Andrew Sullivan: The HIV Travel Ban Is Repealed

Something huge happened today but few of you might know - or care. Nevertheless, for someone who has worked with hundreds of HIV positive individuals - straight and gay - who met every possible requirement to gain immigration rights in the United States EXCEPT for the fact that they were HIV+, this is a victory long time coming.

Tonight I will share this with you: Political pundit Andrew Sullivan (pictured) has posted the following on his site (The Daily Dish). I'm not HIV positive so I'll let him do the talking. After all, he also played big part in reaching this point. I hope he does not mind that I've lifted the whole post from his site. I just thought that it best reflected the moment!

I'm not usually speechless but I'm ecstatic to report that the Senate just passed PEPFAR without the Sessions amendment, and Senator Biden, who managed the bill, just said they will probably avoid a conference with the House and send the bill forthwith to the president's desk. Barring some unforeseen event, the HIV Travel Ban - a relic of the days when HIV was a source of fear and stigma and terror - is finally over.

Obviously, the bigger achievement in PEPFAR is the funding for continued help for those with HIV and AIDS in the developing world - people whose plight is unimaginably worse than mine or so many others trapped by this HIV law. Bush's legacy in this is one for which he is rightly proud. But for those of us who have long dreamed of becoming Americans, and have been prevented by 1993 law from even being able to enter or leave the US without waivers or fear or humiliation, this is a massive burden lifted.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's one of the happiest days of my whole life. For two and a half decades, I have longed to be a citizen of the country I love and have made my home. I now can. There is no greater feeling.

Thanks go to many, many people, chiefly Senators Kerry and Smith, who made this a bipartisan priority. Gordon Smith proved how Republicans can reach out to those in genuine need, even if some are gay. All of us with HIV and with spouses or loved ones with the virus are in his debt. But also: Rob Epplin and Alex Nunez, Smith's and Kerry's amazing staffers, who made this possible. The Human Rights Campaign came through too, with insistent, diligent lobbying and a last-minute member email blitz. Immigration Equality, the group that does all the heavy lifting on LGBT and HIV immigration issues, were indispensable. Thanks, Rachel and Adam in particular. A word too to Senators Lugar and Biden, who shepherded the bill forward. I'm grateful too for those behind the scenes, Democrats and Republicans, who helped enormously: Carl Schmid and Jeff Trandahl, in particular. I will not forget Yuval Levin's support. And a word to my friend, David Kuo, who helped me through some of the bleakest days I experienced because of this law. My closest friends know who they are and they know what they've done.

I've lived with this awful sense of insecurity, of fear of leaving the country, of visiting my family, of the lingering sense that my virus rendered me potentially deportable, that any roots I put down might be dug up suddenly one day - for fifteen years. The lifting of this threat - the sense that I now have a home I know will be secure for me and my husband - is indescribable.

And thank you, too, especially. Dish readers really helped - emailing your Senators and telling your stories. This blog can be really draining and a little exasperating. But the sense of support I've gotten these past few weeks has been amazing. It really is like family. And now you've made it possible to make an honest American out of me. Maybe you'll regret it soon enough.

But you're stuck with me now.

I'm gonna celebrate now, so no promises on the timing of my next post.

Thanks, Richard Sandman

I met Richard Sandman (left) about five years ago in Queens as he was attending an immigration law workshop for immigrants with HIV. We'd corresponded through e-mail on immigration issues before but it was nice to put a face to the name.

As of late, Sandman, who often provided pro-bono work representing HIV positive and LGBT immigrants from an academic environment, had recently decided to launch his own private attorney practice.

I can't say that we were friends but over the years we developed a close professional relationship. He often reached out to me to see if I had country-specific documentation on abuses against HIV positive and LGBT individuals in certain Latin American countries and, more often than not, I was able to provide him with a wealth of information from my archives. He also would refer clients to me for advice on immigration issues and to facilitate sharing of information in cases that he was working on.

Last time I exchanged messages with Richard back in April, he had asked whether I had articles on Argentina. I'd saved a reminder to send him the information but had yet to get around to it. Yet, the reminder stared at me from time to time and made me feel guilty I still hadn't looked for stuff in my files. What made me feel at ease was that Richard was pretty good at reminding me if I still hadn't replied, knowing how overwhelmed I sometimes get at work, and - so far - he had not pressed for the info.

This is why it was such a shock to me to find out on Friday night that Richard, who was 46, had passed away on April 30th. He had been hospitalized on April 23d after suffering a massive heart attack and, though doctors seemed to think he might survive after a week in a coma, unfortunately he did not make it through.

A sweet low-key kinda guy who truly helped hundreds of HIV positive and LGBT immigrants gain political asylum in the United States, Richard was truly an unsung hero. He was somewhat comfortable with the Spanish language which surprised me a bit until I found out his family was from Mexico. Still, as always, he would underplay just how much Spanish he knew and was self-depreciating about his language abilities.

A mutual friend tells me he was so dedicated to his work that few people truly got to know him. By all accounts, though, many seemed to love the guy and recognize his unselfishness in dedicating his life's work to the issue of immigration.

