Doubly unwanted: queer refugees at the Polish-Belarusian border
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26485/PS/2026/75.2/6Keywords:
queer migration studies, LGBTQI+ forced migration, Polish-Belarusian border, migration securitisation, intersectionality and border violenceAbstract
This article examines the situation of LGBTQI+ people experiencing forced migration in Poland, with a particular focus on the Polish-Belarusian border, through the lens of queer migration studies. Combining a theoretical framework with an in-depth analysis of two empirical reports, it demonstrates how sexuality and gender operate as central axes of selection, vulnerability to violence, and conditional access to international protection. The article argues that the Polish border and migration regime produces hierarchical forms of protection, in which queer individuals – especially those who are racialized and who cross borders irregularly – become “doubly unwanted” subjects. The analysis shows that border violence, asylum procedures, and humanitarian responses function not as neutral mechanisms of protection, but as elements of a broader regime of power, within which LGBTQI+ rights remain selective, conditional, and structurally constrained.
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