Columbia Law School’s Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic has won asylum for a gay man who feared persecution because of his sexual orientation if forced to return to his native Brazil.
The grant, issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, comes at a time when conditions for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) individuals in Brazil are becoming more dangerous.
“In Brazil, I lived in constant fear for my life,” said the man, Augusto Pereira de Souza, 27. “I tried to hide that I was gay, but still faced repeated beatings, attacks, and threats on my life because I was gay. At times I was attacked by skinheads and brutally beaten by cops. After the cops attack you and threaten your life for being gay, you learn quickly that there is no one that will protect you. For me, coming to the U.S. was a life or death decision.”
Brazil has one of the highest rates of hate crimes against GLBT people in the world. Grupo Gay da Bahia, the leading GLBT rights organization in Brazil, reports that between 1980 and 2009 there were 2,998 reported murders of homosexuals in Brazil. In 2008 alone, over 190 GLBT people were murdered, and the actual number is likely to be much higher since many of these killings go unreported.
“Mr. Pereira de Souza’s story is unfortunately not unusual for a gay man in Brazil,” said Rena Stern ‘11 a student who worked on the case. “The number of attacks and murders based on sexual orientation in Brazil has actually increased in recent years.”
Pereira de Souza, who will live in Newark, N.J., was referred to the Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic by Immigration Equality, a national organization focused on immigration rights for GLBT individuals that provided important assistance in the case.
“In Brazil, police routinely fail to investigate violence committed against GLBT individuals,” said Brian Ward ‘10, another clinic student who helped Pereira de Souza prepare his asylum application. “In this environment, skinheads and other groups are free to persecute, torture, and even kill GLBT individuals with impunity. Asylum will allow Mr. Pereira de Souza to stay in the United States where he will no longer have to fear for his life.”
Since September, three students from the Sexuality and Gender Clinic—Ward, Stern, and Mark Musico ’11—have provided legal assistance in preparing the application for asylum. The students spent many months conducting interviews, drafting affidavits, researching country conditions, filling out the necessary forms, and preparing the client for his interview.
In an unusual ruling, the High Court of Justice ordered the state late last week to evaluate the degree to which the life of a young Palestinian is at risk, in part because of his sexual orientation. The Palestinian is asking for permission to remain in Israel because he fears for his life if he is expelled to the Palestinian Authority.
Speaking to Haaretz, he said that "in other times, when they brought me to the roadblock the entire village chased me and beat me, and nearly killed me. I prefer to sit in prison than to go back."
The official position of the state, which was also presented to the court, is that the committee on persons at risk operates in accordance with the office coordinating operations in the territories, and is authorized to address requests of Palestinians claiming to be under threat for their collaboration with security forces.
On the other hand, according to the state attorney, the committee is not authorized to discuss the cases of those whose behavior is seen by Palestinian society as being "morally degenerate," including prostitutes, criminals and drug addicts.
The Palestinian, in his 20s, maintains that his life is threatened because of his sexual orientation and because he has been marked by Palestinians as having cooperated with Israel.
Former sex worker
A native of Nablus, he fled his home at 12 and came to Israel as a result of violence and abuse at the hands of his father. At one point he worked as a male prostitute in Tel Aviv's Gan Hahashmal. Six months after living in Israel, he returned to his family in Nablus.
In the PA he was arrested by Palestinian intelligence who suspected him of collaborating with Israeli security forces. He says that he was jailed, tortured and abused until he was forced to admit such collaboration.
Following his forced confession he was jailed at a facility near the Muqata'a for what he says was two years, waiting for a death sentence to be carried out for alleged treason.
The young Palestinian petitioned the High Court through attorney Yohanna Lerman, a public defender, said that during IDF operations he managed to escape and was asked to identify those who jailed and abused him openly, exposing his own identity.
Following his exposure to the Palestinians as appearing to "collaborate" with Israeli forces, he was granted temporary permits to stay in Israel by the Shin Bet. During his stay in Israel the young Palestinian was arrested and jailed for his involvement in acts of violence and theft.
The committee evaluating the degree to which Palestinians are at risk for alleged collaboration with Israel decided in November that the young man was not at risk. The committee also said that he failed to meet his commitment to avoid illegal activities, which in turn threatens public safety.
The state argued in response to the High Court petition that many Palestinians who have claimed similar risk to their lives for collaboration are actually threatened because Palestinian society considers their behavior to be "morally degenerate."
"This unfortunate fact cannot impose on the State of Israel the legal responsibility to allow every Palestinian from such groups to live in its territory," the state attorney's office wrote.
