Man Claims He’s Being Deported For Not Being “Gay” Enough
Posted February 8, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Nicaraguan man who lost his bid to stay in Canada as a refugee fears for his safety if he’s forced to return home where he claims he’ll be persecuted because of his sexual orientation.
Alvaro Orozco told Canadian authorities that he left Nicaragua in 1998 when he was just 12-years-old. His father brutally beat him because he’s gay, which is a crime in his native country.
He ended up in the United States and reportedly decided to come to Canada when he learned of its laws regarding same-sex rights.
“The thing I want now is to be here and to be free like any gay man here,” he said.
“I’m afraid to go back.”
But the Great White North hasn’t turned out to be the beacon of hope Orozco had thought it would be. An immigration board ruled against him this week and his lawyer claims it was because he didn’t appear to be gay enough during the videoconference hearing.
“Essentially (the adjudicator) didn’t believe he was gay,” El-Farouk Khaki, Alvaro’s lawyer said.
“Not only do you need to establish that you’re gay but you are visibly openly and flamboyantly so.”
The Immigration and Refugee Board won’t comment on specific cases, but Alvaro now faces deportation next Tuesday.
He’s filed a motion with a federal court to stay and hopes that decision will be delivered next week.
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