Bridging Language and Identity: Working with LGBTIQA+ Clients in Asylum, Protection, and Migration Contexts

Interpreters in migration, asylum, and refugee contexts increasingly work with clients who identify as LGBTIQA+ and face compounding forms of vulnerability—including displacement, trauma, and identity-based marginalisation.

This workshop addresses a pressing training gap and equips interpreters with the knowledge, skills, and ethical clarity required to work respectfully and effectively with Rainbow Migrants (RMs). It seeks to enhance inclusive service delivery, support interpreter wellbeing, and uphold human rights principles.

Overview

Rainbow Migrants—LGBTIQA+ people navigating the asylum and migration systems—often experience intersecting forms of harm such as state persecution, familial rejection, detention, and trauma linked to both identity and displacement. After arrival, new challenges emerge: racism, exclusion from local LGBTIQA+ spaces, and alienation from diaspora communities.

Interpreting in such contexts demands more than linguistic accuracy—it requires a nuanced understanding of Rainbow Migrants’ lived experiences before, during, and after their migration journey. Interpreters must also bring cultural responsiveness, ethical discernment, and a trauma-informed approach. Without these, communication missteps—such as misgendering, deadnaming, or misunderstanding gender and sexual diversity—can result in significant breaches of trust, safety, and dignity.

This session empowers interpreters to navigate these challenges with competence, compassion, and cultural humility.

Participants will:

• Gain foundational knowledge of LGBTIQA+ experiences and identities, concepts, and terminology across cultural and linguistic boundaries.
• Explore the intersection of migration, sexual orientation and gender identity.
• Develop ethical and trauma-informed interpreting practices tailored for emotionally charged scenarios.
• Enhance their confidence in supporting dignity and cultural safety while maintaining professional neutrality.
• Engage in reflective and peer-supported learning to build resilience and professional growth.

This session will be facilitated by Dr Lukasz Krzyzowski, Edith Cowan University / Rainbow Migrants. 

Dr Lukasz Krzyzowski (he/him) is a Vice Chancellor's Research Fellow at Edith Cowan University and the founder and director of Rainbow Migrants. An applied sociologist, his work centres on co-designing community-driven initiatives and developing evidence-based policy to strengthen the sense of belonging, wellbeing, and social support networks for culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) LGBTIQA+ communities, including refugees and people seeking asylum.

With a strong commitment to inclusive practice, Dr Krzyzowski serves on the boards of GLBTI Rights in Ageing (GRAI) and Sexual Health Quarters, is an advisory committee member for LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, and contributes to the reference group shaping Western Australia’s whole-of-government LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Strategy.

As part of NAATI’s professional development program, Dr Krzyzowski delivers Bridging Language and Identity — a workshop designed to equip interpreters with essential knowledge about the lived experiences and cultural contexts of rainbow migrants, whose realities are often complex, intersectional, and shaped by migration, sexual and gender diversity, and broader marginalisation. The workshop also supports interpreter wellbeing and promotes inclusive, rights-based practice in asylum, protection, and migration settings.

• Date and Time: Wednesday, 21st May | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM, 2 hours
• Venue: In person only, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley – Building 18 (Department of Education), Room 18.106
• NAATI PD points: 10 points, category 1.4
• Target Audience: NAATI-credentialed interpreters, there are limited places available for current interpreting students.
• Cost: No cost, places are strictly limited

Note, an Auslan interpreter can be provided at the event, please note this in the accessibility requirements.