Asylum seekers ‘posing’ as gay reminds me of my own immigration ordeal

I felt that, if my sexuality wasn’t believed, I would be classified as someone gaming the system (Picture: Scarlett Novoa)

‘Apart from your family, who else noticed you were behaving femininely?’

‘Were you in a gay relationship in Burma?’ 

I had to wait 16 months for an asylum interview in the UK, because my life was at risk if I returned home, only to be asked these intrusive questions.

It felt like a slap in the face. 

So when I saw a recent BBC investigation reveal that legal advisors were helping migrants get asylum by telling them to pretend to be gay, I felt deeply hurt remembering this interrogation.

The process of getting an asylum claim a...