“LGBTQ people are immigrants and immigration is an LGBTQ issue” (Washington, D.C., April 10, 2013)—Today, national lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) advocacy organizations join local, state, and national immigration, civil rights, and LGBTQ groups and advocates marching for justice for all immigrants on National Immigration Day of Action. Standing in solidarity with the immigration movement in calling on Congress to do the right thing and pass fair and humane comprehensive...
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Gay asylum
E.G. is a young gay man from Uganda who came to the United States in order to pursue higher education. As a child and young adult, he was often verbally abused by his family members for behaving in a way that seemed too different from other boys. As he grew older, he learned to hide his sexuality for fear of being arrested by the police on the basis of his sexual orientation. E.G. hid from government operatives who hunt down men who are suspected to be gay, and then once arrested, are often...
Saul Martinez is a gay man from Guatemala who was beaten, sexually assaulted, and threatened by Guatemalan Congressman and repeatedly harassed by the Guatemalan police because of his sexual orientation. He fled to the United States and applied for asylum. However, in 1992, when he initially applied for asylum without an attorney, the U.S. had not yet recognized sexual orientation as a ground for asylum. Afraid of being forced back to Guatemala, where he feared for his life, Martinez did not...
N.A. is a young gay man from Saudi Arabia, who lived his life in fear that others would discover his sexual orientation. He knew that gay men were often detained by police, tortured and killed‚ and he also knew that his family would disapprove or even turn him in to the police if they found out about his sexual orientation. As a result, he often hid his feelings towards men, fearing the repercussions. Growing up, it was very difficult for him to accept his sexual orientation while he was...
Y.G. is a transgender woman from Mexico who suffered severe physical and mental abuse from her family because of her gender identity. Growing up, her family insisted that she act more “masculine,” and she was physically abused when she refused. She went to the police, but they ignored her need for protection. In February 2007, Y.G. was badly beaten by gang members who left her bleeding from head wounds. Fearing for her life, she fled to the United States. In February 2009, she was...
R.T. is a gay man from Peru who fled to the United States because he was the victim of severe harassment and violence in his home country. While in Lima, Peru, he was physically assaulted several times in public, and was subjected to sexual abuse as well. The persecution started when he was young, with verbal and emotional abuse that eventually led to physical abuse. As he grew older, the abuse and harassment only worsened. After being stripped naked at his workplace by co-workers who...
V.R., a gay man from Mexico, had been taunted, harassed, and assaulted for most of his life. His stepfather was particularly abusive and attempted to “make a man” out of V.R. and “correct” his sexual orientation. V.R. was also subject to constant verbal and physical harassment at school, which only worsened as he got older. He suffered physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at the hands of classmates, family members, and people in his neighborhood. He eventually left his...
R.F. is a young gay man from Honduras who is seeking asylum in the United States. Growing up, R.F. was physically and emotionally abused by his grandmother and uncles because he didn’t conform to gender stereotypes. At school he was also targeted by older children, and when he would try to seek help from his teachers or the principal, he was told that he needed to behave more like a “man” so that the other kids would stop harassing him. By the time he was 13- years-old, his...
M.Q. is a native and citizen of Mexico. When M.Q. was a child, his father often accused him of being a “sissy,” and as he grew up, M.Q. was physically assaulted many times by his family, peers, and police because he was gay. One gang of teenage boys who had beaten M.Q. threatened him and told him that if they ever saw him again, they would kill him. In December 2003, M.Q. encountered them again and barely escaped alive. M.Q. fled Mexico, and arrived in the U.S. in January 2004....