The Great Asylum Seeker Loophole: Tell ‘em you’re gay
‘Hi there.’
‘Uh hi. Welcome to England’
‘Yo yo yo so I was thinking you guys could set me up with a two story somewhere trendy. Maybe a plasma telly and at minimum two bedrooms.’
‘Um, hang on a sec. You just landed, we haven’t even began to process your claim yet.’
‘Doesn’t matter yo.’
‘Uh, why not?’
‘I’m gay.’
‘What does that have to do with anyt-’
‘Check it bitches.’
‘…’
‘…so in your professional opinion, is three bedrooms pushing it?’
The above might sound like a ridiculous conversation to overhear at an asylum seeker processing centre but after a landmark ruling today in a British court, those truly desperate to enter Britain now have the opportunity to exploit gay and lesbian rights on a whole new level.
What surprised me is that Australia legally adopted this policy years ago, so why haven’t asylum seekers abused it yet?
In England, standard procedure when dealing with asylum seekers claiming asylum on the grounds that they are gay meant being sent home and told to be ‘discreet’ about it.
Today the Supreme Court of England ruled this wasn’t good enough and granted two men, one from Iran and one from Cameroon asylum.
Lord Hope, who read out the judgment, said: “To compel a homosexual person to pretend that his sexuality does not exist or suppress the behaviour by which to manifest itself is to deny his fundamental right to be who he is.
“Homosexuals are as much entitled to freedom of association with others who are of the same sexual orientation as people who are straight.”
The court said it would be passing detailed guidance to the lower courts about how to treat such cases in the future.
Let me be clear here, yes I think it’s horrendous the penalties that gay people face in some of these countries and my beef isn’t with them (gay people that is, I think the countries that persecute them need a good kick up the bum).
My only concern is how the hell do you regulate something like this?
Identity, economic status and country of origin can all be investigated in due time, even when there’s nothing to go on. Someone rocks up and declares that they’re gay however and well, what are you supposed to do?
Chuck on some gay porn and measure for a reaction? Get them to answer a (insert gay British celebrity here) approved questionnaire? Have a male (or female) blow up doll on hand for a demonstration?
How exactly do you ascertain whether or not an asylum seeker is gay or not?
What really surprised me about this decision is that in Australia we’ve had a similar ruling made years ago.
Back in 2003 two Bangladeshi men were
asylum on the grounds that they would be socially ostracised and possibly persecuted by the Bangladeshi authorities because of their long-term relationship.
In Australia the defendants’ lawyer, Bruce Levet
argued in his submissions to the High Court in April that the Review Tribunal’s argument that the men would face no persecution at home if they were discreet was tantamount to arguing that Holocaust victim Anne Frank was safe from Nazis in World War II as long as she continued to hide in an attic.
The supreme court rejected the Home Office’s test, which asked whether it would be “reasonably tolerable” for a person to conceal their sexuality to avoid persecution. The court heard during the hearing that this test would have meant that Anne Frank would be condemned to remain in her “comfortable attic”.
Having to prove that you’re gay is surely against some human rights charter that we’ve most likely signed way back when. So why human traffickers haven’t exploited this seemingly open asylum seeker loophole is beyond me.
To anyone wanting to claim asylum in Australia, just rock up and claim you’re gay. Badda bing badda boom, instant asylum approval.
July 8th, 2010 at 1:08 pm cbp(Quote)
I don’t think you will get very far if you just rock up and claim that you’re gay.
I imagine the process is similar to applying for a defacto visa – you need to prove that you are in a defacto relationship, which means providing evidence that you have lived together for an extended period of time, showing happy-snaps of each other doing things together, obtaining stat decs from friends etc.
If you are accepted you have to continue to provide evidence that you are living together for another year. If you get rejected you can go to court and they will dissect your life even further.
With all of these laws the onus lies with the applicant to provide proof and if there is any doubt, you get rejected. Sure some people exploit the system, but for the majority of cases it is effective.
July 8th, 2010 at 3:15 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
The two British men were not in a relationship together, they came from seperate countries.
The tricky part is defining gay, you don’t have to be in a relationship to define yourself as gay. In the same manner I don’t have to have a girlfriend or wife to claim I’m hetrosexual.
The British decision, which is an interpretation of the 1951 Human Rights Charter which Australia is a signatory of, sets a strong legal precedent for people to claim they are gay to gain asylum. If anyone asks why they are single I’m sure there’s a strong argument in ‘living in a gay relationship back home means persecution’.
How do you prove any of this on an individual basis? It’s not like gay people in Iran/Afghanistan/Sri Lanka and to a lesser extent Iraq are going to have happy snaps of their partners in photo albums or up on the wall.
July 8th, 2010 at 4:15 pm PSF(Quote)
Easily fixed. Once the courts allow them to stay, give them a few weeks to settle in, then the authorities hire a whore, female, who uses her tricky wily ways to coerce this gay man into having sex with her, and subtly bring up, say, having a threesome with her boyfriend, but only on the proviso that fellatio is performed on said boyfriend, and then more hot sex will ensue with her over many other meetings.
Of course, once the tapes and audio are presented to the courts to have the bloke deported for making false statements on his application form, the lawyer for the ‘gay’ man, legal aid of course, with an interpreter in tow, will come out with the old entrapment ploy, and the new judge, yes indeedy, will rule that it infringed the basic human rights of the poor man in front of him/her.
Well, that was a waste of time wasn’t it? That’s 5 minutes I will never get back.
Forget all I wrote, the law is an ass.
July 9th, 2010 at 3:01 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
One of the problems with your scenario is again it’s not illegal to change your sexual preference.
I mean worst case scenario someone rocks up, claims their gay and has the royal carpet rolled out for them. Once they’ve had their claim processed they go and find themselves a heterosexual partner.
What exactly are we going to do? I mean firstly there’s a good chance the ‘authorities’ won’t ever find out and secondly even if they did, it’s not illegal to change your sexual preference.
‘Oh but I was gay for 19 years before coming to Australia and then your women turned me.’
How do yous argue or even begin to reason with that in an official capacity?
July 9th, 2010 at
[...] now An Australian blogger wonders why their similar system hasn't been abused yet… The Great Asylum Seeker Loophole: Tell ‘em you’re gay | OzSoapbox Probably because Aussie-land has a sterner reputation in the world than we do. Soft Touch Britain [...]