Our message is powerful. Our line is clear.

Queer Sanctuary Foundation stands for safety, human dignity, equality and human rights. Through our campaigns, projects and activities, we stand up for LGBTQIA+ people and draw attention to situations in which these fundamental values are under threat.

Through StopQueerDeportations, we focus specifically on the removal and deportation of LGBTQIA+ people to countries or situations where their safety, freedom or human dignity may be at risk.

Behind every procedure, every decision and every deportation is a human being. A person with a name, a life, a history and a future. A decision made on paper can have life-changing consequences for the person affected by it.

When someone is deported, reality does not end at the border. In many cases, that is precisely where the consequences begin.

That is why we believe decisions about deportation must consider more than procedures, policies and general assessments of countries. The individual, their personal circumstances and the question of whether they can genuinely return in safety must be given meaningful and proper consideration.

That is what we seek to draw attention to. Sometimes firmly, sometimes confrontationally, and sometimes through words or images that may be shocking.

Not to spread fear, turn people against one another or create hatred, but because the realities we address can be severe. Discrimination, persecution, exclusion, threats and violence demand a message strong enough not to be ignored.

We do not want to exaggerate that reality. But neither will we diminish it by speaking around it.

Our message may therefore be powerful. But there is a clear line that our actions will never cross.

Our absolute NO-GO

Violence, discrimination, threats, intimidation, hatred and calls for any of these are an absolute NO-GO for us.

No exceptions. Regardless of who they are directed against.

That line applies not only to the injustice we speak out against. It applies equally to the way we choose to respond to it.

Even when we fundamentally disagree with a deportation decision, an asylum procedure, government policy, a politician, a public authority, an organisation or an individual, our principles remain the same.

We do not accept violence, threats, intimidation, discrimination or hatred as a means of achieving our goals. Nor do we accept calls for others to engage in such behaviour.

For us, taking strong action never means taking violent action.

Peaceful does not mean silent

Choosing to act peacefully and respectfully does not mean remaining silent when we see injustice.

We can strongly criticise policy. We can ask difficult questions, demonstrate, campaign and take part in public debate. We can oppose a deportation when we believe that someone’s safety, human dignity or human rights are not being adequately protected. And we can call for change — firmly and persistently when necessary.

Our words can be strong, and our campaigns can be confrontational. That is part of being an organisation committed to bringing social injustice into the open.

But to us, there is a fundamental difference between confrontation and intimidation, between criticism and hatred, and between protest and violence.

That is a line we will protect.

Even when emotions run high. Even when a decision leaves us angry, heartbroken or powerless. Especially in those moments, the values we stand for must continue to guide the way we act.

We do not fight violence with violence, discrimination with discrimination, or hatred with hatred.

Human dignity is not selective

Human rights and human dignity do not apply only to people with whom we agree.

We can challenge a deportation decision without dehumanising the person who made or carries out that decision. We can strongly criticise policy without encouraging hatred towards politicians, policymakers or public officials. And we can protest against a decision without threatening or intimidating anyone.

That does not make our criticism any less powerful. It makes clear what we stand for.

Fighting injustice never gives anyone the right to commit injustice themselves.

This applies throughout our Foundation

These principles do not apply only to StopQueerDeportations. They apply to the Queer Sanctuary Foundation as a whole, and to every campaign, project and activity organised by, on behalf of, or under the responsibility of our Foundation.

We expect board members and volunteers acting on behalf of the Foundation to conduct themselves in accordance with these principles. Within our activities, we expect the same from everyone who participates.

In this way, we want to be clear both about what we ask of others and about what others may expect from us.

We are committed to a society in which LGBTQIA+ people — regardless of their background, nationality, immigration status or personal circumstances — can live safely, freely and with dignity.

We pursue that goal through support, awareness, dialogue, advocacy, community engagement and peaceful action.

We will not always be quiet or cautious in doing so. Sometimes a message needs to make people uncomfortable in order to be heard.

But our line does not change.

We fight injustice, not people

Ultimately, that is at the heart of how we choose to act.

We can fiercely oppose a deportation without turning against another human being. We can challenge a decision without threatening the person who made or carries it out. We can demand change without intimidating people. And we can stand powerfully and unapologetically for LGBTQIA+ people without losing sight of the human dignity of others.

We fight injustice, not people.

That is our message.

And that is our line.