The court ruled that there must be an authority capable of taking responsibility on deciding whether a threat exists and what its nature is, in areas that are not necessarily linked with collaboration.
"To date the committee, the state and the court avoided interfering, but now the judges have asked that there be a collective approach that also includes the issue of sexual orientation," Lerman said, pointing out that both local and international law state clearly that someone whose life is at risk cannot be abandoned.
As Uganda considers strengthening its already homophobic laws, this week we present a special edition of the programme looking at what it's like to be gay throughout Africa with voices from Namibia, Ghana, Uganda and South Africa.
Life for gays?
Africa is not a place to be out and proud right now. Homosexual acts are illegal in 37 countries on the continent and in recent years many African leaders have been increasing the anti-gay rhetoric. In Uganda a proposed law would make being gay punishable by life imprisonment. Jonathan is joined by Ian Swartz, founder of a gay rights organisation in Namibia, and Scott Long from Human Rights Watch in New York.
Lorenzo’s story
Lorenzo is a hairdresser in Cameroon. He met a man in a bar and they clicked and they decided to live together. That’s when the police got involved. Lorenzo spent seven months in prison without trial.
Ian’s story
Ian Swartz founded the Rainbow Project in Namibia at a time when its president began to hound gays and lesbians. The home affairs minister called for their elimination and became known as the minister for homophobic affairs. Ian talks about the abuse he experienced and why it increased his determination to create change.
Prince’s story
Prince Macdonald, in his own words, is gay, proud and African. He lives in the Ghanaian capital Accra and talks about how, despite homosexual acts being illegal in his country, he’s still determined to enjoy life as much as possible.
Steve’s story
Her real name is Mapaseka, but everyone calls her Steve. She was young when she came out to her family. It wasn’t easy, but they eventually accepted her. But when she was 15, She was raped by a family friend who believed she should be shown what it’s like to be a ‘real’ woman. Despite a constitution protecting gay and lesbians, she still feels unsafe.
Is this really 2010? There are moments -- mostly during footage captured in Asia and Eastern Europe -- when you wouldn't think so as you experience Bob Christie's riveting and enlightening documentary on the politics and relevance of the global gay pride movement. On the plus side, Vancouver Pride Society parade director Ken Coolen's globe-trotting journey to monitor Pride celebrations worldwide is a joyful, moving and amusing account of the progress made in the acceptance of sexual diversity in cities from Toronto and New York, birthplace of the gay liberation movement, to Sao Paulo, Brazil, home to the annual government-sponsored Pride festival that in 10 years has grown from an audience of 200 to three million.
Christie's colourful overview is also a harsh and disturbing reminder, however, of ongoing, mind-boggling intolerance in places where homophobia is rampant (Jamaica is the world capital, according to Time). It's shocking to learn, for instance, that archaic British colonial sodomy laws are still in place in Sri Lanka, where "curative rape" is sanctioned as a "cure" for lesbianism; that homosexuality carries stiff prison terms in some countries; and to witness protesters pelting Pride participants with eggs and tomatoes in Budapest, where gay clubs are firebombed. The most fascinating of the sequences -- linked by graphics of a a 'Freedometer' charts each location's tolerance levels -- focus on gay rights activists risking their lives for the cause.
Risk-takers include charismatic Sri Lankan Equal Ground organizer Sahran Abeysundara, who peacefully protests his nation's pride-parade ban by flying kites that feature the movement's signature rainbow pattern. Another uplifting bit introduces Clare Diminyo, a lesbian teacher from Brighton, England, who persuades British authorities to fly Pride flags at their embassy in Riga, Latvia, a hotbed of homosexual oppression.
We also learn how Warsaw Equality Parade organizer Tomasz Baczkowski successfully forced Polish authorities to finally allow a Pride parade, with protection by 2,000 police officers, by taking his case to the European Union human rights tribunal.
The film's most tense and gripping sequences, however, observe Russian organizer Nikolai Alekseev and comrades risking arrest and worse by arranging clandestine meetings to stage and as quickly disassemble a compact parade in Moscow, where the mayor has banned the Pride parade for years and rejected 155 applications for permits. This superb documentary, a festival must-see, is more than a call to action for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) community. It's as much a plea for for freedom, respect and basic human rights for everyone regardless of sexual orientation.
Some 400 LGBT leaders from 35 countries attended the fifth Latin America and Caribbean regional ILGA conference Jan. 26-31 in Curitiba, Brazil.
