Pride House: A home for gay Olympians
t’s mid summer, so the 2010 Winter Olympics are just a few months away. Already in the host city of Vancouver, the GLBT community is making sure that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender athletes – and their families, friends and supporters – won’t be left out in the cold.
See Pride House: A home for gay Olympians
Gay and Lesbian Times
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/pride-house-h…
For Gay Iranian Refugees, a Matter of Life or Death
NOTE: This is the second of two parts, the first, on the election revolt, was on EDGE in June.
The international media clamor surrounding last month’s Iranian election, which saw the contentious re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad result in weeks of protests, demonstrations and violence, may have died down, but the unstable atmosphere lives on for residents of the Islamic republic.
They continue to face major restrictions on free speech and threats to their safety if they choose to speak out. And they will not soon forget the street violence that resulted in the death, imprisonment and harassment of many protesters, activists and journalists–all part of the worst unrest the country has seen in thirty years.
This is particularly true for gay and lesbian Iranians, both those who remain inside the country and those who have escaped. They are familiar with oppressive treatment from their government, one which continues to outlaw homosexuality and crack down against any outward display of queerness. The first story (published here June 30, 2009,) examined the environment facing the Iranian queer community, particularly in light of the government’s attempts to silence any post-election voices of dissent.
Building from that story, we now take a look at the climate facing queer Iranians who have fled the country with the hopes of seeking asylum in the West. Forced, in many cases, to leave behind their families, friends and the culture of their blood, their dreams of living in freedom still face a number of challenges.
When gay Iranian refugees and asylum seekers leave, they are sent to live temporarily to a number of a different places, though most end up in small Turkish towns known as “satellite cities,” far from the larger cities like Ankara or Istanbul. They file a request to be granted official refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in order to legally move West, and then they wait. In many cases, that waiting period can last up to three years, a time during which employment is difficult to find and harassment is not unusual.
See For Gay Iranian Refugees, a Matter of Life or Death
EDGE Boston
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/for-gay-irani…
Urgent Petition: Save Roodabeh and Ali, Iranian Homosexual Refugees
Roodabeh is a 30-year-old lesbian woman who left Iran in February 2008 to flee from the persecution that the regime of President Ahmadinejad reserves for homosexuals; persecution that foresees in many cases – according to a ruthless interpretation of Islamic law – prison sentences, torture and even death. Ali is a 29-year-old gay. He too was forced to leave Iran to escape the repression in January 2008. Once in Turkey, Roodabeh and Ali applied for asylum to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Ankara section) on the grounds of their sexual orientation.
EveryOne Group, Human Rights international organization, would point out that the right of asylum, as laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 14) and finalized by the Geneva Convention, is one of the fundamental rights of human beings, and is recognised by civil countries to those fleeing from violence and persecution. Turkey signed the Geneva Convention and has saved many human lives by acknowledging their status as refugees and offering them humanitarian protection. However, Turkey’s present policies where the rights of refugees and asylum seekers are concerned, have recently become more restrictive. So much so that Amnesty International has recently brought to international attention the repeated violations of the Geneva Convention in the Republic of Turkey, as well as the episodes of abuse carried out by the police against refugees. Roodabeh and Ali live in fear of being repatriated as the Iranian authorities are aware of their flight and the reason they were forced to seek asylum. If they were to be deported, they would have little chance of being spared this persecution.
They live in a state of anguish (as well as discrimination, seeing they are both foreigners and homosexuals) knowing their lives are in danger. They survive only thanks to the commitment of individuals and human rights organizations, but their condition will deteriorate rapidly if their right to international protection is not urgently recognised.
This is why EveryOne Group, working alongside Iranian Queer Railroad (IRQR) and a network of human rights organizations, is promoting a campaign and appealing to the UN High Commission for Refugees to recognise their legitimate right to international protection and asylum.
EveryOne Group activists must point out that Roodabeh and Ali have been awaiting the decision of the High Commission for many months, without financial support, social assistance or programmes of insertion into the work force.
A petition has been submitted to ask international and Turkish authorities and institutions to grant immediate asylum status to the two Iranian homosexuals. You can sign it at http://www.gopetition.com/online/28514/sign.html
For further information:
EveryOne Group
http://www.everyonegroup.com :: info [at] everyonegroup.com
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Gay Couples Forced to Flee US Over Immigration Law
An estimated 36,000 Americans face a choice — separate or move abroad — because they can’t secure green cards for their partners like heterosexual spouses can., said U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, citing information from the advocacy group Immigration Equality.
