On Monday Ms Apata will hand in a petition to Theresa May, the Home Secretary, demanding that the deportation of all LGBT asylum-seekers is halted until a review of their treatment is concluded reports The Independent.

Sitting with her girlfriend, Happiness Agboro, in a bar on Manchester’s Canal Street, Ms Apata, 47, reveals the traumatic ordeal she has experienced: “I was asked to bring my supporting documents for my judicial review for the court to look at. What evidence do we have to compile apart from letters from people? I knew we had a home video of ourselves, so I thought why not just put it in? I cannot afford to go back to my county where I will be tortured, so if I have to prove it with a sexual video, then I have to do it.”

Her experience is echoed by many LGBT asylum-seekers in Britain who are having to go to extreme lengths to persuade sceptical immigration officers of their sexuality. She still feels distraught at having shared such an intimate record of her personal life.

“I feel so bad it’s got to this stage. It’s such a desperate and precarious situation to be in, very dangerous, because anything could happen to those pictures, those videos.”

The Home Secretary ordered a review of how border officials handle gay asylum claims in March after leaked documents revealed that inappropriate interrogation techniques were being used to make people “prove” they were homosexual.

Ms Apata will present her petition at a meeting with the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, attended by asylum-seekers and activists in Manchester.

For Ms Apata, the threat of deportation has proved too much and she has recently been hospitalised with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. “I want sanctuary,” she says. “I just want to be protected. I want to be who I am.”

Read rest of her story over at The Independent.