BRITAIN: Court Rules Gay Asylum Seekers Have A Right To Stay In The UK

Britain's Supreme Court has ruled that gay people who fear retribution in their home countries have a right to asylum in the UK. The decision involved two men from Iran and Cameroon who say they face physical harm should they be returned to their home countries. Via Pink News:

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 him the fundamental right to be who he is." An earlier Court of Appeal decision said the government could return the pair to their home countries on the basis that they could be discreet, despite homosexuality being illegal in both countries and HT suffering violence from his neighbours. The case was brought on behalf of the men by the London office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The men's lawyer, Iona Harding, of Baker & McKenzie, said: "This is an excellent result which will ensure that lesbian, gay and bisexual people receive the protection they are entitled to as refugees in the UK and are not expected to hide their identity in order to escape execution, long prison sentences or other forms of persecution."

Britain's new coalition government says it will institute new rules to stop the deportations of anybody who fears "imprisonment, torture or execution" in their home countries based on their sexual orientation.