Against Abandonment Activist-Humanitarian Responses to LGBT Refugees in Athens and Beirut

This article compares lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) 'activist-humanitarianism' in Beirut and Athens. In both locations, 'out' or 'outed' refugees endure a unique combination of structural and physical violence. In response, LGBT activists and their allies have established grassroots aid and solidarity networks. In Beirut, we examine an LGBT-advocacy non-governmental organization (NGO) that offers legal aid and training to LGBT refugees and Lebanese citizens. In Athens, we consider two self-organized horizontalist support groups. From a comparative ethnographic perspective, we explore how each sought to improve the wellbeing of LGBT refugees. We conclude that, while the structural limitations of 'neoliberalism' and 'NGO-ization' frustrated the emergence of a fully alternative activist-orientated humanitarianism, the groups nonetheless produced significant but 'unintended' impacts on refugee lives. Even if our informants felt much of the organizations' activities and training sessions were ineffective, they nonetheless harnessed marginal aspects of the projects, such as the provision of space for collective organizing. Through appropriating these spaces for their own means, they went on to build practical solidarity and develop a political critique of their predicaments as refugees