We are witnessing one of the most aggressive attacks against LGBTQ+ people in America in generations. It’s heartbreaking, but in many ways it doesn’t feel like a novelty.
In 2018, during the first Trump administration, little attention was paid to the growing number of LGBTQ+ immigrants and transgender people seeking safety in the United States amid the separation of mothers and children at the border. Their stories often remained unseen.
During that time, I helped build New York City’s first shelter for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees. Because it has become clear that our community is falling apart through the cracks in the existing system. Today, hostility toward immigrants and LGBTQ people has only intensified.
We are receiving messages from members of the protection-seeking community who are currently being ordered to be deported to third countries. We hear the story of a Senegalese asylum seeker who was ordered deported to Uganda before the court process was completed. Governments actively make it difficult, and in many ways impossible, for vulnerable people to safely seek protection.
We have long known that the targeting of LGBTQ+ immigrants often happens quietly, without drawing widespread public attention. That’s why we believe it is important to build systems of care, protection and community support in this moment of crisis. At a time when politicians are spending millions of dollars persuading Americans to fear immigrants, building homes for them may seem almost absurd. But the need for that housing is greater than ever. Every month, LGBTQ+ people continue to arrive in the United States fleeing incarceration, violence, extortion, family rejection, and state-sponsored persecution, only to find that finding safety is much more difficult than crossing the border.
This week, Refuge America will open a safe house for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees in Oregon. We hope it will serve as a safe haven for displaced LGBTQ+ immigrants in the Pacific Northwest, including Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and the Mountain States. Why open a space like this? Because there is nothing like it in this area. We are seeing the importance of LGBTQ-focused shelters and safe housing programs in places like Michigan, Boston, and Philadelphia, and we believe the Pacific Northwest represents a new horizon for building community-based protection and care for displaced LGBTQ+ people.
For many Americans, asylum ends once someone arrives. The story they imagine is simple. A person flees danger, arrives in the United States, receives protection, and begins a new life. The reality is more troubling. Protection from persecution does not automatically create stability. It does not guarantee housing, health care, employment, legal assistance, community, or a sense of belonging. For many LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees, the anxiety does not end upon arrival. It’s the beginning of a different kind of struggle.
When I fled anti-gay persecution in Nigeria and sought asylum in the United States, I believed I would come to a country that understood the meaning of refuge. Instead, I experienced detention, homelessness, and the confusing reality of trying to rebuild my life in a system that seemed incapable of seeing displaced people as human beings, rather than being burdened by government.
The hardest part of my journey was not being able to leave the house. I realized how difficult it would be to find it again. That experience shaped everything that followed. That shaped my decision to found Refuge America. This has shaped the work we have done supporting displaced LGBTQ+ people across the country. And it shaped our decision to establish a purpose-built safe house in Oregon at a time when many organizations are retreating, uncertainty is high, and immigrant communities are increasingly treated as political targets rather than neighbors.
This project is rooted in a reality that is rarely talked about. LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees face many of the same challenges as other new refugees, but those challenges are often exacerbated by isolation, discrimination, trauma, and a lack of family support systems.
Many come here having been rejected by their communities of origin. Some people survive detention and arrive. Some arrive with long-standing trauma related to criminalization, violence, or forced concealment of their identities. Even after securing legal protection, many remain vulnerable to housing insecurity, poverty, social isolation and exploitation.
The safe house we are opening is aimed at directly addressing these realities. Residents will have access not only to stable housing, but also legal support, referrals, community connections, and the broader ecosystem they need to build independent lives.
We are working with the Q Center, the Oregon Immigration and Refugee Advancement Agency (OIRA), the Oregon Department of Human Services, and other local partners to help build a stronger support network for displaced LGBTQ+ people in our region.
The goal is not just to keep someone off the streets for a few months. The goal is to create an environment where people can start imagining the future again. I, along with countless others who are residents of New York City’s housing programs, can attest to the power of building on a stable foundation. Safe homes cannot solve all the problems faced by displaced LGBTQ+ people in America. A broken immigration system cannot be reformed. You can’t eliminate hatred. Nothing can erase the trauma that many people have upon arrival.
What it can do is provide what every human being deserves: a place to start again. For those who arrive after years of persecution, anxiety, and loss, that beginning can mean everything. For us at Refuge America, staying immune to the administration means investing in infrastructure that exists beyond election cycles. That means building systems of housing, legal support, access to health care, mutual aid, and community care, regardless of who is in power.
It means understanding that while policy is extremely important, the strongest protections many vulnerable people will ever experience come from communities that decide they are worth protecting. That spirit is embodied in the Oregon Project. Safehouse is not intended to be used alone. This is part of a broader effort to strengthen what we call communities of care. Care communities are networks of local organizations, service providers, advocates, volunteers, and community members who work to ensure that displaced LGBTQ+ people are not left to resettle on their own.
The strongest support systems are rarely built from the top down. They emerge when a community decides that someone else’s well-being is also their responsibility. The funding secured for this project represents more than just an investment in the building. This represents an investment in resilience. We need more support to continue building and expanding our welcoming community.
At a time when so many organizations are being forced into a defensive posture, we choose to build. At a time when fear and uncertainty continue to dominate conversations about immigration, we choose to invest in welcoming. We decided to create a place at a time when many displaced LGBTQ+ people are wondering if there is still a place for them in America.
Edafe Okpolo is the founder and author of Refuge America. of exile: Memoir and Manifesto. to follow Refuge America To learn the stories of LGBTQ+ people fleeing danger in search of dignity and safety.
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