A U.S. immigratn board mt ci whether non-U.S. cizens who are perceived to be gay their home untri n qualify for asylum the U.S. regardls of their actual sexual orientatn, a feral appeals urt said on Thursday.
Contents:
- PEOPLE PERCEIVED TO BE GAY ULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR ASYLUM, U.S. URT SAYS
- GAY ASYLUM SEEKERS: APPLITNS AND COUNTRY OF ORIG
PEOPLE PERCEIVED TO BE GAY ULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR ASYLUM, U.S. URT SAYS
* gay asylum application *
However, if ndns the applint’s home untry have changed sce s/he was persecuted–for example, if an anti-homosexualy law has been overturned–an applitn may be nied. REUTERS/Noah BergerSummaryLaw FirmsPeople thought to be gay uld be 'social group' unr asylum lawCourt says immigratn board mt ci issueGuatemalan woman beaten, threatened for wearg men's cloth(Rters) - A U. Board of Immigratn Appeals (BIA) has for s held that gay people om certa untri qualify as such social BIA was wrong to fd that Anton's asylum applitn had more to do wh the way she drsed than her sexual orientatn, Circu Judge Mark Bent wrote for the panel.
Sanchez his ncurrg opn said he believed that people perceived as gay would qualify as a social group based on other urt s that volved perceived or imputed characteristics.
Severe persecutn and discrimatn om both State and non-State actors force lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, tersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) persons – cludg children and olr persons, wh and whout disabili – to leave their plac of habual rince search of a safe environment which they n fully exercise their rights. LGBTIQ+ persons who do cross a natnal borr may arrive untri where they face siar or higher risks of homophobic, bi-phobic and transphobic vlence om both natnals of the host untry as well as om other displaced people.
GAY ASYLUM SEEKERS: APPLITNS AND COUNTRY OF ORIG
The first two versns of the Manual were thored by Heather McClure of the Midwt Human Rights Partnership for Sexual Orientatn, a project of MIHRC; Christopher Nugent, a Board member of Immigratn Equaly (formerly known as the Lbian and Gay Immigratn Rights Task Force, LGIRTF); and Lavi Soloway, one of the founrs of Immigratn Equaly and a pneer the work of LGBT and HIV asylum claims. 4 In 1994, Attorney General Ja Reno clared as precent the Matter of Toboso-Alfonso se which a gay Cuban man was found to be eligible for whholdg of removal on the basis of his membership the PSG of homosexuals.
Although those who intify as transgenr have not been explicly found to be nsired members of a PSG for asylum purpos, urts have regnized that “gay men wh female sexual inti” (problematic as this formulatn may be) nstute a social group and may be persecuted based on this inty. Generally asylum s, the persecutor tends harm to the victim, however, urts have acknowledged that persecutn n occur even when the persecutor has no tentn to harm the victim, such as when a gay person is subjected to electroshock therapy to “cure” her sexual orientatn.
The Internatnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn reports that the ernments of Atralia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Fland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Thailand, and the UK have granted asylum on the basis of sexual orientatn.