So, thanks Richard, for dedicating your life to such an unprotected and maligned population. Thanks, Richard, for the many times you expressed admiration for my work. And, thanks, Richard, for inspiring others - including me - to keep doing what we do.

Too late to learn about a recent memorial in my case, friends set up a blog to update others on Richard's condition from the moment that he was hospitalized. You can read the entries and comments made by friends here.

RELATED:

• Richard Sandman, In Memoriam (Academic Ink)

On immigration, a couple of out-of-the-box advocacy tools

As a long-time immigration rights advocate, some of the most indelible memories I have are the couple of times I visited immigration detention centers in New Jersey along with Will Coley. I have been to many an asylum court hearing acting as as translator but it was shocking to realize that local detention centers are run by independent contractors (much like Blackwater USA is contracted to do the dirty stuff in Iraq and Afghanistan) and that some people are held indefinitely and are rarely provided access to legal representation, translation services, or hearings.

I also have been at many a political asylum hearing (also as a translator), so when Will sent me a link to the YouTube video above, I certainly recognized some of the asylum court procedures that the video parodies (Will wrote the clip's script which was taped as a response to a YouTube contest launched by the Movement Vision Lab).

On the same vein, I also received info about a BreakthroughTV video game called "ICED - I Can End Deportation" in which "you can step inside the shoes of one out of five immigrant teens, each of a different ethnicity and immigration status," according to press materials.

Not sure how I feel about the immigration issue becoming an internet video game, even if it's for the right reasons (plus I am always weary about organizations reaching out to 'the kids' by using new technology), but you might as well give it a try and tell me how it goes! Haven't played the game yet so I am not sure if the game programmers did a good job or not. In any case you will be able to test it before I do and give us feedback.

Puerto Rico: Government should end offensive STD prevention campaign, activists ask for a public apology

Yesterday, on the eve of World AIDS Day, members of the Puerto Rican organization Permanent Assembly of People Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS called for an end to a government-sponsored STD prevention campaign launched in April of 2007 and demanded a public apology.

At issue, according to El Nuevo Dia, is the $1.2 million campaign's exclusive focus on abstinence as a means to HIV prevention and the use of images that the group says stigmatize HIV positive individuals (you can access the campaign materials through the campaign's online site, La Otra Cara del Sexo / The Other Side of Sex here).

"It's a campaign in which we are presented as monsters on the prowl for victims to fall,"said the organization's spokesperson Adalib Castro.

In a series of different ads, the campaign shows a young woman, a young man and a young heterosexual couple, whose reflection in a mirror shows a decaying zombie with a legend that reads "Abstention is the best protection."

Ivette Gonzalez, also a spokesperson of the activist organization, told El Nuevo Dia "It's a campaign based on fear... it has been proven that no method based on fear works."

She also called the campaign "incomplete" for not providing information on where to get tested for sexually transmitted illnesses and for not urging young people to use condoms if they are sexually active [actually under "Frequent Questions" one answer on the effectiveness of rubbers reads "Condoms are not 100% safe. Plus if you have oral relations you also run risks - for this reason get to know your partner and abstain" while another response discourages kissing by stating that kisses can transit "some" illnesses as well].

Gonzales also called the campaign "moralistic" for asking people to wait until marriage to engage in sex as means to prevent HIV infection.

"When I married my ex-husband I took all the [medical] tests that a person should before getting married and [now] I am infected with HIV. That I married him did not prevent me from getting infected."

In addition to yesterday's call for an end to the campaign, a couple of sites have popped up on the internet that are also critical of its message.

The first, an anonymous blog also named "The Other Side of Sex," seems to be more popular than the actual site as it pops up first at the top of the listings when you Google its name. It only has a couple of entries and it hasn't been updated since June but its satirical tone directly challenges the official site's abstinence and condom-phobic messages with tidbits such as "[condoms] only work 99% of the time, leaving unprotected 1% of the people that use them without knowing how to put them on or are used to leaving them for months on end inside their car's glove compartment or near sowing needles or any other sharp objects" and a quote below an image of an unhappy looking older couple that reads "We've spent 10 years as boyfriend and girlfriend and we have never had sex because we believe in abstinence. We are so happy. Isn't that true, Carlos?"


There is also an anonymous MySpace page called Guerrilla Sex Education set up by an "intellectual collective of young people" in Puerto Rico set up to challenge sexual disinformation that also challenges the assumptions behind the government's campaign, among other things.

In the meantime, in other statements made to El Nuevo Dia, the same group of activists said that they were calling for a participatory boycott of a World AIDS Day event planned by the island's Department of Health today calling for people to congregate at a public park wearing red shirts in order to form a human red ribbon.

Representatives from the Assembly called on participants to participate but to wear black instead of red shirts to demonstrate solidarity with HIV positive people and support for their fight for access to HIV meds.

Updates: Sentences in Sandy murder, Cuban LGBT org defines purpose, political asylum news

Sentencing reached in murder of gay black man: In a case that we have followed in the past, three men have received sentences for their involvement in the death of Michael J. Sandy, a young man who was lured to an empty parking lot near a secluded Brooklyn beach and was killed when he tried to escape his attackers.

