On Monday 27 July, one of our community member is finally safe. He is the first LGBTIQA+ refugee to arrive in Australia through Bridge to Safety, a protection pathway built by and for our community.
Farsheed a gay man who has lived with fear and persecution for as long as he can remember, has touched down in Australia through Bridge to Safety.
Today, Farsheed woke up and breathed without fear.
I have waited a long time to write those words.
Before I explain why this moment matters, I want to share something Farsheed wrote while he was still waiting.
“I want a life where I could exist without fear. A life where I wouldn’t be punished for who I am. I reached out everywhere I could. Every organisation, every agency. Most of the time, there was silence. Or doors that never opened.Then FDPN told me that they had submitted my case. I did not believe it at first. It felt too fragile, too unreal.There is a park I used to go to. Every time I went there, it looked grey and lifeless, like everything I was feeling inside.The day after my interview, I woke up with a quiet feeling I did not recognise at first. When I looked outside, that same park was different. It looked green. Alive. Full of light.Nothing about the park had changed. But something in me had.”
For years, our community has known a hard truth: the systems that are supposed to protect refugees too often leave LGBTIQA+ people behind.
Global resettlement has collapsed. Places worldwide have fallen by more than 85 percent. There are now fewer than 30,000 resettlement places globally. For an LGBTIQA+ person fleeing persecution, that is not an abstraction. It can be the difference between a chance at a future and no future at all.
LGBTIQA+ people fleeing persecution often face barriers others do not. These include discrimination, violence, threats from family and community, and refugee assessment processes that do not adequately account for their circumstances. Such barriers can prevent access to resettlement and other pathways to safety, even for those who urgently need protection.
FDPN spent years working to change a system that was not built for our communities. Bridge to Safety is what that persistence looks like. We built this program on something unique, something no-one else can offer: the trust of our own community, matched with expert legal support from our partners at RACS.
Community leads. Legal follows. That model just brought Farsheed to safety.
Our local partners walked alongside Farsheed to gather evidence and prepare his case.
Your donations, your refusal to look away, made every step of that possible. Farsheed is safe today because this community showed up. Thank you form the bottom of my heart.
Farsheed is the first. He cannot be the last.
Right now there are others still waiting: for their cases to be prepared, for visas to be granted, for a flight that means freedom. They are living in fear for the simplest reason: who they are and who they love. We have more people ready than we have funding to reach them.
Every week without funding is another week at risk of arrest, violence, or worse.
Donations do not go to a program. It goes to a person. A specific person, in a specific country, facing a specific threat. $13,000 covers everything it takes: the legal work, the casework, risk and triage assessment, verification and interview, interpreting, travel, and the practical support needed to reach safety.
I am confident we will have more good news to share soon.
For now, thank you to donors for being part of the work that got us here.
With gratitude,
Dr Renee Dixson, Executive Director & Co-Founder
PS: If you or someone you know is an LGBTIQA+ person overseas seeking help through Bridge to Safety, please reach out to us directly at BridgetoSafety@fdpn.org.au.If you're already in Australia and wanting to seek asylum, our partners at RACS can help: contact admin@racs.org.au.
SHARING | New Resource: Messaging Guide to Counter Far-Right Narratives
As far-right, populist movements gain ground, Australian Progress has released a new guide to help progressive advocates cut through.
Produced with Anat Shenker-Osorio of ASO Communications, it gives you a practical framework to pick your own fight, build belonging around shared values, and show what’s at stake in opposition policies.
WORLD | UNHCR | HEARING | Your say: Refugee Law Guidance | submissions close 23.59 CEST on 15 September 2026,
UNHCR has launched a call for inputs to inform the development of a new Handbook on Refugee Law, Volume I: Criteria for Determining Refugee Status.
The Handbook is one of the most influential interpretative resources in international refugee law, and this consultation is an important opportunity to help shape its next edition.
Funding & Opportunities
VIC | GOV | GRANTING | Pride Events and Festivals Fund 2026–27 | Applications close 5pm Friday 7 August 2026
LGBTIQA+ organisations and groups can apply for Victorian Government grants to run events and festivals celebrating LGBTIQA+ diversity, inclusion and culture. Small events can apply for up to $10,000, and larger events for up to $25,000.
SOUTH EAST ASIA | SEAGBVPP | GRANTING | Southeast Asia Gender Based Violence Prevention Platform – Demonstrate Grants | applications close 23 August 2026
Grants of AUD 20,000–30,000 (plus 25% flexible core funding) are open to civil society and women’s rights organisations working on gender-based violence prevention, including violence affecting marginalised groups, across Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
SCHOLARSHIPS | Study Japanese in Japan 2027 | applications open for Syrian, Afghan and Ukrainian students
Pathways Japan (PAJA) are offering scholarships for Students with refugee backgrounds from Afghanistan, Syria or Ukraine who want to study Japanese in Japan for two years before pursuing higher education or employment.
SUBMITTING | Our policy work
Thank you to donors for ongoing support of our work and your commitment to safety and inclusion of LGBTIQA+ forcibly displaced people.
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.