The Decibel - Why more LGBTQ+ people are trying to flee the U.S.

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

On June 20, Rainbow Railroad released a report on the state of global LGBTQ+ persecution. As an advocacy group, Rainbow Railroad helps at-risk LGBTQ+ people get to safety around the world. This past year they received the highest number of requests for support since their operation began. Most of these requests came from the United States. Canada also makes the list of top ten countries for requests. Devon Matthews is Rainbow Railroad’s chief programs officer. She’s on the show to talk about the report’s findings, what’s fueling this spike in requests and the state of safety for LGBTQ+ people. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Some of you know my partner and I live in Texas. We're trying to relocate because we don't feel safe here anymore. I just spoke with a trans friend who was like, I know the next four years are going to be really hard. Because the reality is if you're a straight white, like this doesn't hit the same for you. Okay. I know like I'm angry that Como lost, but that doesn't affect me in the same visceral way that it will affect a trans person or a person of color who's being told by this election that it means that actually this country hates you. These are some of the voices of the LGBTQ. Q-plus community on TikTok describing what they're facing in the U.S. right now.

I have a lot of grief over the election, and in light of that, it was one time this guy threatened to murder me in the streets. I get harassed on the streets as a trans woman on the regular basis. I'll walk past somebody and they mutter something about Mrs. Doubtfire, or I get spat on. According to Project 2025, my wife and I would not be married any longer. Our legal adoption of our foster son could also be completely destroyed. They would rip apart our family in the name of family values. And I know we are not alone in these fears. I know there are thousands of people across the United States right now

that are sitting the exact same fears that my wife and I are sitting in. These are the real life consequences of voting for gas prices over human rights. Rainbow Railroad is an LGBTQ-plus advocacy group that helps people seeking protection from persecution. The name comes from the idea of the idea of the unlawful. Underground Railroad. They recently released a report which reveals a number of surprising insights around LGBTQ-plus people searching for safety. For example, last year had the highest number of requests for help in Rainbow Railroad's 20 years of operating. And the largest percentage of requests came from the United States. The report also found that for the first time ever,

Canada is among the top 10 countries where people are seeking help from the organization. Devin Matthews is the chief programs officer at Rainbow Railroad, and she's on the show today. She'll talk about this report's findings and what's fueling this increase in requests. I'm Cheryl Sutherland, and this is the Deciple from The Globe and Mail. Hi, Devin, thanks so much for joining me today. Thanks for having me. So, Devin, to start off, can you just give us a sense of what Rainbow Railroad is as an organization and what you do? Yeah, absolutely. So Rainbow Railroad is an international human rights organization, and we create pathways to safety.

for at-risk LGBTQI people. And then we also strengthen the policies and systems that support those individuals' protection and integration. So we really try to be both a direct service delivery organization as well as an organization that pushes for change. So this month, Rainbow Railroad released a report about the number of people requesting protection and help from your organization.

And there is record demand, as we mentioned in the intro. Before we get into the numbers, what kind of help are people requesting? Like, what type of requests were the the most common in 2025? Yeah, the vast majority of individuals who reach out to us are looking for support and actually relocating their lives. So they're coming to us at the end of the line when they've explored all available other

options to them and they are really in fear for their life and their safety and they're looking to actually move. Some individuals don't fit that profile. Some are human rights defenders who want to stay in their country and continue to fight for their rights, but they need the financial support to go into hiding for a little bit. or there's individuals who just need some kind of immediate relief. So something like access to HIV medication or bail from jail or something like that so that they can continue to carry out their lives.

But the vast majority are looking to move. Rainbow Rail is a Canadian organization, right? Is it people trying to relocate here to Canada or what is that like? We are founded in Canada, but we are a registered organization both in Canada and the United States. And we relocate people all over Western Europe, some to Argentina, some to other countries, wherever opportunities arise. But the most number of people relocate are to Canada and prior to the current administration to the United States.