The New York Times says that the comlpex divergence in sentencing reflected "a confounding set of circumstances" while Gay City News points out that the ringleader could get out of jail in "as little as six years." A fourth man was previously sentenced last year when he pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for the prosecution.

Nascent Cuban LGBT rights organization defines its purpose: In October we wrote of the birth of a gay rights organization in Cuba. Today, Bitacora Cubana says that the Cuban Movement for Homosexual Liberation met on Saturday to define its purpose and agreed to demand "legalization for sex-change surgeries and [the right] to change names; the court's recognition of same-sex couples; adoption rights and the recognition of matrimony and inheritance rights for LGBT individuals."

Political asylum: In political asylum news Arthur S. Leonard tells us of a brand new case in which a gay man who was born in Portugal but lived most of his life in Venezuela was denied asylum in the United States in a decision released by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals on November 6th.

A key reason for the denial? The fact that the asylum seeker had entered the United States on various occasions and had returned to Venezuela without apparent fear of persecution - until he filed for asylum.

In the meantime Ven Messam (pictured above in a Wockner News Photo), a Jamaican gay man, was recently granted asylum thanks to the work of Columbia University's Law School students whose department provides pro-bono assistance as a way to provide hands-on experience for students. Lucky are those asylum applicants that receive such assistance.

A Jamaican lesbian was not as fortunate when she sought political asylum in the United Kingdom. The court's response? "Try not to act gay."

Updates: Gay Mexican denied US asylum, Alvaro Orozco, bi-national couples

Political asylum denied to Mexican gay man: In this week's Gay City News, Arthur Leonard describes the failed attempt by a Mexican gay man to gain political asylum in the United States based on sexual orientation.

Leonard writes "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, based in New York City, has ruled in an unpublished decision that the current level of anti-gay persecution in Mexico is not sufficient to justify granting a withholding of removal for a gay immigrant who claimed to fear persecution if returned to that nation."

But what strikes me, once again, is the mistakes made by the applicant in submitting his claim: 1. He applied after the statutory 1-year window of opportunity imposed by the US on asylum seekers and 2. He had no legal representation at the asylum hearing (he argued that his attorney failed to show up but my experience is that an applicant can ask for the interview to be postponed if his attorney is not present - though I'm not sure if this varies from court to court). The fact that he had not personally experienced past persecution while living in Mexico, though sometimes surmountable in an asylum claim if you present evidence, did not help his case.

Alvaro Orozco: Speaking of asylum, this time in Canada, there has been no better luck for Alvaro Orozco, the young man from Nicaragua that was ordered deported back in August after courts originally questioned whether he was truly gay. His attorneys tried to get a stay of removal earlier this month but the courts refused to grant it. A new order of deportation was handed down on October 4th.

Oh, Canada! But not all news from Canada have been as dire. Emilio and Tom, friends of mine whose bi-national immigration story I've featured here from time to time, can breathe a sight of relief: On October 11th they became permanent residents of Canada, or, as Tom put it on their blog "We finally made it after 20 months of waiting and Emilio is now officially safe from US tyranny!"

Understandably, they are looking forward to the move up north even though it will be sad to see them go (we promise a visit or two).

Tom and Emilio are featured in "Through Thick and Thick" so the news might be a spoiler of sorts if you haven't watched it. Below is a YouTube preview of the Sebastian Cordoba documentary. More on the issues faced by same-sex binational couple in the US at the Immigration Equality website here.


Oh, Argentina? Speaking of same-sex binational couples, former New York Blade editor and current blogger Chris Crain, who already changed his country of residence to Brazil in order to live with his Brazilian partner, Anderson, recently wrote on his blog that their next place of residence will be Argentina after options to remain in Brazil dried out. Ultimately, though, Chris says that, like Tom and Emilio, they might take a look at Canada as an option as well.

IGLHRC says Venezuela should outlaw discrimination against gays, drops US LGBT asylum documentation program

IGLHRC supports some constitutional changes in Venezuela: Today, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), in collaboration with the Venezuelan gay rights organization Union Afirmativa, launched a letter-writing effort in support of "including sexual orientation as a protected category in the latest round of constitutional reforms."

This follows news that a legislative committee recommended that such language be included in a new version of the Venezuelan constitution currently under consideration.

Both organizations also asked the committee to go a step further and allow "that same-sex couples be granted constitutional protection by modifying Article 77, which addresses marriage and civil unions" as has been previously requested by Venezuelan activists (see bottom of this post).

National Immigrant Justice Center takes over IGLHRC's LGBT asylum documentation program: In the meantime, in related news, word also came today that IGLHRC will no longer have a program that collects documentation that might aid LGBT immigrants seeking political asylum in the United States. Instead the program will be adopted by an immigrant rights agency.

