Date:         Tue, 29 Mar 1994 16:26:20 EST
Reply-To: dionisio@INFINET.COM
Subject:      Interesting asylum case

FIRST CASE OF ASYLUM GIVEN ON BASIS OF HOMOSEXUALITY

    By Julie Winokur

    SAN FRANCISCO (Reuter) (3-25-94) - U.S. immigration officials for
the first time have granted asylum to a gay Mexican man who said his
life would be in danger because of his homosexuality if he were
returned to Mexico.

    The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in
Washington earlier this week approved a recommendation that Jose
Garcia receive asylum after he told of suffering ``unspeakable
degradations" in Mexico, including being raped by a police officer.

    Garcia's lawyer, Ron Silberstein, said Friday the case marked the
first time the INS had acknowledged that a homosexual may belong to a
persecuted social group that deserves asylum under the Refugee Act of
1980.

    Last year a San Francisco immigration judge granted asylum to a
gay Brazilian man who had been ordered deported by the INS. The judge
acted after hearing testimony about pervasive anti-gay violence in
Brazil, but the INS is appealing the ruling.

    But in Garcia's case, the INS itself granted the petition for
refugee status.

    Garcia, who was using a pseudonym to protect his privacy, told
immigration authorities he was ostracized by fellow citizens and
harassed, beaten and sexually assaulted by Mexican police.

    ``They accused me of committing bogus crimes. They extorted money
from me. On one occasion (as a teen-ager in 1976), they raped me," he
said in a statement.

    Garcia, who is in his mid-30s, illegally immigrated to the United
States 12 years ago after what he described as a life of degradation,
assaults and humiliation at the hands of his countrymen.

    Daphne Roemer, a spokeswoman for the Mexican Consulate in San
Francisco, said in responding to the INS move that her country is
``very respectful of people's rights to sexual preference."

    Garcia's asylum bid was further backed by evidence provided by the
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, which alleged
widespread intolerance in Mexico, and said police have obstructed the
investigation a series of murders of transvestites and other gay
people.

    Immigration officials cautioned that Garcia's victory is no
guarantee for future cases.

    ``It would be a quantum leap to decide that all gays in Mexico or
anywhere else in the world should be granted asylum in the United
States," an INS spokesman said. ``It's not that all gays or
homosexuals are persecuted."