Governing legibility: Recognition, protection, and mental health among LGBTIQ+ asylum seekers in the United Kingdom and Lebanon

Introduction This article explores how inconsistencies between legal recognition and material protection impact the mental health of LGBTIQ + people seeking asylum in the United Kingdom and Lebanon through a comparative analysis. Methods We draw on 120 semi-structured interviews conducted between 2023 and 2025 with LGBTIQ + people seeking asylum (50 in England/Scotland; 70 in Beirut and surrounding areas) to develop a legibility–governance framework with two axes: legal recognition of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) claims and material protection in practice. Results The UK represents a system of recognition without protection, while Lebanon exemplifies partial protection without recognition due to criminalization and outsourced governance to UNHCR. Across these distinct systems, we identify four mechanisms that transform asylum governance into mental health harms: credentialized queerness, visibility penalties, community exposure, and affirmation gaps. Conclusions Mental health challenges are not only generated by violence experienced before leaving one’s country of origin, but by harms produced by asylum governance systems themselves through uncertain waiting, skepticism and isolation. Policy Implications Our analysis underscores the need to reduce evidentiary burdens in SOGI asylum claims, design SOGI-sensitive and safer housing, and expand LGBTIQ+-affirming, culturally competent mental health services within both formal and outsourced asylum systems.