“I’m terrified”: The travel advice for queer people going to the USA

It's a scary time to travel to the USA for anyone - for certain queer people, it's even more dangerous

Earlier this month, a British graphic artist called Rebecca Burke was arrested at the United States-Canada border after Canadian border officials told her she was travelling on the wrong type of visa. She was locked in an Immigration and Customs detention centre for 19 days, and her traumatic experience was covered extensively by The Guardian. Her advice for anyone thinking of visiting America is simply “don’t do it”.

One of the most awful parts of this story is that Rebecca wasn’t even entering the United States at the time. She was trying to leave when she was arrested and detained.

This raises the important question, if the advice of a white British cis woman with enough money to buy a plane ticket home is that America is far too dangerous to go visit, what is the advice for people who aren’t that privileged? How does that affect the already over-policed LGBTQIA+ community?

What does the Australian Government think?

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade runs a website called Smartraveller. This website covers everything, including what to remember before you start travelling internationally, what to do if some nasty shit goes down like an earthquake, or what can happen if you get arrested overseas like, for instance, by border police.

This information is extremely useful, and is great for easily understanding your rights in those situation. Laws and customs vary significantly around the world, and a result, there are situations when Australian tourists, known for being a bit culturally insensitive from time to time, may accidentally find themselves in trouble without realising it. The website, helpfully, details all the relevant laws and customs for each country to avoid this, and also includes four categories detailing the wider safety risks: “Excercise normal safety precautions” in green, “exercise a high degree of caution” in yellow, “Reconsider your need to travel” in orange”, to “Do not travel” in red.

Of course, these are generalised categories. Rwanda, for instance, is listed under Green as a whole but with the full-blown Red for the Rubavu district due to the current M23 campaign. Additionally, the website carries other great advice such as to take anti-malaria medication, avoid using plastic bags (which are banned in Rwanda) and avoid taking photographs of government buildings (which is illegal in Rwanda). It’s great to see a government website contain so much detailed information about what your rights are. I hope other government websites can follow suit honestly.

The United States page is not as thoroughly detailed, with the latest update, made on 4 April, stating:

“Entry requirements are strict. US authorities have broad powers to decide if you're eligible to enter and may determine that you are inadmissible for any reason under US law. Check US entry, transit and exit requirements. Whether you're travelling on a visa or under the Visa Waiver Program, ensure you understand all relevant terms and conditions before attempting to enter the United States.”

Right now, there is no information given on what to do if you are refused entry, or the consequences of what could happen if you are refused entry to the US, such as possible detaining or travel bans from the country.

Rebecca Burke’s experience was not an isolated case, with more examples flooding in since writing this article. Last month, German tattoo artist Jessica Brösche, who attempted to enter the United States from Mexico through the San Diego border, was trapped in immigration detention for over a month. She was eventually released after six weeks in detention, including eight days in solitary confinement, after invention from the German government. And while some of us like to think we have a special relationship with the United States, an Australian MMA coach named Renato Subotic was also placed in detention by US immigration officials for 24 hours due to a visa “mistake”.

Being detained without charge is a human rights violation and goes against international law. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which both Australia and the United States are signatories to, covers this in Article 9. Even so, the United States does it freely anyway and there’s very little that any other country has done to prevent them. It’s not like Australia has a leg to stand on when criticising this practice anyway. We started the trend of doing this to refugees.

Even so, you’d think that the government would at the very least warn travellers that there is a very real chance travelling to America would lead you to being locked up for potentially over a month without trial. Instead the only news we’ve heard from Foreign Minister Penny Wong on this matter is that Australia has joined the United States’ Global Entry program back in March. This means we join an elite club of 15 other countries, America’s other besties around the world such as the United Kingdom and South Korea, who enjoy faster immigration channels at major US airports. Senator Wong stated, “Expansion of the Global Entry Program is a testament to the closeness and friendship between our people”.

Advice for queer travellers: Don’t go to America!

And, I can’t stress this enough, these are cis white people. What about the rest of us? How at risk are we?

Equality Australia has issued a travel alert, warning that “Travel to the US now carries serious risk for LGBTIQ+ people”.

It goes over five pages and it’s worth a read, even if you don’t plan on visiting America. To summarise, Equality Australia recommends that transgender people, or people with a history of queer activism, should advice extreme caution when travelling into the United States, citing that border forces in America have a notorious reputation of violence towards marginalised people, and urged trans Australians to contact the US consulate or a migration lawyer before travelling.

This travel alert came alongside official advice from governments of several European countries aimed also at their queer citizens. Denmark and Germany warned non-binary citizens who have an X marker on their passports that they should contact the US embassy before travelling, while the UK actively warned “You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.”

Similar warnings are also coming from queer activists within America itself. Transgender activist and writer Erin Reed has been keeping a “National Risk Assessment Map” of the United States on her website, detailing each state’s safety level for trans people, from the “safest states with strong protections” all the way to “worst laws passed” and “do not travel”. As of March, Texas and Florida are both in the “do not travel” zone, while fifteen other states are “worst laws passed”.

