Gays Seeking Asylum in U.S. Encounter a New Hurdle

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NY Times:
Gays Seeking Asylum in U.S. Encounter a New Hurdle
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Romulo Castro considered attending his asylum interview in Rosedale, Queens, dressed as Fidela Castro, a towering drag queen in six-inch stilettos, a bright green poodle skirt and a mane of strawberry blond hair. In the end, Mr. Castro, 34, opted for what he described as understatement: pink eye shadow, a bright pink V-neck shirt and intermittent outbursts of tears.
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Romulo Castro, who is gay, feared deportation to his native Brazil.
After years of trying to conceal his sexual orientation back home in Brazil (where Fidela never made an appearance), Mr. Castro had been advised by his immigration lawyer that flaunting it was now his best weapon against deportation.
“I was persecuted for being fruity, a boy-girl, a fatso, a ****** — I felt like a monster,” said Mr. Castro, who reported being raped by an uncle at age 12, sexually abused by two police officers, and hounded and beaten by his peers before fleeing to the United States in 2000. “Here, being gay was my salvation. So I knew I had to put on the performance of my life.”
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Amid international outcry over news of the Czech Republic’s testing the veracity of claims of purportedly gay asylum seekers by attaching genital cuffs to monitor their arousal while they watched pornography, some gay refugees and their advocates in New York are complaining that they can be penalized for not outwardly expressing their sexuality. While asylum-seekers and rights groups here expressed relief that use of the so-called erotic lie detector is impossible to imagine in the United States, some lamented in recent interviews that here too, homosexuals seeking asylum may risk being dismissed as not being gay enough.
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. . . .
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Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, said each case is examined individually, both for evidence of sexual orientation and the conditions of the country of origin. While she declined to comment specifically on the examples cited by Mr. Marrero and Ms. Neilson, Ms. Rhatigan said such behavior by immigration officers would not be condoned.
“We don’t say that someone is insufficiently gay or homosexual, whatever that would mean, or that he or she could be saved by hiding his or her homosexuality,” Ms. Rhatigan said. “Sexual preference is an immutable characteristic. It is something an individual can’t or shouldn’t change.”
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First off, I didn’t know being gay is a basis for asylum, but expecting INS officials to assay “gayness” is silly.
Second, claiming persecution seems like an easy claim to make, as Mr Castro says in the article he was “putting on the performance of his life”.

Last – when did the US gov’t decide sexual orientation is fixed like skin color?
 
didymus said:
First off, I didn’t know being gay is a basis for asylum, but expecting INS officials to assay “gayness” is silly.
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If deportation would result in the individual being persecuted in their home country then there is a basis for asylum. That includes homosexuality. The INS doesn’t asses “gayness”; it asesses fear of persecution.
didymus said:
Second, claiming persecution seems like an easy claim to make, as Mr Castro says in the article he was “putting on the performance of his life”.
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It’s hard to say what the decision of the INS will be in this case. There are ALOT of hate crimes against the LGBT community in Brazil but they are not state sanctioned.
 
Just what we need.

God Bless you.
+Jesus, I Trust In You!
Love, Dawn
 
DawnInTexas said:
Just what we need.

I’m with you-I am soooo tired of the homosexuals claiming martyrdom. It’s tiring to read.

What they really need to do is REPENT!
God Bless you.
+Jesus, I Trust In You!
Love, Dawn
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Previous post I’m trying to delete, and it’s not working…

What I was trying to say was:

Dawn in Texas, I’m with you. I’m getting really tired of the homosexual community always claiming martyrdom.

What they really need to do is REPENT! HOW HARD IS THAT TO UNDERSTAND???

Sheesh…
 
barb_finnegan said:
Previous post I’m trying to delete, and it’s not working…

What I was trying to say was:

Dawn in Texas, I’m with you. I’m getting really tired of the homosexual community always claiming martyrdom.

What they really need to do is REPENT! HOW HARD IS THAT TO UNDERSTAND???

Sheesh…
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I could read it. 👍

God Bless you.
+Jesus, I Trust In You!
Love, Dawn
 
didymus said:
NY Times:

First off, I didn’t know being gay is a basis for asylum, but expecting INS officials to assay “gayness” is silly.
Second, claiming persecution seems like an easy claim to make, as Mr Castro says in the article he was “putting on the performance of his life”.

