2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(1) established journalist of the Middle East, Brian Whitaker, posted an interesting blog entry back in 2014 touching on links between arbitrary deprivation of citizenship and homophobia. Referring to well documented cases of denationalisation by the government, he states: Homosexuality is working its way into the list of transgressions that can render someone undeserving of the social and legal title ‘Bahraini.’ Government loyalists often proclaim that opposition activists and political leaders ‘don’t represent me and don’t represent Bahrain.’ Occasionally, they finish with a quick note about how such people ‘represent the gays,’ firmly locating ‘the gays’ (and thus, the opposition) in direct contrast with ‘Bahrain.’ In many Twitter attacks, homosexuality is positioned as antithetical to the state itself. 68 The prominent LGBTIQ+ activist and sociologist, Evgeny Shtorn, presents a case where statelessness may be considered to have resulted from discrimination against an individual for engaging in political advocacy on SOGIESC rights. Shtorn worked as researcher on LGBTIQ+ rights in Russia ‘where Putin [was] actively promoting anti-gay propaganda and where “state-sponsored homophobia” ha[d] become the norm’. 69 Originally from the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, he moved to St Petersburg in 2000. After some years, he obtained a Russian passport. Later, however, and after renouncing his Kazakh citizenship, Shtorn discovered that his Russian passport had been cancelled without explanation. He lived in a stateless limbo for five years awaiting clarification and an opportunity to re-apply for Russian citizenship. During subsequent interrogation at the hands of the secret police as part of a crackdown on the LGBTIQ+ community in Russia, it became clear that the delays and ultimate refusal to resolve his citizenship problem were linked to Shtorn’s LGBTIQ+ activism. He told media that ‘[i]t was punishment for being an actor in the field of human rights’. 70 Eventually having to leave Russia, Shtorn now lives as a recognised refugee in Ireland, where he runs a community group for LGBTIQ+ asylum seekers for which he received the National LGBT Federation’s 2020 GALAS Person of the Year award. 71 4 On Vulnerable Ground In addition to the good practice highlighted in the case of Nepal’s recognition of citizenship rights for third gender persons, South Asia also presents cause for concern in the present situation of neighbouring India. There, LGBTIQ+ individuals are reported to be fearful of losing their citizenship and are at risk of becoming stateless. 72 The names of most of the 20,000 members in the transgender community in the region of Assam have not been recorded in the controversial 68 69 70 71 72 Brian Whitaker, ‘Homophobia and Nationalism: “Too Gay to Represent Bahrain”’, Al-Bab (online, 16 December 2014) <https://al-bab.com/blog/2014/12/homophobia-andnationalism-too-gay-represent-bahrain>. Sorcha Pollak, ‘I’m 35 Years Old and I Feel Like My Life Is Turning into Nothing’, The Irish Times (online, 28 November 2018) <https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/i-m35-years-old-and-i-feel-like-my-life-is-turning-into-nothing-1.3707162>. ibid. Queer Disapora (Web Page) <http://queerdiaspora.com/>; ‘LGBT+ Activists and Everyday Heroes Celebrated at 2020 GALAS Awards’, GCN (Web Page, 9 February 2020) <https://gcn.ie/lgbt-heroes-celebrated-2020-galas-awards/>. ‘India's Transgender Protesters Fear Stateless Future’, Agence France Press (online, 31 December 2019). 77