Friday 20 June 2025 was World Refugee Day
It’s a day that shouldn’t need to exist. But it does - because millions of people are still being forced to flee their homes due to war, colonialism, genocide, and persecution.
Only a small number make it to safety. For LGBTIQA+ people, the journey to freedom is even harder. Homophobia, transphobia, and racism follow us across borders.
And even in so-called “safe” places, we are still often left out – silenced, erased, or made invisible in the systems meant to protect us.
This Refugee Week’s theme is Finding Freedom: Diversity in Community.
It reminds us that while we are all different, and that LGBTIQA+ people have always been part of every culture, every community, everywhere.
Yet real freedom is still out of reach for many of us. Freedom is not just about laws.
It’s being able to walk into a service and not hide who you are. It’s knowing that there is no one way to be LGBTIQA+. It’s feeling safe in your own skin.
To be free is to heal. To stop surviving and start living. To feel, finally, that you are home.
This is what Forcibly Displaced People Network (FDPN) work for – so that every LGBTIQA+ displaced person can live freely, fully, and without fear.
You have a role in making this happen. Learn, listen and stand in solidarity.
ATTENDING | Queer Displacements Conference 2025 | Wednesday 3-Friday 5 September 2025
Is there a better way to learn than attend the only conference on LGBTIQA+ displacement?
The program is now available. Get your tickets because they won't last long!
- Where: Victoria University, City Tower Campus, Naarm
- Cost: Variety of prices
- Explore: the program
- Bookings: online via Humanitix
Booking your ticket is not just attendance—it’s a commitment to learn, be accountable, and take action.
ENDORSING | The Roadmap for Action
The Roadmap for Action calls for a collective, cross-sector, and comprehensive approach to achieving asylum and migration justice for LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people.
The Roadmap for Action lays out how governments, services, and communities can meaningfully include LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people.
Add your voice. Play your part.
ADVOCATING | Globally by FDPN at the UN Human Rights Council
FDPN is in Geneva to engage with the UN Human Rights Council and the Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways.
We are co-hosting an event:
Towards Protection and Dignity: LGBTIQ+ Refugees and Asylum Seekers Speak Out | 25 June, 8.30-9.30 CEST
Maison de la Paix, Geneva Graduate Institute (Auditorium A2), Switzerland
The event is organised by FDPN, Afghanistan LGBTIQ+ Organization (ALO), Equal Asia Foundation, Liminality Research Consortium and hosted by the Gender Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute and the Australian Permanent Mission in Switzerland.
Speakers include:
- Artemis Akbary (Afghanistan LGBTIQ+ Organization)
- Dr Renee Dixson (FDPN)
- Ryan Joseph Figueiredo (Equal Asia Foundation)
- Shirin Heidari (Liminality Research Consortium)
- Graeme Reid (UN Independent Expert on SOGI)
The event responds to the upcoming report by the UN Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, which focuses on LGBT forced displacement. Join this important conversation.
SHARING | Our latest policy work
UN Independent Expert on SOGI for their report on LGBT displacement.
We’ve made a submission calling for more coordinated responses to LGBTIQA+ displacement and for the recognition of the essential role that LGBTIQA+ refugee-led organisations play in developing solutions.
Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Program
We’ve made a submission calling for meaningful inclusion of LGBTIQA+ displaced people in the Program.
Oxfam’s global report Hold the Line for Gender Justice
Our work has been featured in Oxfam’s global report Hold the Line for Gender Justice, written by Dr Lata Narayanaswamy.
P.S. We are honoured that Dr Narayanaswamy will be also speaking at the Queer Displacements Conference! Do you really need more reasons to book your ticket?
MORE:
Forcibly Displaced People Network (FDPN)
Address: PO Box 7217, Duffy, ACT 2611 Australia
FDPN acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we operate. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded. We extend our deepest respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples across this Country now known as Australia. We express our immense gratitude for their welcome of other displaced people.
We honour the strength and resilience of LGBTIQA+ people worldwide. We mourn the lives of those LGBTIQA+ individuals who never made it to safety.