funding with south Yorkshire foundation community and then also getting recognised on linked on what the work that we're doing as well humanitarian work and getting certificates for our members we do a course of humanitarian academy on kaya those courses are free but they're so in-depth in building your reference and your CV so we include our admins to every two weeks to do of course in social digital digital awareness as standard recognising the GDP GDPR what that that's going on within so it's every every year every month every six months as such we're learning something new and we're adapting as the world is adapting and changing we're adapting how we want to look at what we the agenda is what the queer agenda is but also what the humanistic approach to everyone viewing the LGBTQ community around the world as well here in the UK and the different factions involved in that and making sure that we are both neutral but also centrist in our ideology of what how we can push for the politics and the legislation ahead because one thing is used here in Britain is the LGBTQ electorate is always used by the conservatives as a marginalized group to go after as well as you see transgender has been gone after more than visceral in in our group they are the most vulnerable in our group one of the most vulnerable in our group that is center stage currently right now thank you so much Jason and thanks to all of you listening to us today we are going to take a little break and we're going to be connecting with our collaborator Thompson Williams who every week is going to be introducing a concept related to asylum and to the topics that we will be exploring through this podcast hi Thompson and thank you so much for being here today hi adiego i'm so happy to be here with you all and take you through the terms the week as we journey together through the stories and themes of our queering asylum podcast it's essential to ground our discussions in a shared understanding of the terms and concepts we encounter that's why every week we will introduce a new term for those that might not be too familiar with these issues in this part of our show we'll take a moment to explore a key term related to LGBTQ+ asylum and refugee experiences our aim is to not only define these concepts but also to encourage a deeper understanding of the issues at hand this week's term is person seeking asylum a person seeking asylum is someone who has fled their country of origin and is seeking international protection but whose claim for refugee status has not yet been determined this distinction is crucial as it underscores the precarious legal and social position people seeking asylum often finds themselves in navigating complex processes in their quest for safety and dignity wherever possible we prefer to describe someone as a person seeking asylum as we feel that the term asylum seeker is dehumanizing thanks Thompson and let's continue our conversation with Jason and now you were mentioning particular groups have been targeted actually by the conservative government that we've had in the UK now is going to be around 14 years that they've been in power now struggling in opinion polls so we will see what happens in the next election then though personally I don't feel very optimistic with the alternative to this also in relation to migration and asylum issues it feels like no one is really offering an alternative to what the Tories have been doing so far so I was asking you about the kind of like challenges that you face as an organization but now you were mentioning some of these external obstacles also so I would like to ask you to about your thoughts in relation to the current hostile environment that we've been witnessing now for a number of years and how that might have impacted also your your work and some of the key also challenges that you've witnessed in relation to government practices there are issues around the waiting times around the difficulty to to to work people not being allowed to work then having gaps I think it's so important what you were mentioning about those training programs for people who don't have an opportunity to work and have a gap in their CV and then they go on to try and find a job after many years of waiting and then they're so difficult to go back to employment up to problems around accommodation problems around health access issues around access in education what there's some of the key issues that you have identified there probably endless things to to discuss but thinking about the members of spectrum rainbow community and your own personal experience what are some of the key issues that you have identified at any changes in the last year I think there are so many to really cover but the main things and I say things in plural because they it started off as a thing and it just got exasperated throughout the years the Tories have never done a good job on immigration no government has and the aspect of what will occur I am hopeful as as they they have shown in the 14 years exactly who they are and the British it took a while for the British public to see exactly that they conserve only for themselves and they do not bother with the rest of what's going on in the UK and they are not about progressive unity or centric ideas on duality on benefiting the working class they're about conserving within their own directive that will play out politics wise but we must also as those who are granted asylum and been here for more than five years ten years twenty years must also go out and vote and use their power of getting your right to remain status and your nationalisation to go out and vote so that's a campaign I have been pushing for in within our queer queer to push and go out and vote because there are so many rights pertaining to trans kids affirmative care that's been redacted to pronouns to the guidelines and school of of hurting mine you the laws are still they're not cut the care and getting medical care for transitioning for our trans kids but they're doing it in other ways in gender critical feminist ways there are so many especially online where there are so many gender critical feminist groups and gender critical groups that are out there working on policies to enact to roll back LGBTQ rights within our entire community so we must be aware of that online because online is a is a big attack on politics and rights and that's where the main main issues are battle so we must be aware to keep up keep up a eye on the target on what is going on in the right wing media and in the background what they're working against especially when it comes to deportation of person seeking asylum and and what and the violence along that becomes with it that is there so we need to be aware of that the issues with spectrum we've had is for me the misinformation that