Okay, yeah, and we'll get into that in a bit. But before we do, I just really want to spell out and help people understand what people are requesting. So when people are requesting these types of services, what exactly are the concerns that they are facing that are prompting them to ask for help? Yeah, it's really dire. We collect a ton of different information

in order to understand the state of LGBT. TQI persecution globally. In 2025, the top five safety concerns reported by individuals were community rejection, family-based rejection, life-threatening violence, verbal threats and abuse and community-level violence. And so, sadly, 63% of the individuals coming to us have experienced life-threatening violence in the course of their life. So it's really dire circumstances.

76% of our clients experience community-level rejection. So what that means is that they could have been fired from a job or out-werecting. or outed in their street or on their block or, you know, other forms of kind of community spaces being no longer safe spaces for them. And then in terms of health and welfare concerns, 75% of our clients who reach out to us are unable to meet their basic needs. So they're unable to ensure that they have food to eat, shelter, basic medication. And they're really suffering under the like secondary and tertiary effects of homophobia and transphobia on their health and well-being. So how many requests did Ramo Railroad receive in 2025? And how does that compare to previous years?

Yeah. So we received more than 20,000 requests for help in 2025. And this was a 51% increase year over year. And the highest in our 20-year history as an organization. And we expect to hang around the same number this year as well. Does that surprise you? It doesn't. It doesn't.

I think in some senses it surprises me just because when I actually break down that number, like when I think about what 20,000 individuals means or if you like think about filling a space with 20,000 queer people who are at the edge of their line and need that support, it surprises me because it's just so dramatic. But when I look at the state of the world, when I look at the state of xenophobia and transphobia and all of the different things that people are contending with, I know why those numbers are coming up. And I also think that as we grow as an organization and become more well-known and are a resource for people, people are more easily able to find us. And I think it's less necessarily about the fact that there's just like so many more people that need support, but that they've always really been there and that we are just more accessible to individuals now. Right. Okay. So there's maybe a little bit of a silver lining here is that people are now being able to find you.

And so that could be part of the reason why there's an increase in numbers. Yeah. It's complicated, though, because I think the reality is that. But, you know, we can only scale so fast as an organization to meet that demand. And so while I'm glad people are able to find us, there's also very few organizations in the space that are doing what we do. And with just like our ability to scale that funding, scale that programming, we can't actually meet the needs of all of those people.

And so I'm glad they're finding us. But it's also, I wish there was more in the space to support them. So, yeah, on that, how many people were you able to help in 2025? Yeah. So in 2025, we were able to support 7,521 unique individuals directly. And then an additional 17,855 in 47 different countries through funded partnerships. And so that means is that we kind of redistribute the funding that we have to small grassroots organizations and activists who are doing the work on the ground to support people who maybe not are not able to resettle or who do not want to.

Okay. And what about the demographics here? Do you have a sense of who is asking for help? Yeah. So, I mean, typically cisgendered gay men tend to be the highest number of requests for help every year within our demographics. And that's for two different reasons. One is that we know that cisgendered men have an easier time accessing technology,

accessing literacy, accessing the ability to kind of just reach out for help. But it's also because in most of the countries where there still are criminalization laws against the LGBTQI community, those are anti-sodomy laws. And so they are like severely impacting gay men. And so we know that that's part of it. There's also a huge number of requests for help from trans individuals, gender non-conforming, and non-binary individuals. And we know that that's because of just like the visibility of being out, being incredibly risky and dangerous for people. What about the age range?

So in 2025, the 18 to 25 age group was the largest group requesting help. This represented about 40% of requests for help. And then the age 26 to 35 age group followed closely behind. And that was about 39% of requests for help. So overall, it's youth. If we look at a definition of youth that's a bit broader, we know that it's under 35 or is the population of people we're supporting by and large. And that's often just because that's the age that people are coming into their sexual orientation or their gender identity.

They're exploring. They might be needing to find a job or date, et cetera. and so that's when things become really risky for people. Right, okay. Because if you know you're in that part of your life where you're becoming more visible, right? And maybe you're more out. Then that's when perhaps these issues come to light. Absolutely.

