Martin is an HIV-positive gay man from Mexico. Martin felt ‘different’ from other boys from a very young age. His father would punish him harshly for “not acting like a boy.” Upon finding out about his son’s homosexuality, Martin’s father beat him, verbally abused him and then kicked him out of the house with no belongings. He was 15 years old. Since then he has had no contact with his family. He moved in with a friend and started working at the age of 16....
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LGBT Asylum
LGBT, HIV/AIDS, and Immigrant-Rights Organizations Submit Brief in Support of His Asylum Claim (Falls Church, VA, August 4, 2008)—Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) filed an amicus brief with the Board of Immigration Appeals in Falls Church, Virginia on behalf of a number of other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), HIV/AIDS, and immigrant-rights organizations in support of a gay Pakistani man with...
Department of Health and Human Service Now Must Act to Repeal Regulations (Washington, D.C., August 4, 2008)—Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) released a statement applauding Congress and President Bush’s repeal of a statutory ban on immigration to the United States by people with HIV, and called upon the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) to follow suit and implement these changes to their current regulations. “The entry ban on HIV positive visitors and...
Immigration summit will strengthen relationships among immigrant and allied organizations and coordinate broad-based campaign strategy for 2008 and beyond (San Francisco,CA, February 7, 2008) — At the height of this critical election season, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and its allies are traveling to Washington, D.C. February 10-12, 2008 to take part in the second Fair Immigration Reform Movement Summit to launch the “Building America Together” campaign to revive...
Raised in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Valeria suffered tremendous abuse from the time she was a young child. By the time she was eight, her parents realized that Valeria was different from her nine siblings because of her gender identity. Years of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse followed. And at the age of thirteen, Valeria’s parents kicked her out of the house. In 1985, at age eighteen, Valeria came to the United States, where she received a scholarship to attend beauty school and became...
Irma is a Mexican transgender woman who has suffered a lifetime of loss, violence, and abuse. Irma is the eighth of ten children. From a very young age, Irma understood herself to be female. She socialized with girls and believed she would grow up to be a woman. She only started to doubt those beliefs when her family began to taunt her and physically abuse her. Her brothers wanted her to be macho and began to hit her to “toughen her up.” Throughout her life, Irma was targeted for...
Originally from Peru, Raul is a transgender man who, from a very early age, knew that he was in the wrong body. As a child, he woke up every morning waiting for his body to change from female to male. His family had a difficult time adjusting to their child’s gender identity and expression. In school, he endured verbal and physical attacks, isolation, and harassment on a daily basis. Despite the many obstacles that he faced in obtaining his education, he was admitted into a prestigious...
On July 24, 2002, Jorge Soto Vega filed for asylum based on persecution he suffered in Mexico because of his sexual orientation. As a child in Mexico, Soto Vega suffered abuse, harassment, and ridicule from family members and classmates because he was perceived to be gay. As a teenager, Soto Vega was severely beaten by officers of the Mexican police force upon suspicion that he was gay. The officers yelled derogatory slurs at Soto Vega as they threatened to kill him in order to “rid the...
Monica, a native and citizen of Colombia, came to the United States under a student visa. While in the United States, Monica came out as a lesbian. As a student Monica flourished in the arts, especially film making. She became an activist in the LGBT, immigration, and women’s rights movements. Through film, she explores the issue of lesbian rights. Her documentaries include: “Latinas Lesbianas,” interviews with Latina immigrant lesbians who are activists on issues such as...
The Eighth Circuit denied a petition for reconsideration of its prior decision denying asylum to W.K., a gay man from Zimbabwe. As a teenager in Zimbabwe, W.K. was imprisoned for being gay and suffered harassment and abuse from local authorities and neighbors, including being shocked with an electric wire. Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, was one of the most notoriously anti-gay leaders in the world. He has called lesbians and gay men “worse than dogs and pigs” and...