Now known as the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association, ILGA is composed of some 670 organizations from 110 nations. It was founded in 1978.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sent a message to the delegates saying "the fight against intolerance and discrimination, and the consequent efforts to respect human nature, including sexual orientation, have guided our government since its first mandate."
He also expressed support for the government’s 3rd National Human Rights Plan, which favors a national civil-union law.
Delegates heard that 11 nations in the region still criminalize gay sex-Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Gay activists from eight of those nations were in attendance.
A number of "pre-conferences" dealt with matters such as HIV, homophobia in schools, lesbian and bisexual women’s issues, transgender issues, youth issues, racism, health matters, art and culture, the media, and the United Nations.
The opening ceremonies of the main event were attended by several public officials, including Paul Vannuchi, Lula’s secretary for human rights.
Conference support came from the United Nations, the Pan American Health Organization, the Global Fund for Women, the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the Paraná state government, the Curitiba city government, and Brazilian governmental secretariats concerned with women, human rights, and racial equality.
~~~~~
Jose Genuino, Federal Deputy for Sao Paulo, member of the parliamentary front for LGBT citizenship, a network of some 200 Brazilian deputies and senators in favour of equality for LGBT people. The speech was given during the gala dinner opening the fifth ILGALAC conference.
Jose Genoino, diputado federal de Sao Paulo, miembro del Frente Parlamentario por la ciudadanía LGBT, un grupo de más de 200 diputados y senadores brasileños favorable a la igualdad de las personas LGBT. El discurso fue en la cena de gala de la V Conferencia de ILGA LAC en Curitiba, Brasil el 28 de enero de 2010, en presencia de un representante del Presidente de la República, un representante del gobierno del Estado de Paraná, de Paulo Vannuch, ministro brasileño de los Derechos hUmanos, de la Dra. Mariangela batista Galvao Simao, representante del ministro de Salud, un representad de la municipalidad de Curitiba y de representantes de tres agencias de Naciones Unidas: Eduardo Gutierrez (Desarrollo: PNUD), Dr. Pedro Chequer (ONUSida), Dra. Pamela Bermudez (OPAS, Organización Panamericana de la Salud). Dra. Gloria Careaga, Co-Secretaria general de ILGA, Beto de Jesus, Susel Paredes y Amaranta Gomez Regalado, Co-Secretarios generales de ILGALAC, Belissa Andia Perez, Secretaria Trans Mundial ILGA, de William Ulrich, Vicepresidente de Interpride y también Toni Reis y Rafaelly Wiest del comité organizador de la conferencia.
Brasília, January 2010 Ladies and Gentlemen, I was very honoured to receive the invitation sent to me by the General Coordination of the 5th Conference of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transex and Intersex Association in Latin America and the Caribbean to take part in this important event. Owing to an international journey I am unable to be with you, but thank you for your kind invitation.
To begin, I send my best wishes to all the participants of this conference and my special welcome to the participants from other countries who honour us with their presence. I wish them a pleasant stay among us and trust that they will enjoy our well known Brazilian hospitality.
I have to state that the fight against intolerance and discrimination, and the consequent efforts to respect human nature, including sexual orientation, have guided our Government since its first mandate. At the beginning of our Government, we conferred ministerial status on the Special Secretariat for Human Rights and we created the Special Secretariat for Policies for the Promotion of Racial Equality and the Special Secretariat for Women’s Policies, also with ministerial status, all three of which were intended to articulate their respective efforts with all the other areas of the Government. Care was thus taken to ensure that human rights protection was conceived of as an integrated Government action and, moreover, as a true policy of State, with guaranteed continuity in the event of alternation between political parties in power, something which is natural and even essential to democratic life.
As such, the Special Secretariat from Human Rights, which had already given origin to the Brazil Without Homophobia Programme, approved by us in 2004, prepared the 3rd National Human Rights Plan, launched by our Government last December. Among its strategic objectives, the Plan contains the guarantee of the respect for free sexual orientation and gender identity. Another of its objectives is the reduction of violence motivated by differences of gender, race or ethnic group, age, sexual orientation and situations of vulnerability. As a consequence, policies are proposed which encourage integral women’s health care programmes, taking into consideration their specificities, including sexual orientation.
Aware of our proposals and measures, we are sure that the organizations involved in the fight for the free expression of sexual orientation will continue to progress with their work, which is already achieving good results among us, and which will always have our effective support.
I hope that the debates that will take place here will produce proposals that will contribute to the strengthening of the LGBT segment and also contribute to the enhancement of the Governmental measures that are already being taken at the federal level in Brazil.