that is spoken between queer asylum seekers but not only queer asylum seek a person seeking asylum about the the UK asylum system the fears and the propaganda that it between person seeking asylum and outside of that and those in it and outside outside of it that is propagated and fermented within four members that members when coming to work whether because the issues on getting your your work permit your permission permitted to work is valid for a year and you have to make and you have to renew it every year as your case is processing the backlog that's been created for since Theresa May and she created that backlog on her own and it's a psychological part of it the backlog that is used by the the conservatives to psychologically break down the person seeking asylum in these accommodations in not having work not having the rights to feel human in it's a it's a it's a psychological point tactic used and especially now that they've changed with the the policy they move on period policy from 28 days and initially they had now for the seven day policy which now has created a backlog and also arise in homelessness for those granted asylum where it's breaking and stretching thin charitable organization on supporting bridge people that which are we've been granted asylum in making sure that they have funds to support whilst waiting to get their universal credit their first universal credit I think also we we also engage in in queer politics within our community that strains us from work where one charitable organization may be trans or gay or bisexualist thing well we only supporting only trans we forget that we are inclusive community and we must not forget that yes we have to focus on a specific particular group I fully am aware of that but we also not must not forget what our job is in being inclusive and integrating within that community and it sometimes get lost within translation as we're in in in the charity and also as a humanistic approach as well in forgetting also the issues on vetting there are many persons seeking asylum that you have used the queer asylum a queer asylum approach application and they've really taken away from someone who's who is queer needed that safety and zone so implementing proper vetting applications is a must and we've been working on that constantly the quit and having a safe place policy for understanding cultures ethnic backgrounds and making sure someone who is a modern day Muslim queer open Muslim doesn't have to react to someone who has a very far right or idealistic approach to someone who is Buddhist to someone who's Christian to background to someone who's Lutheran and such in having a safe place policy to have these conversations and having them open minded to know well this is a safe place for you to be whomsoever you are because this is your space and making sure that's under because a lot of spaces were not were created but they inter into thread with a lot of ideologies of people who have not traveled or not read or not learned or had got open conversation understanding a different spectrum of the LGBT community and also religious wise as well that is abounding the intersectionality when it comes to sex and gender and religion is a big plus and for us that for me and our admins that is a constant meeting and conversation we have a so we can make sure and put this information out to our members and our members as well go out to the public and educate the public or anyone in having a conversation about it not an argument we don't want to argue about it one explains instead of having an argument we work on explanation so members can get and the the purity of knowing exactly who they are where they are where they stand and the country that they have adopted to now start over and in understanding and integrating and understanding the the mentality of of the British culture and the British people and British politics and the British agenda as it changes and flip flops every time and I think the main aspect for us is in the challenges is when politically marginalized groups being used politically and understanding queer politics and having members representing members of parliament representing the agenda but also getting to affirm and sit down and have these discussions and debates to say well we're not here to make ourselves in having let's say a neutral agenda neutral bathrooms yes that must be because the fact is that there are as feminists out there critical gender critical feminists who feel that trans woman is a attack on their womanhood when it's not they're feeling threatened as women on their womanhood when it has nothing to do with your womanhood it has to do deal with your ideology and you feeling in that you that your womanhood is being taken away no one can take away your womanhood but you if you don't identify yourself as a woman so it's making sure these affirmations and these ideologies are we we converse and have conversations about them but we also have the truth spoken about to an understanding that no one is coming after you we are just we are just affirming our place in the world which is trying to be rewritten from you from politics and your standpoint and your ideology we've been here from since the beginning of time and we will still be here at the end of time it's so and so reason i say no no no one no as winners we should not allow losers to rewrite our history thank you Jason i think that was a very powerful reflection and i think it's very also inspiring to see how specks on rainbow community has kind of like focus on all these different aspects to fight for the rights of of this particular population we're also considering so many intersecting aspects and i'm sure that our audience will be very moved by by your cause and what you are doing so could you share with us how individuals and organizations could get involved and also support your work how well we're on every platform well not every to be fair and we're on i've just put us on the mainstream platforms for now because i'm very aware of social media platforms where they can have some very intimidating and very trollers on it so i want our members not to be on platforms where they're trolled or feel and there's not a proper safe place policy so for now we just have a facebook page where on x formerly twitter which formerly known as twitter and instagram pages and we are connected to our pages is our whatsapp number we have our website page on wix that's free freely run i update that monthly so messages can be sent and so we immediately put that to focus within any group or social group that we are monitoring in and we put that information to you can go to those pages and message me at any time because i answer all the emails and texts and such and then there is our email address everything is connected on the website