The US Allows a Gay Man In (That Wasn't In The Closet?)

So, the US actually let a gay man into their country? That's wierd... usually they don't like those kind of folk. Though, the government there doesn't seem to like anyone that doesn't wake up at the crack and dawn to pray to a not-to-scale ceramic sculpture of dear ol' Bushyboy and their odd version of Condi as the virgin Mary. Could progressive ideology be afloat? COULD IT?


Gay Mexican granted asylum after long battle

Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

A U.S. immigration judge granted a Mexican immigrant asylum, citing his sexual orientation and the severe persecution of gays in Mexico, the man's lawyer said Tuesday.
Jorge Soto Vega, 38, said he had suffered harassment and violence from family members and authorities in Mexico because he is gay.

According to court documents, while living in Guadalajara, Soto Vega was beaten by police and then robbed, called anti-gay slurs, and told that he would be killed if he was ever seen again.
In 1988, Soto Vega paid a smuggler to sneak him into the United States, and he settled in the Hollywood and Silver Lake areas of Los Angeles. In 2001, Soto Vega returned from a brief visit to Mexico after his mother's death, during which he said he was afraid to go outside. He filed an application for asylum the next year.

His request was denied in 2003 by immigration judge John Taylor, who said he could return to Mexico because "it would not be obvious that he was homosexual unless he made it obvious ... ."
The case was returned to Taylor after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it is the government's responsibility to prove Soto Vega had no "well-founded fear of persecution" in Mexico.

At the hearing Tuesday, the judge agreed that a person should not have to conceal his or her sexual orientation to be free from persecution, said Jon Davidson, Soto Vega's attorney. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency waived the right to appeal in the case, spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.