Ugandan Lesbian Seeks U.S. Asylum

The Associated Press (here) reports on a novel asylum claim by a Ugandan woman who claims that 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.  Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit remanded the case for application of the proper legal standard.

Asylum cases premised on persecution based on sexual orientation are  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. Immigration Equality (here), 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.

KJ