Sexual orientation has been grounds for asylum in the United States since 1994, when former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno ruled in a case that persecution based on sexual orientation could be given consideration. A small but growing number of gay, lesbian and transgender asylum seekers are using U.S. immigration courts to argue that their sexual orientation makes it too dangerous for them to return home. Immigrant and gay activists say more asylum seekers from the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean are citing sexual orientation as reasons for seeking asylum, especially from places where homosexuality is either outlawed or strongly, socially shunned.
BBC cites the case of 32-year-old Jamaican Nathaniel Cunningham, who won his bid for asylum in the U.S. on the basis of his sexual orientation and the discrimination he suffered back home. He told of his fear after “an angry mob gathered on his lawn hurling rocks and bricks and calling him and his lover ‘batty boys.’” He fled to Worcester, Massachusetts, and filed for asylum after working for a few years on a work visa. He won his case with the support of Jozefina Lantz, the director of immigrant services at Lutheran Social Services.
Cunningham has now become an advocate for other asylum-seekers by giving them counseling and directing them toward legal help. In Worcester, he has helped three other Jamaicans gain asylum with the legal help provided by the Lutheran Social Services’ LGBT Human Rights Protection Project.
For full article, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2009/11/091102_gayasylum.shtml