A press release from the National Immigrant Justice Center, a project of the Heartland Alliance, based in Chicago, IL (which is not found on their website) says:

The National Immigrant Justice Center, a partner of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, provides direct legal services to and advocates for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers through policy reform, impact litigation, and public education.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tara Tidwell Cullen

Ph: (312) 660-1337
ttidwellcullen@heartlandalliance.org

National Immigrant Justice Center to Document Critical Evidence for LGBT and HIV-Positive Asylum Seekers

CHICAGO- October 15, 2007 - The Asylum Documentation Program has joined the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC). The program, previously housed at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, collects and disseminates evidence to support cases of refugees seeking protection from human rights violations based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status.

“The National Immigrant Justice Center is proud to take on this program,” said Jonathan Eoloff, coordinator of NIJC’s National Asylum Project on Sexual Orientation. “Corroborating evidence is often required to support an asylum case, so this documentation is critical for attorneys and lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and HIV-positive refugees seeking protection in the United States and elsewhere.”

The Asylum Documentation Program will:

• Research, monitor and collect data and documentation regarding country conditions related to persecution against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and HIV-positive individuals.
• Partner with asylumlaw.org and other LGBT and immigrant services organizations to disseminate country conditions information internationally to support applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture protection for LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants.
• Provide Know Your Rights manuals, pro bono attorney referral lists, and consultation to LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants who are detained throughout the United States by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
• Monitor detention conditions of ICE detention facilities that hold LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants and track statistics about the LGBT and HIV-positive detention population.

The Asylum Documentation Program will be based in San Francisco, California. Dusty Aráujo will continue as the asylum documentation coordinator and can be reached via e-mail at daraujo@heartlandalliance.org or at (415) 398-2759.

Blabbeando will continue to work with Dusty in gathering information on persecution based on sexual orientation throughout Latin America as we have done in the past now that he is based at the National Immigrant Justice Center.

Other blogs: Bi-national couples and immigration rights

I haven't had much time to blog as of late so I thought I'd point out some recent blog posts elsewhere. In this particular edition, we'll focus on what other blogs are saying about bi-national couples and immigration rights:

Citizen Crain: Over at former New York Blade editor Chris Crain's blog, it might have surprised a few people that he recently gave props to presidential candidate Barack Obama. It's over a response the Obama camp gave one of the blog's readers on the issue of immigration rights for same-sex partners of United States citizens. Crain is writing from personal experience as his partner is a Brazilian man and, unlike heterosexual bi-national couples, he is not allowed to sponsor him for immigration. One of the most glaring examples of how same-sex partners are discriminated in this country.

Canadian Hope: Long time readers will also know of the bitter struggle that my friends Tom and Emilio (pictured above on the right next to my partner and I) have had in being able to remain in this country as a couple. Just last December Emilio got word that he had been granted political asylum in the United States which would have allowed him to stay but their hopes were dashed days later when they found out that the Office of Homeland Security had decided to appeal the asylum ruling. So for a while now both have looked up to Canada as a beacon of hope.

An update: Just this Monday they received news that made those hopes a little bit closer.

The couple is featured in "Through Thick and Thin," a recent documentary by Argentine filmmaker Sebastian Cordoba currently making the film festival rounds.

Boy in Bushwick: Reporter Mike Lavers, incidentally, recently penned a column on the issue which he has posted over at his blog. He covered a recent forum at New York's LGBT Community Center on the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) introduced by NY Congressman Jerry Nadler (more about it here) which would, if passed, allow couples like Tom and Emilio to remain together.

On political asylum, a warning

Just before I left for Colombia I sat down with Diego Senior, the NYC correspondent for Colombia's Caracol radio, to discuss political asylum due to fear of persecution based on sexual orientation. In the interview I spoke of several cases in which I have been involved (in assessing a case, working with legal service providers and lawyers to provide information on specific countries or in translating materials or at the asylum hearing).

A few things made it into the interview including a warning to those who might think that it is easy to be granted political asylum in this country particularly if the person has little if any documentation of persecution or if they lie about past experiences (the interview has since been picked by the Spanish-language news agency EFE which led to a reporter tracking me down in Bogota for an article that appears in this week's Cambio).

This comes to mind after reading a post today on Arthur Leonard's blog on a gay man from Peru who lived in Bolivia as an adult and then moved to the United States where he finally requested political asylum claiming he feared to be sent back.

The case reads like a primer on what not to do when applying for asylum:

1. There is a one-year window from his/her arrival in which a person can solicit political asylum in the United States (unless the person can prove special circumstances that might have kept him from applying during that first year). The man entered the United States in 2001 but waited until 2003 to submit the asylum application.

2. The man did not provide evidence for any of the alleged discrimination either while living in Peru or Bolivia and provided conflicting testimony about one of the incidents. Sometimes cases are won without specific evidence but any evidence that is submitted obviously strengthens a case and if the case is weak from the beginning any contradictions in the testimony can be damaging.

3. Even if true, the courts noted, the claims of discrimination presented did not rise to a level where they proved that the man would be tortured or persecuted if sent back home.

No surprise, then, that an Immigration Judge first threw out the asylum claim based on the man's failure to apply within a year of entering the country and that, on appeal and seeking "withholding of removal," the Board of Immigration Appeals and 11th Circuit Court of Appeals both rejected his appeal and, thus, his right to stay in the United States.