Please will you all accept my brotherly embrace.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
President of the Federative Republic Of Brazil
President Obama’s remarks today have drawn attention back to Uganda’s Kill-the-Gays bill. And the media still hasn’t gotten it right. Some conservatives offer the outright lie that it only intends to execute child molesters and people who deliberately spread HIV. The liberal media points out that the bill would also execute people who merely have gay sex more than once.
But the facts are much worse than that. I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating. Here are two examples of people who could be put to death:
Someone who has gay sex once and doesn’t turn his partner in to the authorities.
A straight person who doesn’t turn in a gay friend after hearing about about a couple romantic evenings.
You don’t have be gay to be executed under this bill. Here’s how easily the government could put you to death:
1. The death penalty applies to anyone convicted of “aggravated homosexuality.”
2. Aggravated homosexuality includes all “serial offenders.”
3. A serial offender is “a person who has previous convictions of the offence of homosexuality or related offences.”
4. Related offences (Part III of the bill) include not ratting out your gay friends (if you are a person of religious, political, economic, or social [!] authority).
Here it is as a diagram:
It’s a two-strikes-and-you’re-dead bill. And if you dig into the logic, merely keeping silent about someone who’s keeping silent is enough to count as a strike.
Read the bill. It’s much worse than we’re being told. (And feel free to copy and share the pic if you want.)
Police in Malawi are hunting for a group of gay rights activists who are secretly mobilizing the public to warm up to homosexuals following the high profile arrest of Malawi's first openly gay couple in the commercial capital, Blantyre, over Christmas, PANA reported.
This followed the arrest at the weekend of a 21-year-old man who was caught pasting pro-gay rights posters on the streets of Blantyre.
"We arrested Peter Sawali last Saturday after we were tipped that there are people pasting posters promoting the so-called rights of gays and lesbians on the streets of Blantyre," police spokesman Dave Chingwalu told PANA in an interview Tuesday.
Chingwalu said Sawali, who is still in police custody pending further investigations, was found with stacks of expertly and expensively printed posters displaying such messages as: "GAY RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS!".
The police spokesman said police believed Sawali was working with other people.
"We are still investigating because we believe there is a chain of people who were working with Mr. Sawali," said Chingwalu.
He said police believed Sawali, whose source of livelihood authorities were yet to be established, was being sponsored by "an individual or group of individuals " with deep pockets.
"We cannot rule out international sponsors because of the quality and the quantity of the posters," he said, adding "they might even have been produced outside the country."
Recently, government lambasted local NGOs who were allegedly offered upwards of US$ 500,000 by international gay rights advocates to promote gay rights in Malawi.
No local NGO openly accepted the offer, although some of them have openly condemned Malawi's homophobic laws.
Chingwalu, the police spokesman, said Sawali would be charged with conduct likely to cause breach of peace, a misdemeanour that can see the accused - if convicted - fined up to 5,000 Malawi kwacha (about US$ 36) or sent to jail for up to three months.
Meanwhile, following the arrest of Steven Monjeza, 26 and his partner, 20-year-old Tiwonge Chimbalanga, there has been increased debate on homosexuality in the largely conservative southern African country, the majority of whose population frowns upon gays and lesbians.
The Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP) - a NGO that advocates for rights of minority groups such as prostitutes and gays and lesbians - has asked authorities to relax its homophobic laws and incorporate homosexuals in the country's fight against HIV/AIDS.
CEDEP said studies show that because of homophobic legislations, gays and lesbians are driven underground, making them vulnerable to the pandemic.
The group said there are a lot of homosexual activities in Malawi, especially in prisons.
An underground group, calling itself Broad Coalition, has also come up with a he ightened pro-gay rights campaign by anonymously spreading leaflets, posters and pictures promoting gay rights.
International rights campaigners, including Amnesty International and Outrage! - a UK-based pro-gay rights organisation, alongside some Scottish Members of Parliament, have also joined the fray, calling for the release of Monjeza and Chimbalanga and the relaxation of Malawi's homophobic laws.
The Malawi government has since brushed aside the growing international criticism following the arrest of the couple on 27 December after they held an open traditional engagement ceremony a day earlier in readiness for their scheduled wedding in the new year.
Information Minister Leckford Mwanza Thotho said Malawi is a sovereign state with its own laws and the two will be accorded fair trial based on Malawi laws.
The Monjeza-Chimbalanga case comes back before the Blantyre Chief Resident Magistrate Court on Friday (5 February).
