LGBT and HIV Asylum and Refugee Claims: Increasing Protection Under a New American Administration

Heartland Alliance and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), will host, "LGBT and HIV Asylum and Refugee Claims: Increasing Protection Under a New Administration " in Chicago, Illinois from March 26-27, 2009.

The conference will bring together policy advocates and legal professionals working with LGBT and HIV-positive asylum seekers to share knowledge, expertise, and strategies for reforming United States protection of these individuals from harm in their original countries.

Legal professionals will share and refine best practices for representing LGBT asylum seekers and will create and deepen networks for sharing documentation related to these claims. This legal expertise will inform a discussion and prioritization of administrative and legal reforms within the new administration and Congress, and a coordinated plan to achieve these reforms.

In addition, Heartland Alliance will be hosting foreign LGBT advocacy groups at a simultaneous meeting, and attendees will be able to meet and work with these groups during shared networking functions.

For further information, please contact Eric Berndt, supervisor of Heartland Alliance and NIJC's National Asylum Partnership on Sexual Minorities, a project dedicated to obtaining asylum and other protection for LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants, at berndt@heartlandalliance.org or by phone at (312) 660-1364.