I just wish more people who think that applying for political asylum is easy would read the outcome of cases like these.

To read more details about this specific case:

• Gay South American denied US Refuge (Leonard Link)

Thanks Mad Professah! You are right - I should have listed some resources:

• Immigration Equality can be found here
• The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission can be found here

Update: Alvaro Orozco goes into hiding after failing to get refugee status in Canada

Back in February we told you about Alvaro Orozco, a young man from Nicaragua who was appealing a Canadian refugee court decision not to grant him asylum based on his fears of persecution as a gay man if he was sent home (Nicaragua is the only remaining country in Central America that still has laws against sodomy between consenting adults which can carry jail terms of up to four years).

The case drew international attention when the court not only denied Orozco refugee status but questioned whether he was truly gay. On Thursday Orozco lost his appeal and was ordered to leave the country when the appeal court ruled that he faced no risks if he went back to Nicaragua.

In a written statement sent to press Orozco said: "I feel very concerned about my safety in Canada because now I do not have legal status in this country. If they send me back to Nicaragua, I can face persecution by the government and the Catholic community who judge gay life as sodomy."

On Monday Orozco told CBC news that he had gone into hiding as a result of the decision: "Most of the time, I'm hiding because I'm not supposed to be anywhere. I feel like a fugitive. It's really bad."

Orozco and his legal advisers hope that Canadian Immigration Minister Diane Finley will see fit to intervene and grant him a stay on humanitarian grounds, the only way that Orozco will be able to remain legally in Canadian soil.

For updates, check Mr. Orozco's refugee campaign website here.

ITN: Gay man killed in Mexico after being denied refugee status in Canada, trans panic, more Dupree, Bronx Pride woes

In the news on a Saturday night:

Mexican gay man killed: Canadian gay weekly X-tra is reporting that a Mexican gay man who was denied refugee status in Canada four years ago - and had no option but to go back to the country he said he feared - was found shot to death in his Mexican apartment on April 7th of this year.

According to the article, Mexican authorities believe the murder of 35 year old Enrique Villegas (pictured) was drug-related but friends of Villegas in Vancouver say that this is unlikely because he was clean as a whistle and didn't even smoke cigarettes while he lived in Canada. They also believe that he might have been killed by a homeless person Villegas had taken under his wing who might have taken advantage of Villegas because he was gay.

The article does a great job in analyzing the complexities of refugee / asylum cases from countries that Canada might consider to be gay-friendly (particularly with recent gay rights advances in Latin America). Ultimately, though, as someone who has helped hundreds of people navigate the asylum process in the United States, I'm not so sure that the murder in itself - whether it was drug related or at the hands of a man Villegas picked-up from the streets - means that Canada erred in denying refugee status as his friends seem to indicate.

The murder - under either scenario - does not seem to rise to the level of social, institutional, governmental or political persecution which is the basis of such claims in the United States as well as Canada.

Trans panic: In a police blotter blurb that has gone mostly unnoticed in this city, 24 year old Quasim Harris went "bezerk" in early Tuesday morning when he found out that his date was a transgender woman while at her Crown Heights apartment. He first beat her in the face with an iron (classy!) and then came back and stole a stereo, a TV set and and video game console (classier!). No other details in the case.

Also, in not so caliente news: At least local press has taken notice of Khadijah Farmer and the uncomfortable situation that she experienced at the West Village Caliente Cab Co. restaurant on pride day. When this happens in the gayest part of town it's time to wonder just how welcome we are in this city.

Mike Dupree looks for a job: In the meantime, the Mike Dupree story refuses to die. A sampling from this week's coverage:

• Ex-Dallas County constable pleads guilty to misdemeanor (The Dallas Morning News, July 7, 2007)
• Dupree weights future outside law enforcement (The Dallas Voice, July 6, 2007)
• Talk Isn't Cheap (Dallas Observer, July 5, 2007)
• It's a shame that Dupree faces little punishment beyond disgrace (The Dallas Morning News, July 4, 2007)

And finally, post-Bronx Pride woes: Last year we told you that Lisa Winters was not a happy woman after having to jump through hoops to get a permit for a pride event in the Bronx after years of not having one. Sorry to tell you but Lisa Winters is still not a happy woman after this year's event.

It's a topic on which we might expand in the future. For now we'll leave you with the following limited reports which do not address the fact that there is actually a vibrant LGBT community in the Bronx nor the fact that Bronx Borough President and rumored future mayoral candidate Adolfo Carrión speaks volumes by being silent and not stepping in to resolve the situation.... for the second year in a row.

• Where gay doesn't pay (The Village Voice, June 19, 2007)
• Dark rumblings during a rainbow moment (The New York Times, July 8, 2007)

Updates: Chad Ferreira, circumcision, Alvaro Orozco, Colombian 'asylum tragedy'

Chad Ferreira: The Bay Area Reporter continues it's coverage of the altercation in San Francisco's Castro district that led to the death of Chad Ferreira (pictured) in January of 2006.