Yeah. And I mean, a lot of the people that reach out to us, especially in that 18 to 25 age group, we are the first people that they're coming out to other than maybe an intimate partner or, you know, a best friend. And so even the act of requesting help takes an enormous amount of courage to actually just reach out to a stranger on the internet and tell your, story. Yeah, absolutely. So let's zoom into where these requests are coming from because they do come

from all over the world, but your report shows that the U.S. is at the top of this list. First off, how many requests are coming from there? Yeah, so the U.S. was our largest request for help country in 2025, which is really concerning because obviously this is a country where previously we had active partnerships with the prior administration to actually resettle individuals into the U.S. So there were 6,253 requests for help from the United States in 2025. That's a huge proportion of our request for help. And then if you look at the number two country of requests for help that follows the United States, that is Uganda with 157 requests for help.

So it's like a huge chunk of what we received in terms of requests last year. Yeah. So that really shows you with Uganda having 1,055 requests that that's a huge jump from the U.S. which is a 6,000 plus request. What are the other countries that are in the top here? Yeah, so the other countries include Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Kenya, Iraq, Turkey, and Canada, unfortunately, last year, and then Russia. Wow, so Canada is in the top 10 list here. It is.

Yeah, it is in the top 10. I mean, some of those requests for help in Canada are individuals who have actually resettled to Canada that are looking for supports in filing their asylum claim or looking for legal aid or are looking for kind of other forms of support. It's the same in the United States. There is a portion that is actually just looking for resources and support. And this captures the full demographic, even if it's not a specific form of request. So what we're seeing in terms of the difference from Canada to the U.S. is that in the U.S. a lot more people are looking to leave versus in Canada. They're more related to needing support on arrival.

And I think that speaks to just like the degradation of the social service sector in Canada and the inability of the sector to kind of meet refugees' needs and support. Whereas in the United States, it's predominantly people who want to leave the United States because they feel like their rights are at risk. So what's going on then? Like what has led to this movement of people wanting to leave the U.S. or feeling that they are unsafe there? Yeah. I mean, I think we've seen, we see two things happening simultaneously, right? One is just the general degradation of the refugee and asylum kind of space.

And so, like, we know that the connection and commitment to refugee rights. and Asyley rights in the United States has shifted dramatically administration to administration. We've seen this with ICE presence. We've seen this with the way that the immigration has become the biggest issue in the current administration's political framing. And so I think that puts a lot of pressure on people who are in the United States, who've come from other countries, who are really terrified that their rights are not going to be upheld. So that's on one side of the coin. And then the other side of the coin, you have a complete attack against LGBTIQI rights in general. And this is where U.S. citizens are also feeling it, right?

The current administration has made it abundantly clear that LGBTI rights are not respected or upheld in the United States. And especially as it relates to gender and trans individuals and their rights. And so I think that's where citizens and newcomers into the United States are terrified that their rights are going to be degraded to the point where they are no longer able to live the lives that they had before. On the immigration and asylum piece of that, can you help me understand? how this relates to people trying to relocate. So is it that people there are perhaps not American citizens and then they are feeling fearful so they're trying to relocate from the U.S. Is that it?

Yeah. So some are American citizens that want to relocate because of LGBTQI rights specifically. And some are people who have come into the United States and have made asylum claims or refugees that were resettled into the United States. And they're feeling like the Venn diagram of the kind of compounded vulnerability that they experience. And the xenophobia that exists in communities across the United States against anyone who has come from away is really, like, it puts people at risk. Yeah. Can you remind us to some of the policy changes that have gone to effect since President Trump reentered office that, you know,

