N.A. is a young gay man from Saudi Arabia, who lived his life in fear that others would discover his sexual orientation. He knew that gay men were often detained by police, tortured and killed‚ and he also knew that his family would disapprove or even turn him in to the police if they found out about his sexual orientation. As a result, he often hid his feelings towards men, fearing the repercussions. Growing up, it was very difficult for him to accept his sexual orientation while he was...
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gay immigration
R.T. is a gay man from Peru who fled to the United States because he was the victim of severe harassment and violence in his home country. While in Lima, Peru, he was physically assaulted several times in public, and was subjected to sexual abuse as well. The persecution started when he was young, with verbal and emotional abuse that eventually led to physical abuse. As he grew older, the abuse and harassment only worsened. After being stripped naked at his workplace by co-workers who...
V.R., a gay man from Mexico, had been taunted, harassed, and assaulted for most of his life. His stepfather was particularly abusive and attempted to “make a man” out of V.R. and “correct” his sexual orientation. V.R. was also subject to constant verbal and physical harassment at school, which only worsened as he got older. He suffered physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at the hands of classmates, family members, and people in his neighborhood. He eventually left his...
R.F. is a young gay man from Honduras who is seeking asylum in the United States. Growing up, R.F. was physically and emotionally abused by his grandmother and uncles because he didn’t conform to gender stereotypes. At school he was also targeted by older children, and when he would try to seek help from his teachers or the principal, he was told that he needed to behave more like a “man” so that the other kids would stop harassing him. By the time he was 13- years-old, his...
M.Q. is a native and citizen of Mexico. When M.Q. was a child, his father often accused him of being a “sissy,” and as he grew up, M.Q. was physically assaulted many times by his family, peers, and police because he was gay. One gang of teenage boys who had beaten M.Q. threatened him and told him that if they ever saw him again, they would kill him. In December 2003, M.Q. encountered them again and barely escaped alive. M.Q. fled Mexico, and arrived in the U.S. in January 2004....
Martin is an HIV-positive gay man from Mexico. Martin felt ‘different’ from other boys from a very young age. His father would punish him harshly for “not acting like a boy.” Upon finding out about his son’s homosexuality, Martin’s father beat him, verbally abused him and then kicked him out of the house with no belongings. He was 15 years old. Since then he has had no contact with his family. He moved in with a friend and started working at the age of 16....
In 1997, Mexico police raided a gay discotheque under the premise of searching for drugs. No drugs were found; however, the patrons were subjected to demeaning verbal and physical mistreatment. Because Armando was both a witness and a victim of the attack, an officer approached him and took his ID card and told him “you are going to remember me.” From that night on, Armando endured continued harassment, threats, violence, extortion, and robbery at the hands of this police officer...
Luis, a 24-year-old gay man from Mexico, suffered years of discrimination, harassment, ostracism, and exclusion from school, sports, his family, and peers because of his sexual orientation. Rather than protect him, police officers in Mexico physically assaulted Luis on numerous occasions. In August, 2003, Luis left Mexico seeking safety in the United States. After months of unsuccessfully searching for legal representation, Luis turned to NCLR for assistance. NCLR contacted immigration...