Last – when did the US gov’t decide sexual orientation is fixed like skin color?
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They already do it here in Canada. Especially if your from countries that are known anti-gay such as Islamic countries, you can claim refugee status here in Canada.
 
Santi2 said:
It is the same in the UK.
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Since you’re in the UK, you must have known about the woman ?] from Uganda who was going to be deported because she was a lesbian, and Uganda has the death penalty for homosexuals.

And then some soft-hearted judge stops the deportation at the last minute!

Ugh…like I said, I’m tired of the homosexual lobby and their ‘martyrdom act’! :mad:
 
barb_finnegan said:
Since you’re in the UK, you must have known about the woman ?] from Uganda who was going to be deported because she was a lesbian, and Uganda has the death penalty for homosexuals.

And then some soft-hearted judge stops the deportation at the last minute!

Ugh…like I said, I’m tired of the homosexual lobby and their ‘martyrdom act’! :mad:
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I hope you’re not condoning the death penalty for homosexuality.

My problem is with the asylum itself; lots of claims are easy to make and hard to prove or disprove. In lots of countries women are treated as second-class citizens or worse, Shi’a Muslims are persecuted by Sunnis & vice versa, plus ethnic persecution. We can’t grant all these claims.

One thing, at least at lot of the asylum claims I’ve seen in the media are by illegals who were caught & in the process of being deported. The law should be if you want asylum ask for it when you land here.
 
barb_finnegan said:
Previous post I’m trying to delete, and it’s not working…

What I was trying to say was:

Dawn in Texas, I’m with you. I’m getting really tired of the homosexual community always claiming martyrdom.

What they really need to do is REPENT! HOW HARD IS THAT TO UNDERSTAND???

Sheesh…
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And after repenting, one remains with the homosexual problem.

Why is this so hard to understand?
 
barb_finnegan said:
Since you’re in the UK, you must have known about the woman ?] from Uganda who was going to be deported because she was a lesbian, and Uganda has the death penalty for homosexuals.

And then some soft-hearted judge stops the deportation at the last minute!

Ugh…like I said, I’m tired of the homosexual lobby and their ‘martyrdom act’! :mad:
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So, are you saying that she should have been deported so the Ugandan authorities could murder her?

How does this fall in line with the Church’s teaching on how we are to treat homosexual persons?
 
Would you folks force the deportation of a Bahai person seeking asylum from Iran, for example? They could surely be beaten to death in their homeland? They are in a state of grave sin by not believing in the One True Church and therefore should be banished with the homosexuals to their executions. Brilliant.
 
barb_finnegan said:
Since you’re in the UK, you must have known about the woman ?] from Uganda who was going to be deported because she was a lesbian, and Uganda has the death penalty for homosexuals.

And then some soft-hearted judge stops the deportation at the last minute!

Ugh…like I said, I’m tired of the homosexual lobby and their ‘martyrdom act’! :mad:
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I do not think that the judge was being soft-hearted. Where there is real persecution on the basis of sexual orientation and it is genuinely established that the person will be severely persecuted on return to country of origin, then there are grounds to grant leave to stay in this country.
 
Santi2 said:
I do not think that the judge was being soft-hearted. Where there is real persecution on the basis of sexual orientation and it is genuinely established that the person will be severely persecuted on return to country of origin, then there are grounds to grant leave to stay in this country.
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Of course, the specific UK case was certainly rather fishy. I intended to refer to the people here who believe it abhorrent to allow even genuine seekers of asylum who are running away from barbaric execution on basis of sexual orientation.
 
grampben said:
Of course, the specific UK case was certainly rather fishy. I intended to refer to the people here who believe it abhorrent to allow even genuine seekers of asylum who are running away from barbaric execution on basis of sexual orientation.
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Fishy, in the sense that she is not truly homosexual?
 
grampben said:
Yes, exactly.
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Thanks. I am not familiar with the material facts of the case and had to refer to articles relating to it. Seems to be that she won a temporary reprieve on the basis of affidavits from relatives in Uganda supporting her claim that she is a lesbian. It was also reported that they have traced her partner (who is Canadian and has gone back to Canada) but, has not given any statement in respect of the asylum-seeker’s claim relating to their circumstances in Uganda.
I have explained that my original comment wasn’t do to with that case
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I understand that. Also, that we share the same position in respect of those who are genuinely persecuted.
 
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