make people feel unsafe? Yeah, for sure. I mean, there have been many executive orders since the beginning of the Trump administration that have targeted LGBTQI specifically. There's one that mandates the federal agencies recognize just two sexes, male and female, and states that these are unchangeable biological traits. Obviously, that threatens the existence of transgender, gender nonconforming and non-binary people across the U.S. And it is being contested in courts as it bars individuals from updating gender markers on their federal documents, which can also limit people's like global mobility, their ability to travel. But that hasn't been concluded. And so that's actively still a fear point for people. There's also an executive order preventing

trans youth from accessing gender affirming care, which sadly we have seen a number of requests for help from trans youth, especially in the southern United States or more Republican states, that are terrified that they won't be able to access hormone replacement therapy or gender affirming surgeries that allow them to feel like they're able to live full lives in their bodies, especially as their bodies have finished developing and they're becoming adults. There's also an executive order eliminating federal funding for schools that promote so-called gender ideology and this mandates schools to inform their parents of their child's social transition, even if the child does not come out yet to their parents. And so there's like a whole bunch of

these executive orders that have been thrown around by the current administration that really put people's lives at risk. And in particular, that demographic I was talking about where youth are the most at risk. We'll be right back. Okay, so we've laid out kind of what the situation is, especially in the U.S. What are the ripple effects of the U.S. being a less hospitable place for LGBTQ plus people. How does this affect the wider community? Yeah, I think as much as there's just like a general global, yeah, a bit of like a watching an ambulance kind of scenario happening globally. We also see copycatting and policies happening all over the world, even in progressive governments. And we see kind of just the global effects of shrinking support for immigration,

for refugees and asylee rights and for the LGBTQI community. And so, So what we're seeing is a space opening up where a rollback in rights can exist for the forcibly displaced population and for queer and trans people worldwide. And that's what we're really concerned about is that the U.S. has always kind of been a global leader in how the world shifts and changes in terms of foreign policy. And that is happening as a result of the current administration's policies. You mentioned that Canada is on the list for the first time. What do you make of that?

Like what's changed that there are now requests for help coming from Canada? Yeah, I mean, I think it's difficult to fully unpack. Like, it does take some time to kind of analyze how those requests for help are translating into readable data. I think this year is going to be really critical for us to kind of understand how even the effects of the Kearney government are impacting LGBTQI individuals and, you know, refugees and assailees in Canada. I'm anticipating that what we're going to see is requests for help coming from individuals who've come in. to Canada through various pathways who are not able to access the services and support that they need on arrival here. And that's in part because of the defunding of a lot of really essential services across Canada that serve refugees and forcibly displaced people and even organizations

that provide like life-saving support for the LGBTIQI community, including citizens, such as organizations like the 519 that have lost a lot of funding and serve both Canadian citizens and refugees that are coming into Canada that need life-saving support. You mentioned these defunded? When did that happen? The Carney government came in and wanted to ensure that there was a cost reduction across various, you know, agencies within the government, immigration refugees and citizenship Canada, which we received direct funding for, had to cut, including Rainbow Railroad. We've received fairly substantial funding cut that gutted our ability to actually fund this essential program that we work with individuals coming into Canada. And then other organizations and

nonprofits across Canada have felt funding cuts from Global Affairs Canada or from wage, etc. So, yeah, the funding cuts have been sector-wide and they really impact people and being able to access everything from like healthcare to shelter to community. Another note is that there's this bill, Bill C-12, which is the strengthening Canada's immigration system and borders act. It came into effect in March and it's primarily about tightening rules around asylum claims in Canada. Your organization has been quite top. critical of this bill. Can you walk me through how this bill has an effect on the LGBTQ plus community? Absolutely. Yeah. Bill C-12 is very, very concerning and there's a lot to unpack around all the

specifics of it. One piece that we're really drawing attention to and are very concerned about is the one-year bar. And so the one-year bar under Bill C-12 means that for individuals who have entered Canada dating back to 2020, they are expected to file their asylum claim within one year of their first entry into Canada retroactive, as I said. And so what that means for LGBTQI people specifically is that the rigid timeline kind of makes exception for a whole bunch of lived experiences that make that not possible. Some queer and trans people just don't know that you can actually claim protection on the grounds of their sexual orientation or gender identity. There are many countries in the world that accept refugees that do not accept sexual orientation or gender identity

as a grounds for claim. And so they don't even know that they can or in some cases individuals haven't fully understood their sexual orientation or gender identity, or they may actually not need to, but then they need to later. And so what that means, like, as an example, we have a client who came to Canada on a student visa and was living here and going to university and living a full out life. And then he, after graduating, wanted to return home. And he returned home to his home country in the Middle East. And he went back thinking he'd build a career in a life.

