The religious element in the migration process is subject to multiple studies. This is not the case with regard to the religious element in the international protection of homosexual refugees. The aim of the research is to reconstruct, through a new sociological and juridical interdisciplinary methodology, the links between the religious and the demands of international protection for reasons related to sexual orientation. The study of the possible roles of the religious factor will be conducted through players (individuals or representatives of institutions or groups) who explicitly or implicitly put themselves in the asylum dynamics according to the religious element. The roles of religious players will be rebuilt through the qualitative approach of narrative interview and document collection. The research will be structured in four phases: 1) definition of the research and identification of the objectives; 2)elaboration of survey tools, collection of information through interviews and documents; 3) analysis of results and definition of hypotheses; 4) verification by comparing and triangulating information.
The research results will allow: a) to demonstrate the interweaving of religion and sexuality; b) to expose the relationship between a sociological model and a legal model of international protection; c) to innovatively investigate the dynamics of religious freedom and freedom of sexual orientation; d) to highlight the ambivalence of the religious factor with respect to homosexuality; e) to allow advancement in intersectional theory studies through unparalleled interweaving between religion and sexual orientation; f) to increase the reflection on discrimination based on multiple risk factors.
