Non-binary recalls horrific beating at hands of police

Non-binary asylum seeker who won landmark appeal to stay in UK recalls horrific beating at hands of police

A non-binary artist who won a landmark asylum appeal to stay in the UK says they are “one of the lucky ones” after revealing they survived a police beating in El Salvador.

The 29-year-old, who came to the UK in 2017 after several of their LGBT+ friends were murdered, was beaten up by a group of police officers in El Salvador who told them “now we will teach you how to be a man”.

Their asylum claim said that gay and transgender people in El Salvador, including five of their friends, are routinely kidnapped, tortured and killed, and bodies are sometimes found with their genitals removed.

In November, they were granted asylum on the basis that they would face persecution for their gender identity if returned to El Salvador.

The citizen, referred to in court as Mx M, is non-binary, but the judge concluded they would be perceived as a transgender woman and persecuted on that basis. It was the first time an English court expressly ruled that being non-binary can be grounds for asylum.

“The judge turned to me and started speaking in Spanish, which is my first language. I didn’t know she spoke Spanish,” Mx M told the Liverpool Echo.

“She told me she wanted to let me know in my own language that she accepted my asylum claim. She said I have the right to be in the UK, I have the right to be free and I have the right to be who I want to be.

“It was a highlight of my life, I started crying. Because that is when I knew I could have all the opportunities that were denied to me in El Salvador.”