Thomas Wimark

In recent years, scholarly attention on sexual orientation asylum‑seekers has markedly increased. However, the role of support organisations in destination countries remains unclear. Organisations are central, both as much research relies on LGBTQ+ organisations within receiving countries for knowledge production, which may skew perspectives and limit generalizability, and as migration authorities often depend on these organisations to ensure the well‑being of asylum‑seekers. This article explores the role of support organisations, specifically LGBTQ+ organisations, by analysing their presence in a representative sample of asylum decisions from Sweden. The aim is to clarify their function in sorting processes among sexual orientation asylum‑seekers. The findings reveal that sexual orientation claimants involved in LGBTQ+ organisations originate from a narrower range of countries, submit more written evidence and are processed differently by the Swedish Migration Agency relative to regular sexual orientation claimants. These insights highlight both the potential limited outreach of such organisations and the potential risks in current knowledge‑production methods that may fail to adequately capture the diversity and complexities of the broader queer community.

The understanding of sexual orientation as the basis for a Particular Social Group under the Refugee Convention is a contentious issue. Conventional thought suggests that sexual orientation (SO) claimants often face unfavourable treatment by asylum decision makers. Although much extant knowledge derives from in‐depth qualitative and doctrinal studies, only a few jurisdictions (e.g., Canada, the UK) have been analysed using large‐scale data or experimental methods. To complement this work, this article analyses a representative sample of SO asylum decisions from Sweden, aiming to elucidate the factors influencing refugee status determination outcomes. The findings reveal that emotional responses narrated in relation to the discovery of SO play a significant role in shaping decision makers' understanding of sexuality. This emphasis on internal accounts over observable practices poses challenges in verifying the credibility of SO claimants, raising questions about the reliability of credibility assessments. These insights underscore the need for nuanced approaches to assessing the credibility of SO claimants and ensuring fair treatment in asylum processes.

Using credibility assessment methods in determining refugee status for asylum claimants is a widely used practice. Scholars tend to argue that this is inappropriate when sexual orientation forms the basis of the claim. Detailedness, consistency, and plausibility in sexual orientation narratives are hard to establish, as the narratives relate to identity and inner emotions rather than solely to external events. We have yet to determine which parts of the credibility assessments can affect refugee status outcomes. To address this gap, this article uses a representative sample of sexual orientation asylum decisions from Sweden, aiming to test which credibility aspects influence asylum determination outcomes. The findings reveal that case assessors put emphasis on detailedness and inconsistencies to determine whether statements are truthful. This emphasis on detail and consistency poses challenges in verifying the credibility of sexual orientation claims, as it is susceptible to deception. These insights underscore the need for a deeper understanding of credibility assessment methods to ensure a fairer treatment of sexual orientation claimants in asylum processes.

There are few reasons to believe that social segregation is restricted to the working age population. Still, attempts to analyse social segregation among old age individuals have been lacking. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to explore the extent to which old age individuals who follow different sociodemographic trajectories are geographically segregated. We analyse residential segregation among older age adults, based on an identification of typical sociodemographic life courses in longitudinal, geo‐coded, register data for three life phases: young old, 65–79 years, middle old, 75–89 years and, oldest old, 85–99 years. The results show great life‐course heterogeneity in these age groups. In each life phase, we distinguish seven different trajectory types that also display distinct geographical patterns. The first group of trajectories is characterized by a high proportion of married individuals with high income concentrated in suburban, single‐family housing areas. The second group consists of trajectories with many widows/widowers in small‐scale, apartment areas. The third group consists of singleton trajectories in metropolitan areas. The fourth group is overrepresented in low‐income areas and consists of trajectories including individuals of nonsurvival in the life phase. The fifth group is composed of trajectories with married or widowed low‐income individuals in owner‐occupied areas mainly found in rural areas. Thus, there is pronounced geographical variation in what type of neighbourhood life old age individuals live. This indicates that social segregation in the old age population deserves to be given more attention in geographical research.

