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Dr Mengia Tschalaer talks to Dr Natasha Carver about her research on the difficulties of being a lesbian asylum-seeking parent, in terms of how their identity as a ‘mother’ is seen as incompatible with an asylum claim based on being a ‘lesbian’ and how their circumstances often mean they have to leave their children behind. Mengia Tschalaer is an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Bristol, Research Fellow at Brunel Law School and Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Political Science, City University of New York. She is a legal and social anthropologist who examines how Westernised conceptions of human rights affect the access to justice of minority groups. Her recent publications include: Natasha Carver is a Lecturer in International Criminology at the University of Bristol. She is the author of ‘Marriage, Gender and Refugee Migration’ (Rutgers University Press, 2021). MMB Insights and Sounds is a series of interviews by members of Migration Mobilities Bristol (MMB) with colleagues around the world on key issues relating to migration and mobilities. This interview was recorded on 21st January 2022. To support the children of lesbian refugee mothers in Germany you can donate to this gofundme account mentioned at the end of the interview: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-kids-of-lesbianbitrans-ugandan-refuguees Recent publications by Mengia Tschalaer: Tschalaer, M. 2020. Victimhood and Femininity in Black Lesbian Asylum Cases in Germany. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2020.1772735. Tschalaer, M. 2020. Experiences of Waiting for LGBTQI+ Asylum Claimants in Germany: A Form of State Control and Resistance. In: Maria Lis Baiochhi “Gender Politics in the Age of Patriarchal Authoritarianism”. Political and Legal Anthropology Review. Tschalaer, M. 2021.Fighting for asylum, as a lesbian and as a mother. openDemocracy. 8. December. Tschalaer. M. 2021. The Istanbul Convention and Queer Women Seeking Asylum. 7. June. Policy Bristol. (Also available in German.) Tschalaer, M. 2022. Increasing Isolation of LGBTQI+ Asylum Claimants During Covid-19 in the UK. Journal of Contemporary European Research. [open access] Tschalaer, M. 2022. Queer Motherhood in the Context of Legal Precarity: Experiences of Lesbian Mothers Seeking Asylum in Germany. Ethnic and Racial Studies. DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2022.2085055 [open access] Tschalaer, M. 2022. Queering migration temporalities: LGBTQI+ experiences with waiting within Germany’s asylum system. Ethnic and Racial Studies, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2022.2076566 [open access]