Last week reporter Ed Walsh described opening statements made at a trial that will determine whether 26 year old Kyle Adams committed manslaughter by beating Ferreira so hard that he caused Ferreira to fall and fracture his skull when his head hit a sidewalk curb or if he is, as he claims, innocent and just acting in self defense.

Today, the Reporter describes Adams turn on the stand and his side of the story, some of which differs with witness statements and includes details were not originally provided to the police department when he was first charged.

The paper says that closing arguments after the print edition of the Reporter went to press and that the case went to the jury at 3:10pm yesterday.

Circumcision as HIV prevention: The New York City department of Health and Mental Hygiene held it's community forum on the issue of male circumcision as a possible HIV prevention tool. I was not able to attend but both Gay City News and the New York Blade covered the arguments and the reaction.

Alvaro Orozco: In February we told you about a decision by Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board not to grant asylum to a young Nicaraguan gay man, Alvaro Orozco, partly because they argued that if Orozco wasn't sexually active when he left Nicaragua at the age of thirteen, he could not assert that he knew he was gay then. The Orozco case and his ongoing efforts to appeal that decision receives a coverline in the current issue of The Advocate. For more on the case and on how you can help, please visit his website.

In United States political asylum news, Arthur Leonard calls an April 25th ruling that turned down an asylum application by a Miami-based Colombian gay man "Another asylum tragedy." Leonard says that the court not only denied asylum but also outed him in the process and now is sending the man back to Colombia despite having arguably shown credible evidence of fear of persecution if sent back.

Blog rundown

Rex continues his perusal of old ACT UP photographs (painful scanning involved) here (first part is here).

Arthur Leonard has decided to stop using the names of individuals when reporting on political asylum cases even if he will continue writing about asylum court decisions. He also has a fascinating analysis of today's dissenting statement by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision ruling against so called "partial birth abortions" AND a note about an anti-gay discrimination suit against Starbucks.

One of our favorite fag hags and savviest of Latina bloggers, elenamary says she has launched a Latinas for Obama group but also expresses some slight annoyance with Obama's lead Latino organizer.

Lorenzo has seen tension grow in the LGBT community over the last few years on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Good As You explores God Tube. Yes, I said God Tube, not You Tube.

OMG! I think I spotted Noel in one of Paul's debaucherous bar night posts.

JockoHomo has some Bebel goodness as a preview to the new CD.

Manhattan Offender celebrates Happy Gonorrhea Awareness Week! Yay!

Monaga is just, well, Monaga. Just about the most comprehensive site on gay night life (and day life) in the Dominican Republic.

El Oso Raro at Slaves of Academe remembers one of the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings.

Pedro Julio gloats (as well he should).

Updates: Aviance attackers guilty, IL unease on Obama and gays, Orozco gets a break in Canada

Din Da Da: Four people have pleaded guilty in last summer's attack against performer Kevin Aviance (pictured) and are expected to be given prison sentences ranging from six to fifteen years when they are sentenced in early April. They had faced prison sentences of up to 25 years if convicted of first degree assault as a hate crime.

Obama unease in IL: It has been ten days since the Chicago Tribune reported that General Peter Pace - the current joint Chief of Staff and military leader in Iraq - called homosexuality "immoral." Today, the Tribune explores the lingering unease among lesbian and gay supporters of presidential candidate Barack Obama over how the Illinois Senator first responded to the General's comments.

Late word from the Chicago Sun Times blogs is, though, that the Obama camp might be forming a "gay advisory panel"(courtesy of Lynn Sweet).

Canadian court defers removal of gay Nicaraguan: A young Nicaraguan gay man who made his way to Canada as a teen and was denied political asylum back in February, in part because the court said he wasn't gay enough, has been granted a second removal deferral which means that he can stay in Canada up until August 9th, 2007. This undoubtedly gives his legal team precious additional time to build his case and appeal the ruling on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

If you would like to help Alvaro Orozco stay in Canada, please visit his website for additional information.

Art Leonard: A Dismal two weeks for gay and HIV+ political asylum seekers

NYU Law School professor Art Leonard continues his groundbreaking look at recent asylum court decisions and says that it has been "a pretty dismal showing over the past two weeks for gay and/or HIV+ asylum applicants."

He profiles cases in which the courts ruled against gay and/or HIV+ asylum seekers from the Philipines, China, Kenya, Turkey and Venezuela. Full details over on his blog.

In Paredes v. U.S. Attorney General, 2007 Westlaw 634424 (11th Circuit, March 5, 2007), which involves an HIV+ gay man from Venezuela, the court said:

"The evidence in the record may support a finding that there is discrimination against HIV-infected homosexual men in Venezuela, but that discrimination does not rise to the level of persecution. For example, the news articles that Paredes submitted establish that the police participated in arbitrary arrests of homosexual men and that there existed a culture of discrimination against homosexuals. Although such discrimination is reprehensible, it does not rise to the level of persecution that would compel reversal of the IJ's decision. Paredes's claim that there is a pattern or practice of persecution against HIV-infected homosexual men in Venezuela is further undercut by his multiple trips back to Venezuela with and without his domestic partners voer the past 20 years."

