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African & Middle Eastern LGBTQ asylees in spotlight on World Channel | New York Carib News

WORLD Channel is spotlighting the struggles of refugees and asylum seekers with two films airing this Sunday.

(l-r) Junior, Mari, Cheyenne, and Subhi, LGBTQ asylum seekers profiled in Unsettled, airing on WORLD Channel’s DocWorld series on June 28 

On  Sunday, June 28, the WORLD Channel series Doc WORLD  will premiere the film Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America from filmmaker Tom Shepard as part of WORLD Channel’s salute to Pride Month.

Following four young members of the LGBTQ  community, Unsettled takes viewers into the lives and struggles of these asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East who are fleeing persecution, death threats and more in their homelands but often find new types of hardships as they arrive in San Francisco and attempt to start new lives there:

– Syrian refugee Subhi arrives in the U.S. and soon becomes an advocate for the LGBTQ community — testifying before the United Nations about the treatment of those in the LGBTQ community in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region nations and being profiled by Out Magazine, NBC News and more–even as he worries for his family’s fate back home

-Junior, a gender non-conforming refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo arrives in San Francisco but soon struggles with  depression, housing instability, and alcoholism while trying to secure stable work

-Mari and Cheyenne, forced to flee their native Angola because they are a lesbian couple, fight against time and a temporary visa status that may see them sent back to a place where they cannot safely be together.

Unsettled premieres on Sunday, June 28 at 10pm ET/7pm PT on WORLD Channel and worldchannel.org.

An image from Terefu and Her Children by Lowell Handler, airing on WORLD Channel on June 28

Airing with Unsettled is a short documentary Terefu and Her Children.

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