In the late 1990s, France -along with other Global North jurisdictions -began to consider asylum claims involving persecution based on sexual orientation and/ or gender identity (SOGI). It increasingly came to recognize sexual and gender minorities as constituting a 'particular social group', 1 thereby opening up the possibility for the granting of refugee status. 2 In the decades since, queer migration scholars have critiqued discourses that explain the movement of queer 3 people from the Global South to the Global North as a form of 'liberation'. More precisely, they have questioned the framing of queer migration as a journey from absolute repression to total freedom, whereby individuals who reach the Global North are suddenly able to live openly, freely and safely. Although some individuals might describe their experiences along these lines, the migration-as-liberation framing remains problematic, especially when it serves as the primary discourse for understanding queer mobility. Such narratives oversimplify the experiences of queer migrants by erasing new forms of marginalization that they may face (Cantu 2009; Manalansan 2003). These narratives can also fuel neo-imperialist practices by positioning the Global North as the 'protector' of sexual and gender minorities (Luibheid 2005).

'queer' to cover the variety of gender and sexual identities and/or practices that may not conform to cis-heteronormativity. However, none of my interlocutors self-identified using the label 'queer'.