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Ugandan Lesbian Seeks U.S. Asylum
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Mar 2007- Olivia Nabulwala says her family in Uganda was so angry and
ashamed to learn she was a lesbian that her relatives hurled insults at her,
pummeled her and, finally, stripped her and held her down while a stranger raped
her.
"I hated myself from that
day,’’ she says in a sworn statement. "I disliked my family for subjecting me to
such torture, and yet they felt this was a good punishment for me.’’
Now, in a case that
illuminates a relatively unexplored area of immigration law, the African
immigrant is asking for asylum in the U.S. on the grounds she was persecuted
over her sexual orientation. And a federal appeals court ruling last week in St.
Louis has raised her hopes of success.
Persecution based on sexual
orientation has been grounds for asylum in the U.S. since the 1990s, but such
cases are still rare. Most involve gay men persecuted by the government. There
are few cases involving women, who are more likely to be persecuted by family
members, said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, a gay
rights group that represents immigrants.
The Department
of Homeland Security said it does not systematically track the number of asylum
claims based on sexual orientation. Most immigration cases are dispensed without
a published opinion.
"That’s why
we’re so excited about this case,’’ Tiven said. "A published opinion gives it
greater weight, makes it citable.’’
Immigration
Equality, based in New York, said that last year it won 18 asylum cases for gay
men and transgender women from the Congo, Algeria, Jamaica, Russia, Egypt, Peru,
Bangladesh, Venezuela and Colombia. It said it lost two such asylum cases.
Among some
recent cases: A man who said he was beaten by Mexican police and threatened
because he is gay won asylum in January. And another Mexican man was granted
asylum in a 2000 appeals court ruling that extended protection to transvestites.
To qualify for
asylum, applicants must demonstrate past persecution or well-founded fear of
future persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion
or membership in a particular group, which now includes gays. Asylum-seekers
must also show, among other things, that the government was unable or unwilling
to protect them.
In 1990, a gay
Cuban who said he was abused by government officials in his homeland won asylum
in the first significant ruling of its kind in the U.S. That ruling became the
basis for then-Attorney General Janet Reno’s 1994 order allowing gays from other
countries to seek asylum for persecution based on sexual orientation.
"It is a
relatively new area of asylum law; there’s not a lot of bricks in the wall as to
how these cases get played out,’’ Tiven said. "But here’s a high-level court,
citing a reasonable and relevant application of government passivity.’’
"For women,
it’s developed quite slowly,’’ she added. "Around the world, women face harm,
often severe harm, from the nearest and not so dearest.’’
In an affidavit
in support of her application for asylum, Nabulwala, who is in her late 20s and
now lives in St. Paul, Minn., says that being gay is shameful in African culture
and illegal in Uganda, and that her family expelled her from the clan.
The Associated
Press normally withholds the names of people who claim to be victims of sexual
assault, but Nabulwala agreed through her lawyer to allow her name to be used.
In her
affidavit, Nabulwala says she realized she was a lesbian while attending an
all-girls Christian boarding school in Kampala. In her senior year, 1994, after
the local newspaper wrote a story about lesbian relationships at her high
school, and her parents confronted her, Nabulwala admitted she was gay.
She says her
admission was a "big blow’’ to her father, who angrily told her she must end it
or she "could no longer be his child.’’ Later, she says, she was brought to a
family meeting, where insults were hurled at her and an aunt "beat me so hard
with clenched fists and said it would help bring me back to my senses.’’
In 2001,
Nabulwala, by then in college, says she was called to another family meeting
after relatives learned she was still involved in a lesbian relationship.
"During this
meeting, my Dad said so many unpleasant and hurtful words to me,’’ she says. "He
was so angry that he reached out to grab my neck to strangle me. He stated he
was going to kill me because I was an embarrassment to him, our family, as well
as the entire clan.’’
She says two
aunts dragged her out of the meeting into her room, where a young man was
waiting.
"I was forced
to have sex with a total stranger, which was very nasty, while my aunts watched
in laughter,’’ she says. "Afterwards, they all left me lying there in a lot of
pain.’’
Three months
later, she entered the U.S. on a visitor visa, overstayed, then fought
deportation by asserting a right to asylum.
An immigration
judge in Minnesota said he didn’t doubt Nabulwala had suffered in Uganda because
of her sexual orientation. But he ruled that the rape was a "private family
mistreatment,’’ and not sponsored or authorized by the government.
However, the
8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the judge used the wrong legal standard,
and ordered the case sent back for further proceedings on whether the Ugandan
government was unwilling or unable to control the abuse, as Nabulwala contends.
Homosexuality
is illegal in Uganda and punishable by one to four years in prison. But a police
spokeswoman, Alice Nakoba, said no one has ever been convicted. And she defended
her country’s treatment of gays, saying that Ugandans seeking asylum in
developed countries exaggerate.
Nabulwala is
"extremely happy’’ about the March 21 ruling, said her attorney, Eric Dorkin.
Dorkin would not allow her to be interviewed or photographed, citing concerns
about her safety and privacy.
If Nabulwala is
unsuccessful, she will be deported.
"She’s afraid to go back,’’
Immigration Equality legal director Victoria Neilson said. "There’s no
protection in Uganda for gay people.’’
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