PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Culture and Communication
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1592003
This article is part of the Research TopicVoices across Borders: Navigating Linguistic and Cultural Landscapes for LGBTQ+ Migrants in Host CountriesView all 3 articles
Towards Language Justice: Queering Solidarities Between Interpreters, Service Providers and Community Members
Provisionally accepted
- 1Queer Language Justice Network, Melbourne, Australia
- 2NAATI Certified Arabic translator & interpreter, Melbourne, Australia
- 3Mind Australia Limited, Heidelberg, Australia
- 4Narrative Therapy Practitioner, Melbourne, Australia
- 5NAATI Certified Spanish translator & interpreter, Melbourne, Australia
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This article is a dialogue between community interpreters (Arabic and Spanish), service provider (narrative therapy practitioner), and a community member (Spanishspeaking) exploring the linguistic challenges that LGBTIQ+ Forcibly Displaced People (LFDP) experience during their settlement process in Australia. English language supremacy shapes the forms of epistemic and structural injustice that subjugate LFDP. In order to highlight the power invested in language services, the authors examine queer and feminist interpreting and translating practices which centre lived experience. This article proposes a practice of solidarity between the language practitioner (community interpreter), community member and service provider in the context of LFDP, which may be in tension with the AUSIT Code of Ethics' principles of impartiality and neutrality. The authors suggest the need for community interpreters to engage in more meaningful allyship and solidarity with LFDP, their histories, and lived experiences in order to achieve best outcomes for the community.
Keywords: queer (LGBTQ), Language justice, forcibly displaced people, Refugee, Asylum seeker, Lived experience
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 10 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Touma, Hanman Siegersma and Ah Ket. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mikhael Touma, Queer Language Justice Network, Melbourne, Australia
Frankie Hanman Siegersma, Mind Australia Limited, Heidelberg, Australia
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