i can't the contact numbers whatsapp instagram what a facebook page and such you can message us directly and we will get any complaints or any calls that you want to speak about or anything that you do not understand about the asylum process pertaining to any awareness you want us to put our wear on campaigning pertaining to within a group pertaining to what's going around within the world pertaining to anything humanitarian when you think that you want us to campaign about and that you think within your community that should be aware and should be known we will be working with you on any and all topics pertaining to a humanistic group approach of being aware of what atrocities or what is going on by in the workplace or out of the workplace by its musical entertainment culturally such all is of everything is free for us to tackle in campaigning and to draw awareness to further weapons you know at amazing thank you and yes i would encourage people to visit your website also to learn more about the work you do and also i particularly like this section that you have highlighting photography as a source of individual and community expression i think that's also very aligned to what you were saying before yeah jack owen bless his heart he's a wonderful photographer in chef field he has his own page as well jack owen and all he is he's helped especially in in making sure and as we have lgbtq month he helped last year with lgbtq month in making a chronology of photos of different spectrums of members of our queer community and queer asylum seekers so i'm looking forward to doing more on my own now learning of photography so i'm looking forward to putting that out in our campaigns throughout celebrating black history month and lgbtq month amazing so yeah anyone interested please feel free to go on the website spectrum rainbow com dot website dot com on facebook on x formally twitter and instagram yeah and there are these boxes that people can complete to get in touch with the website so i think that's also a way to to get in touch but in addition to the activities that you are already doing just for our audience if someone has the resources and you know the expertise that might help you in the future are there sources or skills or areas of expertise that could be particularly valuable to spectrum rainbow community right now i think currently i'm focusing right now on mainly small grassroots funding so any type of funding aspects grassroots because grassroots funding is a foundation of any any organization or group or community group or focus group or such or forum and so and with the cost of living crisis focusing on that on smaller nations is a must because big big donations will come and go but small donations that's your baseline that's your money that's that's the foundation where you can get members having who are going through hardship periods where your small down donations grow and you can assist when hard times hit so yeah focusing on anyone on funding on and i'm doing courses and our members are doing their their best as well in in learning and about funding and volunteering and and as well learning on how small donations work and the benefits of them and how they they really are the backbone of a foundation so we are looking at many ways of members or volunteers who will like to participate or donate or join in small funding aspects and keeping that growing as as this time as everything right as all of us are going through our hard time but also focusing on what we can do with the little that we have and and stretching it as as much across the borders as possible to assist those in need thank you Jason now I'd like to think about the future now looking forward what are some of the long-term goals for spectrum rainbow community long-term like a long-term goals i've really not set them i'm dealing with with what's currently now that we can be looking into the future that's that for me it for me personally and for me what i've set for spectrum is to deal with them now because the future is that's the future we're in the now so all the issues pertaining to the role back of queer rights that's what the focus is making sure policies and legislation are put in in protecting for trans kids for for our community in marital act in making sure insurance policies and every given right that's given to a heterosexual couple is given to a homosexual couple and and parental rights are fair and given adoption all these things that we fought for to get for our community that they are not rolled back because they are the right and ultra conservative right are working to roll back what we fought for these pass over that are coming across now 55 years so we um that's the main thing right now and humanitarian wise and growing awareness for everything that's going on in the world that subligates human a humanistic approach and what's going on in the us to the roll back in laws there for for trans trans women and trans men and trans kids and marital act yes they gave they've they've renewed that but as i said we are winning battles but not the war so we have to be very retrospective on not getting too complacent or comfortable when it's lovely to see our queer our queer talent showing in music in the film it's really positive to see that the activism it is now into every aspect of queer culture but there's more to do and there's no time to to sit back and get too comfortable it's just to adapt and keep on moving and pushing forward so as i said we are not looking in the future are just moving as things progress and things adapt and change we are adapting with the change and pushing forward but keeping the same agenda what benefits you benefits us and pushing that narrative forward thank you Jason and now focusing specifically on the role of LGBTQ+ asylum-seeker-led organizations in shaping policies and public opinion how do you envision their role in in the future because i i wanted to re-emphasize again that particularity about groups like spectrum rainbow community like rainbow tree and others when compared to others that are led by people who have no lived experience of the asylum system what is your message for for example any people now in the process of sickness item or waiting to be called for an interview who might be thinking about starting their own groups and bringing people together to to fight for the rights and to raise awareness on sharing information and do activity similar to what you are doing now i think the most important thing is being part of the community not only just the LGBT community a community and because in understanding the different diversified and multiculturalism and multicultural aspect of your community that give drives you and builds you in a more humanistic approach in looking at the objective and the narrative that is setting