Latest news with #AsifaLahore
The Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
This year's Pride in London headliner unveiled
Pride in London 2025 has announced its full line-up, featuring headliner Chaka Khan, as well as Eurovision winner JJ, Miriana Conte, and Ru Paul's Drag Race UK star La Voix. The annual event, celebrating 53 years of Pride in the capital, is one of the UK's largest, drawing over 1.7 million attendees and expecting 33,000 participants. The parade is scheduled for Saturday, 6 July, starting at 12pm from Hyde Park Corner and proceeding through central London to Whitehall Place, led by Mayor Sadiq Khan. Performances will take place across six main areas including Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Golden Square, Soho Square, Dean Street, and a Family Stage at Victoria Embankment. The event will be hosted by Will Njobvu and Asifa Lahore, with guest hosts including Frankie Grande, and full details and a parade map are available online.
Telegraph
21-02-2025
- Telegraph
The Muslim drag queen helping asylum seekers prove they are gay
A Muslim drag queen has acted as a witness for as many as 12 asylum seekers trying to prove they are gay, The Telegraph can reveal. Asifa Lahore, Britain's 'first out Muslim drag queen' who is a trans woman, gave evidence in '10 or 12' immigration appeals within one year, court documents show. The 42-year-old Southall-born artist and DJ also gave evidence in three separate asylum seeker cases. Several of those identified by The Telegraph were appeals in which asylum seekers claimed they were gay or bisexual and that their lives would be at risk if they returned to their home countries. The Telegraph reported last year how a record number of asylum seekers claiming to be gay had been allowed to stay in Britain, rising to 2,133 up from 762. In 2019, just 475 claims were successful. Sceptics believe some asylum seekers may be gaming the system by pretending to be homosexual as a means of having their application granted. It follows a string of exposures by the Telegraph showing how migrants use human rights defences including their sexuality, having a family in Britain or traumatic experiences in the countries they have fled from, in an effort to avoid deportation orders. Court documents suggest Lahore contributed both written and oral evidence in immigration cases while holding the position of a sexual health worker for the NAZ project charity. Documents from a 2023 ruling on the failed appeal of a Bangladeshi citizen show that Lahore claimed to be a 'well-known LGBT person, fully self-employed as Britain's 'first out Muslim drag queen''.
