2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(1) Given the stated ‘obvious-ness’ of this assertion, and the fact that its authors made their point more than a decade ago, it is both striking and surprising that there remains scarce academic work published on statelessness relating to ‘sexual minorities’. This article considers the reasons for the lack of critical attention to such a nexus, and studies the implications for individuals not considered as citizens of any state who simultaneously identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex or queer plus (‘LGBTIQ+’). 2 In addition to the possible ‘intersectional’ marginalisation or double vulnerability associated with such profiles, the article also explores (risks of) statelessness arising from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (‘SOGIESC’) including for children born within the context of ‘rainbow families’. 3 This article uses ‘LGBTIQ+’ as an inclusive umbrella term for various sex/gender/sexuality identities and expressions that differ from heterosexual, cisgender, binary norms, and considers it as an effective synonym for ‘sexual minorities’ as used by Ruthann Robson and Tanya Kessler above. The term ‘rainbow family’ refers to a non-traditional, non-heteronormative family unit that ‘consists of at least one parent (to-be) who identifies themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex or queer [plus]’. 4 Statelessness, for the purpose of this study, is understood according to the established legal definition contained within the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (‘1954 Convention’): that is when a person ‘is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law’. 5 However, determining the application of this definition can be challenging in practice, leading to complicated grey areas where individuals are potentially ‘stuck in a situation where they cannot prove their nationality and equally cannot prove their statelessness’. 6 As such, this article considers cases that appear to fit the spirit of the 1954 Convention definition, notwithstanding the possible evidentiary challenges in definitively proving the application of this status. Besides intermittent — and sometimes sensationalist — media coverage of a small number of particularly compelling cases, 7 alongside limited reporting by advocacy campaign groups, 8 little has been written about statelessness for 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 While using the acronym LGBTIQ+ as a convention, the author acknowledges the existence of, and diversity in individual preference for, other variants of the acronym. It is also recognised that identification with any of the signifiers included within the acronym may be fluid and/or overlapping, eg some intersex or trans individuals may identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or queer while others may not. As such, the terms are here employed in a manner inclusive of the variety of identities and expressions associated with each category. The author recognises the inclusive evolution of the concept of sexual orientation and gender identity from the original Yogyakarta Principles published in 2007 to SOGIESC in the 2017 supplement. See ‘The Yogyakarta Principles’, Yogyakarta Principles Plus 10 (Web Page) <https://yogyakartaprinciples.org/>. Network of European LGBTIQ* Families Associations, ‘Rainbow Families: Myths and Truths about LGBTI* Parenting’ (Presentation, European Economic and Social Committee, 20 May 2019) 2 <http://nelfa.org/inprogress/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/NELFApresentation-20052019-shorter.pdf>. Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, opened for signature 28 September 1954, 360 UNTS 117 (entered into force 6 June 1960) art 1 (‘1954 Convention’). Laura van Waas, ‘Unpacking Statelessness’ in Tendayi Bloom, Katherine Tonkiss and Phillip Cole (eds), Understanding Statelessness (Routledge 2017) 57. Many of these cases are cited within the later Parts of this article. See, eg, the work of Network of European LGBTIQ* Families Associations in the European context: ‘Projects’, Network of European LGBTIQ* Families Associations (Web Page) <http://nelfa.org/what-we-do/projects/>. 65