ABSTRACT
Migrants claiming asylum on the grounds of their sexual orientation and gender identity negotiate their subjectivities across socio-cultural constructions of gender and sexual liminality that do not match the repertoires of Western lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) identifications and lifestyles. The ethnography with gender and sexual minority asylum seekers revealed the complexities behind the liberal states' benevolent incorporation of LGBT refugees. Newly arrived asylum seekers need to readily embrace the narrative of belonging to a named sexual subalternized group and be able to define themselves with new terms, not only in a different language but also with words that hold different socio-cultural and psychological denotations for them. Migratory processes are unruly forces characterized by the autonomous, complex and heterogeneous practices of the very subjects of migration. This autonomous dimension of migration can be described as the intrinsic element of migration that exceeds the governmentality or the management of migratory practices.