how do you want to go out to be of use because that's that's the narrative how do you want to be of use however you choose to be that's up to you and that's your part how do you want to be and how do you not want to walk on eggshells or intimidate or ingratiate yourself into someone else's background or culture but also not step on it or insult them in any way so being part of community forums learning volunteering whilst you're not working whilst the process is going and also understanding from other queer asylum seekers the narratives of why they are seeking asylum understanding the mental health factors the well-being factors focusing on positive ways going through the process of keeping your members and the community uplifted especially in dire straits where they feel lonely and dealing with dealing with the factor they may find that at any time their life can be upended it's remaining constant in the community and integration it is a plus one must because in coming to the coming to the UK one must not forget yes you came for the protective rights and the global aspect of what the UK have put forward but the UK is changing and for me my focus is making sure the youth the Gen Z population are more queer than any generation before myself they're much more queer and more adapted so it's making sure in implementing them with the necessities and policies and having them having forums and questions and debates because it's their future and the future that they are fighting for we've given them the foundation now we must give them the fundamentals to push forward that's our work as senior being queer and being senior queers in our community to let them know that right we've given you the foundation now let's give you the fundamentals and let them run with it because it's their time but we have so work to do as the seniors and the founders so we need to also make sure and put that affirmation through that its work is not done there's still much more to do and we not not letting them forget their fundamentals because when when you're young you never do what you're told and it happens with all communities and all ethnic groups all genders once you're young you do not do what you're told so it's making sure that we do not forget the foundation but also remember the fundamentals pushing forward and I put that message to all person seeking asylum that in starting and whatever they want to do in pushing forward in activism whether it's humanitarian queer rights black rights equality rights women's rights such that you remember your foundation and fundamentals but also be open to the hard questions and having the hard conversations and looking for how can we all cohesively work together and and push forward the gender of for what's best for you is best for me and how can we how can we meet in the middle so yeah that's the message pushing forward for all person seeking asylum that wanting to be of use in this in this in this fight thank you Jason and now before we finish I also wanted to ask if you have any other messages you were mentioning that there is still a lot to do for any messages for our listeners in general who would like to support your cause and your work and any final reflections that you'd like to share with us I think the most important thing right before our listeners is that the misinformation on social media fact check please fact check anything that you read you'll hear in the radio or such fact check I think sourcing is a thing that has gotten lost in sourcing tangible information that's put out there and we live in such a digitized world that we can get lost about fact checking and sourcing the information so do source anything that comes out within pertaining to anything that you support or you would like to support source it before you click or go to put your name or anything or bring members in please do source it because it needs to be vetted because there are so many people using an LGBTQ flag or a human right to anything to make money off of it so please do source it and also celebrate your your community in the diversity it is some areas are not as diverse as others but if yours is celebrate it and get into it knowing about what locally what life what life is going on within your community know your life wherever you are you know get get to know what's going on in from Doncaster to Barnsley to down in South Lynn Linton to what in to anywhere in Scotland to Northern Ireland up to Wales get to know your community and in source what information and how do you want to be of use within it and I think the narrative for me of the year is there is work to be done because we have a lot and vote use your vote elect members that that represent your who you are what you believe in your humanistic approach and what you believe that is right what is right what is right for everyone here in Britain and rest of the world representation matters but it also must show and having too much now we are seeing members that are self involved and self indulge on just really monopolizing your vote and taxpayers money and such for their own personal use so vote and representation matters so whomever you vote or choose make sure it matters and that person represents your values your integrity and what you want to see the future version of Britain and push forward in that book that's my message for everyone thank you so much Jason for sharing these very inspiring journey of spectrum rainbow community with us we know that this because of organizations like yours that we can see change as you've described spectrum rainbow communities not only offering support but also raising awareness sharing information that is so important especially when we consider all the misinformation that we've been thinking about that is currently being shared about asylum seekers and refugees to our listeners thank you so much for joining us and to learn more and support spectrum rainbow community as we mentioned before please visit spectrum rainbow com c o m dot wix site does w i x site dot com and remember that every voice can make a difference and give the voices of change alive thank you so much Jason for being with us today oh thank you so much for having me there you go thank you and see you soon thanks everyone for listening to us i hope you enjoyed this conversation and i really look forward to sharing the next episode with you when we will be exploring the specific challenges that people seeking asylum face in relation to their accommodation and also the lack of employment opportunities thank you so much and any questions that you may have or if you are interested in participating in the podcast to share your experiences your views and thoughts please feel free to reach out to us and you can use my personal email @diego.carcía.ro.tg at notingam.ac.uk thank you again