But he was outed, photos of him in university being out with his partner. We're outed on the internet and his safety was immediately at risk. And he decided to leave and to come back to Canada, which he still had a valid visa to do. So he returned to Canada. And now, because of Bill C-12, because he didn't claim asylum within the first year of entering Canada when he came for university, he will face only a pre-removal risk assessment. He will not be able to go through a full hearing to actually assess the merits of his claim. And the reason why he actually did not do that within the first year. So he doesn't get to sit.

in front of the judge and make his argument and have his time to really show why he needs protection in Canada. And his story is not unique. There are many, many people who are going through the constitutional challenge and kind of trying to argue with their lawyers that this is unconstitutional. And that this actually really limits people's ability to seek protection. Okay. And so once you pass that year, you're not going to get that process. Exactly. So we're trying to fight that and trying to be very vocal about that as organizations across Canada who work with the queer and trans community. but there are also, like, people who are not queer and trans are also being victimized by this bill. It's really not well designed.

It's designed to try to decrease wait times and try to clear the queue, as they say, but at what cost? Something else is happening right now is we're seeing kind of a pullback from corporations in Canada, I mean, also in the U.S., from Pride and like Pride celebrations, right? So last year, three major companies with Drew as sponsors from the Toronto Pride Festival as an example. How does that factor into what we've been talking about? Does it? It does. It does in terms of visibility as well. You know, there's a lot of critiques of corporations and their involvement in pride. But at the end of the day, they provide financing that is necessary for organizations to provide options for people to celebrate and support. We have clients who come to the Pride celebration with us, who it's their first ever time seeing that volume of people in support, actively supporting them and their community. It's a huge moment. And I I think without the funding that corporations bring to Pride Festival and the Pride Parade, a lot of that wouldn't be possible. A lot of that visibility wouldn't be possible. And much as there are very valid critiques, I think it is necessary for corporations to show up. And at the end of the day, governments also listen to money.

And so when we see corporations pulling back from Pride, that is a direct correlation to the government's policies and the government moment we are in. And vice versa, if companies stand up and say that they are in support of. LGBTQI people and support Pride, there is also a policy shift within government. So I think it's directly correlated. And groups that run Pride festivals are looking for people to fill the gap to try to continue to make sure that these moments are held. So just to end here, Devin, you know, given that your organization is seeing a record amount of requests for help and, you know, places like the U.S. and even Canada now are on this list where we're seeing requests for help. I'm curious about how you're feeling in this moment.

Yeah, I think it's complicated. I think that there's so much happening globally between crises that face the LGBTQI community and global crises that just exist outside of the context of LGBTQI rights where LGBTQI people are scapegoated or feeling the effects. I think that we're in a tough moment. And I think as an organization, we need community more than ever to step. up and support us and to support individuals around the world so that we can keep doing this work. We've always been by and for the community and whether corporations or governments kind of step forward or step back, we're going to continue to fight. So I think I feel really resolute in that.

And I think I also feel really sad and, you know, nervous for the future. Devin, we'll leave it there. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you. Appreciate it. That was Devin Matthews. Rainbow Railroad's chief programs officer. That's it for today. I'm Cheryl Sutherland. Cynthia Jimenez produced this episode.

Our producers are Madeline White, Rachel Levy McGlockland, and Mahal Stein. Our editor is David Crosby. Adrian Chung is our senior producer, and Angela Pichenza is our executive editor. Thanks so much for listening.