Regarding this ruling as well as the others, Mr. Leonard writes:

The bottom line, at least according to this opinion, is that in order for things to be bad enough to qualify for asylum, it is not enough to show that things are bad or difficult or even hazardous; one must show, more or less, that the government is out to systematically round up, abuse, and severely persecute gay (and or HIV+) people. What is continually frustrating in reading these opinions is their conclusory nature. The court will recite some evidence and then assert, without explanation, that it does not "rise to the level of persecution," without really explaining why not.

Update: How you can help Alvaro Orozco

Thanks to my post on Wednesday, I have been contacted by the law firm working on behalf of Alvaro Orozco, the 21 year old Nicaraguan young man who is fighting deportation proceedings in Canada after the Immigration and Refugee Board refused to grant him asylum based on fear of persecution for being gay.

The reason? After a live long-distance video interview with Mr. Orozco, the court deemed that he wasn't gay enough and that it was unclear how Mr. Orozco could know he was gay at twelve years of age when he ran away from home as he wasn't sexually active during his teen years.

Today The Globe and Mail reports that Mr. Orozco's new lawyers have won a small victory: He will not be deported on Tuesday as scheduled as the Canadian Justice Department has granted a two month deferral (though they could have decided to grant him refugee status instead and did not do so).

I am working on sending published articles on the treatment of gays and lesbians in Nicaragua over the last 5 years that support Mr. Orozcos' fear of persecution should he be deported to Nicaragua.

What you can do:

A website has been set up on Alvaro's behalf at: Alvaro Orozco

Once there, you can get information on a letter writing campaign that might help to sway the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to grant asylum for Mr. Orozco (including sample letters).

To find out more about the case you can connect to video reports here and here (even if they were conducted before the two month deportation deferral).

Canada: Gay Nicaraguan denied asylum because he wasn't sexually active as a teen

A 21 year old Nicaraguan man has been denied asylum in Canada because the country's Immigration and Refugee Board did not believe that he was gay, says today's Globe and Mail.

Alvaro Antonio Orozco (pictured) who says he was 12 when he ran away from his home in Nicaragua, describes a harrowing journey through Mexico and across the Rio Grande into the United States, where he was captured by immigration authorities and spent close to a year being held in a Houston detention center. He was released after agreeing to return to Nicaragua on his own volition.

Instead he made his way to Toronto in 2005 after finding out through the internet that the country offered asylum to immigrants based on fear of persecution based on sexual orientation (he says that he never applied for asylum in the United States because a religious institution that offered him assitance as an immigrant warned him against it). It was only in Canada, he says, that he was able to finally come out and live as a gay man.

Unfortunately his previous life in the closet became an issue for the Immigration and Refugee Board as they ruled not to grant asylum "because he wasn't sexually active during his teen years, and wasn't clear about his sexual orientation when he fled Nicaragua at the age of 12."

His lawyer, El Farouk Khaki, says that the ruling exposes the Board's prejudiced view that gay teens are more sexually active than their heterosexual counterparts. He will ask the country's Immigration Minister, Diane Finely, to grant a stay of removal on humanitarian grounds. He will also seek to reopen the refugee claim "arguing there was a breach of natural justice because the member failed to consider guidelines on treatment of a vulnerable person."

If those last minute appeals fail, Mr. Orozco will be sent back to Nicaragua on Tuesday, a country which still considers sodomy a crime.

Mr. Khaki, for his part, was honored at last year's 2nd Annual Pride Toronto Gala and Awards for his work as a founder of the LGBT Muslim group Salaam Canada.

In the news: LGBT political asylum news, homophobic violence in Peru

Not sure if this will be a recurring feature here at Blabbeando but here's some news stories that caught my attention recently:

Deportation woes: Today, The Washington Post reports on immigrants in deportation proceedings who reach immigration court without access to legal representation which, some advocates claim, leads to hundreds of unfair deportations on an annual basis.

No political asylum for Jamaican lesbian: In this week's Gay City News, Arthur Leonard continues his exemplary ongoing look at LGBT asylum cases and discusses a decision by the federal appeals court in Philadelphia upholding a lower court's decision not to grant political asylum to a Jamaican lesbian woman. Mr. Leonard's blog can be found in my personal links column.

Transgender Mexican woman might get political asylum: In the meantime, on Thursday, Metropolitan News reported that the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider an asylum claim filed by a Mexican-born transgender woman deeming that the Board of Immigration Appeals failed to take into consideration key testimony in their decision not to grant the woman asylum.

Police in Peru accused of systematic attacks on the LGBT community: Finally, the UK's Pink News picks up on an EFE newswire article on a report released by the Lima Homosexual Movement (MOHL) over the weekend in which the organization claims to have documented over 600 homophobic attacks throughout the South American nation during 2006 and in which they accuse police officers of "carrying out systematic attacks on gay people in the country."

More information on the report can be found in this Spanish-language article distributed by the Andina newswire.

