U.S. must welcome Syria’s oppressed LGBTI refugees
Neil Grungras is the founder and executive director of the Organization for Refuge, Asylum, and Migration (ORAM), an international organization that recently launched a petition calling on the U.S. to reserve 500 slots for LGBTI refugees. His op/ed on CNN.com notes that, every day, ORAM continues to hear from dozens of LGBTI refugees from around the world, but especially in the Middle East:
“For these refugees, the 11th hour has passed. Now is the time for the U.S. to act — and to act boldly. LGBTI refugees, among the world’s most vulnerable populations, need the U.S. to welcome them. They need Americans to stand up for them and for the U.S. to be the place they call home. This is why it is imperative for the U.S. State Department and President Obama to reserve 500 slots for LGBTI refugees in 2016. Those who succeed in escaping the inferno of Syria and Iraq still face the direst circumstances in surrounding countries. The 500 slots, about one-half of one percent of the overall U.S. resettlement quota for 2016, would have an enormous impact on the lives of LGBTI refugees — especially Syrians — desperately attempting to, against all odds, be resettled to safety.”
KJ