As of the United States as a whole, Erin Reed grimly states that “I’ve designated the United States a “Do Not Travel” zone for non-essential travel for transgender people without a full understanding of the legal environment, due to the heightened risk of visa revocation, denial of entry, or detention”.

Equality Australia issuing their own travel alert in this way is extremely rare, and if anything, does more to showcase the Australian government’s deafening silence on this issue. Smartraveller does have specific advice for LGBTQIA+ travellers, although the advice is vague and can basically be summarised by “just look up the local laws”.

The United States travel advice for LGBTQIA+ people is even more vague, merely stating that “some states and localities have laws that may discriminate against or otherwise affect LGBTQIA+ travellers. Check relevant state and local laws”, and that “Although Australian passports comply with international standards for sex and gender, we can't guarantee that a passport showing 'X' in the sex field will be accepted for entry or transit by another country. Contact the nearest United States Embassy or Consulate before you travel for further information.”

Nonsense contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and ask if they were preparing any updated statement on travel to the United States, or anything specifically directed at LGBTQIA+ travellers similar to that of European governments. I received this:

“We recommend Australians travelling abroad to read Smartraveller and to contact the nearest embassy, high commission or consulate of your destination for further information.

Australians can also subscribe to our USA Travel Advice. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) keeps all travel advisories under close review to ensure that we provide accurate and up-to-date information.”

The sheer irony of this is that America is an enticing destination for queer tourists right now. Pride Month is just around the corner, despite what Google might say. WorldPride is scheduled to take place in Washington D.C. from 17 May to 8 June, but the organisers have also released an official warning for queer people seeking to travel to America for the global event too.

“Due to an executive order issued by the U.S. president on Jan. 20, all travelers must select either ‘male’ or ‘female’ when applying for entry or visas. The gender listed at birth will be considered valid. If your passport has ‘X’ as a gender marker or differs from your birth-assigned gender, we strongly recommend contacting the U.S. diplomatic mission before travelling to confirm entry requirements.”

So, to conclude, all the expert advice is that America is far too dangerous to travel to right now, but for whatever reason, the Australian government hasn’t translated this into an official government warning.

The impact of bad travel advice

The lack of an Australian government response doesn’t change the fact that the human impact is very real.

Statistics vary but the secretive and illegal nature of the indefinite detention system, but the abolitionist organisation Freedom for Immigrants says there are 350,000 people in indefinite detention each year across two hundred centres currently operational across the United States. In 2022, under the Biden administration, the Supreme Court ruled that immigrants detained in America are not entitled to a bond hearing and thus can be detained without trial indefinitely. Earlier this year, Trump pledged to expand Guantanamo Bay, known for its use of torture on its detainees, to house up to 30,000 migrants.

Australia’s use of indefinite detention against refugees was once considered one of our deepest scandals, facing international condemnation, but now it is the policy of both major parties and its normalisation has led to it being adopted across the world. As a result, we face a world in which its impossible to guarantee the safety of anyone travelling abroad, even to our closest allies, and it’s unclear whether our government will intervene to protect us.

On top of that, let’s pay some mind to the fact that American trans people are fleeing their home country in droves too, and there are even relocation guides available online. Trans people are far more accustomed than most to living in a hostile world, with many countries most people consider “friendly” being no-go zones for us, but even so, it’s a very hard pill to swallow to see the country of Elliot Page, Hunter Schafer and 100 gecs being added to the no-go list. So much for my Coachella plans.

Our trailblazing mistreatment of refugees is also well in the spotlight now that the world is grappling with the concept of queer refugees. This isn’t a new phenomenon – queer people have been fleeing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran for yonks – but it’s impossible to escape now that a flood of American trans people are desperately escaping their home country. Suppose a trans woman, wanting to escape America, flies to Australia and ends up overstaying her visa. Do we really feel comfortable sending her back into the hands of American border police? Is that really not our problem?

The Australian government doesn’t appear to have a clear response to these questions, but it doesn’t mean we can just pretend they don’t exist. There are American people living in Australia right now, terrified of how safe they may be if they ever want to move back, or if it’s better for them to just stay here. In the case of American trans women, never seeing their home country again may just be the best option.

I asked Morgan, a trans woman from New York State now living in Australia, about how she feels about her prospects travelling back to her home country. Her response was very clear:

“I'm terrified! I’m terrified that the US is paving the way for their hatred to become the norm worldwide. I’m terrified I'll have to move back, and not knowing what to do or how I'll continue to be able to live as myself in such a vitriolic fearmongering country.”

When I asked about her advice for people thinking of travelling to America, she added:

“The simple answer of course is to not go, to not risk anything. But I know that's unrealistic. So I'll just say, please do your research. What states are safe for queer people, which cities or counties are best and most welcoming. Make sure you have safe and loving connections wherever you're planning to go. And always always always, have some form of self defense on you.”

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Natalie Feliks is a writer and activist originally from Adelaide, now living in Melbourne. She's written for the likes of Junkee, Crikey, and Overland, and spends her time listening to pop music and eating chocolate.

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