Bloggeando: What other blogs are saying

Reading other blogs, here are some entries that have caught my attention (Lance included):

• New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard writes about a transgender woman from Mexico who just won a new political asylum hearing when the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that immigration authorities used the wrong standards to deny asylum in a previous hearing. Professor Leonard comments on the increasing difficulties for LGBT immigrants in gaining asylum based on sexual identity in the Unites States under the Bush government and on an emerging pattern of similar asylum denials being overturned by higher courts. Most interestingly, he also writes about how difficult it is for LGBT immigrants with credible and demonstrated cases of persecution to gain asylum if they come from countries that the United States perceives as increasingly tolerant of gays (Mexican Asylum Applicant Wins New Hearing, LeonardLink, August 23, 2006)
• Keith Boykin talks about a Primetime special tonight on ABC that takes a look at "AIDS in black America" (which ABC has trumpeted, in part, for featuring Peter Jenning's last appearance for the network) and raises preliminary issues about some of the featured guests (ABC AIDS Special: Help or Hype?, KeithBoykin.com, August 24, 2006) [UPDATE: Rod2.0 has a review here and reaction from his readers as well]
  
• Bernard Tarver comments on the "I Am Gay" ads that were officially launched this week (I Am Gay, Bejata, August 23, 2006)
• Dan Vera talks about gay Cuban poet Rafael Campo [in between reviews of this season's episodes of Project Runway, if I may ad] (Poetry: Rafael Campo, DanVera.com, August 22, 2006)
• Pedro Julio Serrano celebrates his new undetectable HIV status (in his Spanish-language blog) and plays around with Blogger in Beta formatting as well (Esperanza..., El Blog de PJ, August 23, 2006)
• John K writes on the recently announced format of the new "Survivor" season that pits race against race, and tags my blog for recent comments as well (Survivor's Racing Ahead + Lee's When the Levees Broke, j's theatre, August 24, 2006)
• Gloria, a former California Democratic National Committee delegate, is not happy about recent changes to rules that the DNC has used to guide how state party leaders select gay an lesbian delegates to the presidential convention (DNC v. 2.0, Miss Wild Thing, August 22, 2006)
• Transgender advocate Pauline Park writes about the lurid coverage of the Jon Benet Ramsey murder and recent allegations that John Mark Karr, who has confessed to the murder though it's not so clear that his confession matches the facts, might have sought counseling for gender reassignment surgery while in the Thailand (Jon Benet Ramsey! Sex-Change Operations! Transsexual Pedophile Murderers! Screaming Tabloid Headlines!, Big Queer Blog, August 23, 2006)
• Lavi hangs with Lance and Reichen, the boy is anything if not resourceful - and, yes, I'm talking about Lavi (Dancing the Night Away at Star Room, Soloway, August 20, 2006)

Happy reading everybody!

In the news - Asylum

The San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a previous immigration court decision to deport José Boer-Sedano, a Mexican gay man with HIV, and granted him political asylum in the United States. English and Spanish language media are picking up on the story as if this was the first time that such a thing has happened, including Univision.com which calls it a '1 in a 1,000' chance ruling, showing you how little is known about the asylum process.

I have personally acted as translator in several asylum court hearings (at least in New York State anyone seeking asylum can bring their own translators, sometimes risky because the translator might not be that great) and I know of several Mexican gay men with HIV or AIDS who have been granted asylum previously. But while I might know this from personal experience it would be hard to say if this is a common thing: The Office of Homeland Security (which aabsorbed the Immigration and Naturalization Service/INS) does not keep records on why it grants asylum - whether it's persecution based on sexual orientation, political beliefs or other reasons - just the numbers.

The asylum process is at once mundane and bureaucratic as well as nerve-wracking and life-changing and has never been better portrayed as in the documentary "Well-Founded Fear". It is also no secret that under this government it has gotten progressively tougher (notice that in the case above the court overturned a decision by United States immigration courts).

The fact that Mexico is a "friend" to the United States also makes it hard to argue that such bad things could possibly happen in a friendly country (as a matter of fact for a while it was rumored that asylum decisions regarding gay men from Mexico were denied due to a glowing article that a United States-based gay tourism journalist wrote about Mexican beach resorts and how open gay life seemed there).

The courts do not seem to differentiate weather gays are treated better in urban areas than in a rural area in a specific country (and believe me, there is a big difference). I also remember one asylum court interviewer telling an asylum seeker that he would be fine if he just 'butched it up' a little more and another outright challenging another asylum seeker's homosexuality because he was masculine.

I have always found it capricious that if someone is granted political asylum in the United States after proving that he or she is in danger of dying in his or her home country based on persecution due to sexual orientation, other immigrants also need to prove the same thing about the same country (if one proves it, why should others prove the same thing?).

But I have also seen political asylum seekers be granted asylum based on a weak case while others with strong cases are denied - even if they have photographic evidence of beatings and torture - just because one ultimately argued that he feared being killed if he was ordered to return to his country while the one that actually had proof of personal persecution said he wanted to stay in the United States to make a better life for his family.

[UPDATE: Leave it to Arthur S. Leonard to tell it like it is and show me that I am incorrect in at least one respect: The rulings are not final until United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales agrees with the courts]