Spatial media has received impetus in recent studies, arguing that its function as a mediator of meaning and enabler of intimacy are critical in late modernity. We suggest that spatial media not only liquefies key institutions of modernity but also replaces them. We conducted interviews with men who use spatial media to realize intimacy. In our analysis, we reference the fictional Star Trek universe to illustrate how spatial media may function as an institution. In the figure of the Borg, human-tech borders are eliminated, control is exerted through collective decisions, and bodies are assimilated into an expanding beehive-like community. Similarly, spatial media enables the liquefaction of human-tech borders, the creation of new sets of rules and hierarchies, and the assimilation of intimacy practices. We thereby conclude that digital media not only drive a process of liquefaction but also the forging of new institutional structures that condition the realization of intimacy.

Obstacles to family formation have been removed in many countries outside of the Anglophone world for quite some time. Conventional knowledge suggests that this phenomenon should make gay men and lesbians more similar to the general population. In this study, however, we show that differences linger. By classifying Swedish neighbourhoods into multiscalar neighbourhood landscapes, we show that same‐sex married individuals differ from both married individuals and the general population. Same‐sex married individuals are concentrated in cores in metropolitan cities characterised by the ownership tenure form and apartment buildings. In general, same‐sex individuals avoid remote rural areas, but same‐sex females are quite present in rural towns. Same‐sex males are concentrated to areas that border deprived areas but not to deprived areas. These results suggest that there is a need to move beyond legal agendas and consider what drives the residential mobility of the gay and lesbian population.

We examine the ‘overlap’ or to which degree tenure form patterns are similar to socio-economic segregation patterns. The issue has been discussed concerning mixing policies; does mixing of tenure hinder socio-economic segregation? If mixing tenure is to be an effective policy against segregation, the overlap has to be understood. Using Swedish register data, we cross tenure-type landscapes with patterns of high/mixed/low-income and with European/non-European/Swedish-born. To what degree is there overlap among tenure, income and country of birth? Is the overlap related to geographical scale and polarization? Is the overlap of tenure forms with socio-economic characteristics consistent across regions? We find strong overlap of large-scale cooperative tenure landscapes with very high incomes as well as with Swedish-born. Small-scale tenure-landscapes provide mixing opportunities for incomes wherever they are located; however, these landscapes have a small non-Swedish-born population nearby. Some tenure-type landscapes vary in characteristics depending on location; e.g. public rental concentrated areas are high-income in urban cores but low-income in urban peripheries.

Emerging evidence using the concentration of same-sex couples from the U.S. Census suggests lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB), and transgender (LGBT; i.e., sexual and gender minority [SGM]) people living as a same-sex couple are concentrated in less healthful neighborhoods. However, it is unclear if findings would be different if based on where LGBT individuals live. Thus, we sought to assess differences in neighborhood, county, and state characteristics between same-sex couples and LGBT individuals to inform population health research and policy interventions on LGBT health inequities. In 2017, we conducted a cross-sectional national, probability survey of LGBT adults in the U.S. and geocoded addresses (N= 407). We linked locations with census tract, county, and state characteristics selected based on health inequities theories. In 2019, we used weighted analysis to calculate descriptive statistics and conducted planned contrasts of location characteristics by both cohabitation status and gender. Many location characteristics were similar by cohabitation status and gender. However, the tract proportion of Black residents and county crime rate were lower for cohabitating than non-cohabitating men. State smoke-free air score was weaker for cohabitating than non-cohabitating women. The use of same-sex couples to determine the geographical clustering of LGBT lives in the U.S. may give a reasonable indication of overall spatial characteristics but can underestimate some important determinants of health. Care should be taken using same-sex couples as a proxy for LGBT concentration when racial segregation is a potential confounder.

Housing policies for refugees are a hot topic in many countries receiving refugees. However, most discussions tend to treat refugees monolithically despite the fact that they have diverse experiences. Individuals seeking asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity face numerous obstacles during the asylum process. This article aims to explore how asylum accommodations are governed and how this process affects queer asylum seekers. Based on a range of sources, including interviews, documents and media articles, the results show that many queer asylum seekers have been victims of homo- and transphobic violence. The findings also indicate that the Swedish migration agency has implemented temporary solutions to mitigate such violence but refused to change the overall policy. In the analysis, I maintain that there are three underlying assumptions in the system, namely, the primacy of heteronormativity, the metropolitan nature of queers, and the need to adjust but not challenge heteronormativity. I argue that this process renders queer asylum seekers unfit and leaves them in unsafe housing situations to domesticise them in the context of a heteronormative society, i.e. a society in which they do not stand out or claim further rights.