The Honor Roll: A young leader provides a lifeline for LGBTQ asylum seekers in the U.S.
In part 4 of the Honor Roll series, Katie Sgarro discusses her work to help LGBTQ people seeking refuge from persecution in their home countries
[Editor’s Note: In October, President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton convened the 10th annual CGI University meeting, which brought together more than 1,000 student leaders from around the world to advance new Commitments to Action that address climate change, gender inequality, the refugee crisis, and other pressing issues facing their generation. Over the next several weeks, our Q&A series — the Honor Roll — will highlight exceptional CGI U alumni who have confronted global challenges through their commitments and careers.]
Katie Sgarro was an undergraduate student at the University Pennsylvania when she met Sayid, who at the time was in the process of seeking asylum in the United States due to persecution based on his sexual orientation in his home country. Through this brave new friend she learned about the alarming lack of centralized information on safe resources to help the thousands of LGBTQ people who seek asylum in the U.S. every year. To fill the void, they co-founded the nonprofit AsylumConnect in 2014 to connect persecuted LGBTQ people with essential information upon their arrival in America.
Katie, AsylumConnect’s Co-Founder & President, attended the 2016 meeting of CGI University with plans to scale AsylumConnect’s website and mobile application designed to help LGBTQ asylum seekers find safe resources in the U.S. Her CGI U commitment led to the advancement of the first online resource database of its kind in the country. For her work on AsylumConnect, Katie was selected as the winner of the Millennium Peace Prize at the 7th Annual Millennium Campus Conference at the UN in 2015 and a finalist for the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference Pitch Competition this year. We asked Katie about her inspirations, her CGI U experience, and her advice for students aspiring to affect change.
CLINTON FOUNDATION: You came to CGI U with a commitment to scale your digital platform to help members of the LGBTQ community seeking asylum in the United States. What was the inspiration behind this?
I grew up in a small conservative town. My family went to Mass every Sunday. At school, there were no openly gay students or faculty. The adults I saw from day to day — my teachers, neighbors, friends’ parents — all seemed to wear wedding rings at a time when same-sex marriage was universally banned. So when I realized I was gay at the age of 11, I decided to bury my sexual orientation. Although I knew that “coming out” wouldn’t result in my death or imprisonment, I still couldn’t muster up the courage to say the words aloud.
When my friend at the University of Pennsylvania told me about his personal experiences as a LGBTQ asylum seeker, I was finally moved to action. I became profoundly aware that I had failed to speak out for over a decade in a country where I at least had that choice.
My past allows me to appreciate the tremendous bravery exhibited by LGBTQ asylum seekers. Many were activists in their home countries, who courageously chose to advocate for equality despite severe persecution. Witnessing their fortitude is what ultimately brought my own decision to remain “closeted” into perspective.
For me, AsylumConnect has always been personal. When I started working on AsylumConnect at the age of 21, I still wasn’t “out.” It was through AsylumConnect, where I worked to fight for others’ basic human right to live authentically, that I found my own motivation to “come out” at the age of 22.
CF: Can you remember the moment when you realized the impact that you were making through your CGI U commitment?
Whenever I need inspiration, I refer back to the first testimonial I ever read on the AsylumConnect catalog: “Thank you so much. I was trying to gather information such as yours, but this is the most comprehensive I have ever read.” — A LGBTQ asylum seeker from Jamaica.
Even at its most technically rudimentary form, our resource catalog filled a clear knowledge gap for LGBTQ asylum seekers in the U.S. Since then, I’ve used my CGI U Commitment to Action as additional motivation to continue to improve the AsylumConnect resource catalog and ultimately, to ensure it reaches its full potential.
CF: What was the most important lesson from your CGI U experience?
Feasibility is just as important as innovation. If you want to spur meaningful social change, you need both.
I really appreciate CGI U’s focus on action over words. Through asking all CGI U attendees to create a “Commitment to Action,” CGI U challenges young people to actually follow through on their ambitious plans to make a tangible, positive difference in the world. CGI U’s emphasis on implementation reinforced for me the value of critically evaluating social impact ideas for both innovation and feasibility.
CF: What’s the biggest piece of advice you would you give to college students looking to make their mark on the world while they’re still in school?
Start small, think big. Often, the best ideas come from solving our own problems. Therefore, my biggest piece of advice is relatively simple: strive to be the person who you wish you knew when you were younger.
For example, when I was growing up I wish I had more visible LGBTQ role models. I wish that there had been broader LGBTQ visibility in general, and that more people were building organizations that took into account the unique needs of the LGBTQ community. For you, this answer might be something completely different. The important consideration here is that you are tapping into your own personal experiences to help you identify any persisting gaps in services in the issue areas that you are most passionate about. Additionally, I urge you to use your own experiences to inform how you will then work to address any identified gaps in coverage, and remember that feasibility is just as important as innovation: your idea can be the most groundbreaking idea in the world but if it’s never implemented, there will be no impact.
That’s why I advise college students to “start small, think big.” Start with improving your own world before you broaden the scope (as scaling too fast can prove catastrophic to a young initiative).
If you are able to become the person who you needed when you were younger, I have no doubt that you will be able to make a tangible, meaningful impact.
CF: What has been your favorite moment as a member of the CGI U community?
Fresh off the plane, I remember taking a seat in a crowded auditorium minutes before the opening plenary session kicked off CGI U 2016. New to CGI U, I had little idea of what to expect.
Then, during her opening remarks, Chelsea Clinton gave a special shout-out to AsylumConnect and specifically, my AsylumConnect co-founder’s 2015 CGI U Commitment to Action. For me, it was a completely unexpected moment but very motivating moment. It was exciting to hear someone with a such a prominent public voice highlight AsylumConnect and join us in creating some much-needed awareness for LGBTQ asylum seekers.