Bills have been introduced in Congress to treat same-sex partners like heterosexual spouses for the purposes of immigration but are likely to face a strong fight, both from gay marriage opponents and anti-immigration groups. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act prevents immigration officials from recognizing gay marriages, even from states where they are now legal.
Proponents see the issue as a basic rights question, and Steve Ralls, a spokesman for Immigration Equality, said he believes the best chance for the legislation is as part of a larger immigration bill.
But other immigration advocates want to keep the issues separate, fearful of bogging down an already tough fight. Kevin Appleby, migration policy director for U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the push for same-sex partners in immigration is about getting recognition in federal law for gay marriage — which he opposes.
”It’s an unholy marriage of the immigration debate and the same-sex marriage debate,” he said. ”It’s very combustible.”
Lown’s decision last month brought the issue to an unlikely place, a town of 90,000 where ranchers and roughnecks from the vast open lands come to do their banking and send their kids to the regional state college. The town’s only other recent brush with national fame came last year when it housed the hundreds of children taken from a polygamist sect’s ranch in nearby Eldorado.
See Gay Couples Forced to Flee US Over Immigration Law
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LGBT asylum seekers ‘facing high levels of homelessness and discrimination’
Gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans asylum seekers are suffering from high levels of discrimination, homelessness and exploitation, a report has claimed.
The Over Not Out report, from Refugee Support, the refugee services arm of Metropolitan Support Trust (MST), suggests that support services for LGBT asylum seekers are frequently poor, resulting in individuals facing harassment or discrimination in their accommodation.
It was found that mental ill-health and prostitution were particular problems, and that many LGBT asylum seekers do not report instances of hate crime.
A gay Iranian man in his thirties told researchers: “I’m gay and these kinds of problems happen to me all the time in any shared accommodation where I go. If I want to avoid trouble I just have to go to my room, just lock myself in. And it’s not a life… Yesterday I saw a guy who has been on Section 4 support for nine years. I don’t know, it might happen to me. I cannot lock myself into my room for nine years…”
The report, launched yesterday in Westminster, recommended further training and funding for LGBT voluntary and community organisations in regards to asylum seekers, along with new requirements for landlords to protect them harassment. See
LGBT asylum seekers ‘facing high levels of homelessness and discrimination’
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/lgbt-asylum-s…
Activist’s ‘railroad’ helps gay Iranians
Not quite three years ago, Arsham Parsi was an Iranian refugee in Turkey. Today, he is executive director of the Iranian Queer Railroad, trying to help 200 people down the same road he took to Toronto.
“Every day, people escape, people come here,” he said yesterday in his downtown apartment. “It’s constant, like a railroad, always moving.”
On a recent trip to Turkey, he secured refugee status from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for 45 Iranian gays, but they are awaiting interviews at the Canadian and U.S. embassies. Parsi, 28, is lobbying on to get them out of Turkey where temporary residents must pay a $200 fee every six months.
“People in Turkey say they’re not homophobic and I say, `You’ve living in Istanbul. When you leave Istanbul, it’s different.’ Gays have been beaten on the streets in Turkey and the police do nothing.”
Canada, the U.S. and Australia are the likely destinations for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people on his “railroad,” because those countries recognize the kind of persecution they face in Iran, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said there are no gays.
Iran is one of 86 countries around the world that still declare homosexuality a crime and punish it with prison or death.
Parsi was still in Iran when he became an activist in 2001, first starting a clandestine online chat group for fellow gays, then an organization. He left when he heard government officials were hunting him.
Since arriving in Toronto in 2006, Parsi has been a guest speaker at the UN Human Rights Council and his activism earned him awards last year from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Pride Toronto.
See Activist’s ‘railroad’ helps gay Iranians
Toronto Star, Canada
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/activists-rai…
Bisexual Nigerian battles for asylum
Returning home would be a ‘suicide mission,’ says tearful refugee as gov’t reconsiders case.
Bisexual Nigerian battles for asylum
Returning home would be a ‘suicide mission,’ says tearful refugee as gov’t reconsiders case.