The two, who have since pleaded not guilty and remanded in jail, were charged with three counts of practicing unnatural acts between males and gross indecency, both felonies that can see them in jail for up to 14 years on conviction.
The couple's lawyers, however, argue that the homophobic laws run counter with the new constitution - adopted in 1995 - that states that no one shall be discriminated against based on, among other things, their sexual orientation.
This website was established in January 2008 to help save 19yo gay Iranian Mehdi Kazemi from deportation to execution by the British government. He was saved but many other LGBT asylum seekers face appalling treatment at the hands of the UK government.
We document the situations in countries from which LGBT people are fleeing to the UK hoping for a safe haven and the problems they can face from the UK asylum system.
Contributions to this website are welcome, contact gayasylumuk AT googlemail.com
Bloggers / Websites Please link to this website www.medhikazemi.com
Put our news on your website, use this code
This website was established to campaign for Mehdi Kazemi. We won 'leave to remain' for him but if Jacqui Smith can save Mehdi her replacement, Alan Johnson, can also save these other lesbians and gays from what would have been Mehdi's fate. You can help by telling him this.
Support this campaign - dedicated to highlighting the plight of tens of thousands of refused asylum seekers who are being forced into destitution in the UK if they do not agree to return voluntarily to their country
Prossy Kakooza is a 26-year-old lesbian woman seeking asylum in the UK. She fled Uganda after suffering vicious sexual, physical and verbal attacks due to her sexual orientation.
Prossy has been saved! This is because we all worked to help her — let's help others!
~~~~~~~ Pegah Emambakhsh is an Iranian lesbian who was threatened by the British government with deportation to torture and possible death by stoning.
"If the British government could prove to me that I would be safe in Iran and to be able to lead a normal life and to be myself I would be very happy to go back to Iran. I had to leave my old father, my ill mother and young sister. I have two lovely children which their father took away from me. I had to give this all up because my life was at risk. At the moment I am safe because I am in England but my life is very difficult. I miss my family and more than anything I am worried all the time that the police will suddenly arrest me and send me back."
Pegah has been saved! This is because we all worked to help her — let's help others!
The gay Ugandan man John Bosco was saved, although he had to be returned after deportation and having to go underground in Kampala. The Nigerian Davis Mac-Iyalla was saved.
The gay Azerbaijani man Babi Badalov was not saved though is currently seeking asylum in France ~ Babi's website
Many others have been saved through the work of organisations such as
It is a registered charity providing information and advice on immigration rights for same sex couples and support for lesbian & gay asylum seekers · Please consider making a DONATION to their vital work.
~~~~~~~
Answering government spin*
We are extremely cautious about the way in which we treat these cases They have shown no evidence of caution. For a number of years they have consistently refused asylum to gays and lesbians and transgender people who would suffer persecution if returned, because that is their policy. Some of these people have committed suicide rather than be returned. There is a mass of evidence, including from the Foreign Office, that Iran and other countries like Jamaica and Uganda are a 'deathzone'. We give detailed consideration to these cases They do not consider the stated opinion of their own colleagues in the Foreign Office and never have. They misrepresent evidence of torture and systematic harassment by Human Rights Watch and other NGOs. They go through a rigorous appeals and court process There is a Home Office policy that gays and lesbians can be returned if they are 'discreet'. Further, there is a history of the Home Office accepting bland assurances from the Iranian and other governments. Further, there is a lot of evidence of homophobic attitudes within the Appeals Court process. Obviously we have to follow and respect the integrity of that process Not if it is biased. Not if the outcome is guaranteed because of their (unstated) policy. There is no integrity to this process for gays and lesbians.
"We are not aware of any individual having been executed solely on the grounds of homosexuality in Iran."
"We do not consider that there is systematic persecution of gay men in Iran."
~~~~~~~
Conservative MEP John Bowis made the following powerful speech in the European Parliament in favour of the successful European Parliament resolution supporting Mehdi and Pegah Emambakhsh.
The immediate urgent priority is to Support and Donate Money to LGBT activists in Iraq in order to assist their efforts to communicate information about the wave of homophobic murders in Iraq to the outside world.
Funds raised will also help provide LGBTs under threat of honour killing with refuge in the safer parts of Iraq (including safe houses and food), and assist efforts help them seek asylum abroad. Donations to Iraqi LGBT are not tax-deductible for income tax purposes.
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This website was established in January 2008 to help save 19yo gay Iranian Mehdi Kazemi from deportation to execution by the British government. He was saved but many other LGBT asylum seekers face appalling treatment at the hands of the UK government.
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