‘Rainbow Statelessness’ Stateless LGBTIQ+ persons are generally in a similar position, and likewise ‘find themselves at the intersection of two already marginalized groups’. 47 The Williams Institute at University of California, Los Angeles, which researches sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, published an estimate in 2013 of at least 267,000 LGBT-identified adult undocumented immigrants living in the United States 48 — some of whom may in fact be considered stateless. This figure is likely a significant under-estimate. Indeed, more recent data shared with the author by researchers on the same project has documented over 317,000 self-identifying LGBT non-citizens in the state of California alone. 49 Further, a Center for American Progress report highlights challenges faced in terms of health insurance gaps, 50 employment insecurity and workplace discrimination, 51 as well as the current lack of roadmap to citizenship for UndocuQueer individuals. 52 It presents evidence of marginalisation and measured disadvantage (eg income disparity) experienced by each of the LGBTIQ+ and undocumented demographic groups as a logical basis for the additional hardships in the intersectional context. 53 In a study of statelessness across four states, it has elsewhere been found that statelessness lowers a household’s per capita income by 33.7 per cent and reduces house ownership by 59.7 per cent. 54 In the absence of sufficient data specifically surveying experiences of stateless LGBTIQ+ individuals, we are left to infer that their intersectional hardships might be similar to those recorded among the UndocuQueer profile. Indeed, a number of reported anecdotal experiences of LGBTIQ+ stateless individuals appear to confirm the above assumptions. For example, Ghadeer, a 22 year old working class transsexual stateless Bidun from Kuwait informed Human Rights Watch that she was ‘unable to find and keep a job due to her gender identity and lack of citizenship’. 55 Similarly, a 24 year old stateless trans woman told human rights organisations in Lebanon about the challenges in finding suitable accommodation: My experience with housing has been a struggle … . You have to give your ID when you’re renting, so that makes things much more difficult for me [because my ID says male]. I did something clever and used my friend’s ID (she’s a cisgender 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Crosby Burns, Ann Garcia and Philip E Wolgin, Living in Dual Shadows: LGBT Undocumented Immigrants (Report, Center for American Progress March 2013) 1 (‘Living in Dual Shadows’). Gary J Gates, LGBT Adult Immigrants in the United States (Report, The Williams Institute March 2013) 2. Unpublished data shared with the author through personal correspondence with Kerith Jane Conron, the Williams Institute, January 2020. Living in Dual Shadows (n 47) 9. ibid 8. ibid 12. See ibid. Brad Blitz, ‘The Cost of Statelessness’, Kingston University London (Expert Opinion Post, 2 October 2011) <https://www.kingston.ac.uk/news/article/931/02-oct-2011-the-cost-ofstatelessness/>. Interview with Ghadeer, (Human Rights Watch, Kuwait City, 14 February 2011), cited in ‘They Hunt Us Down for Fun’: Discrimination and Police Violence against Transgender Women in Kuwait (Report, Human Rights Watch January 2012) 29 (‘They Hunt Us Down for Fun’). 72