GLAD Joins Amicus Brief in Immigration/Asylum Case
GLAD has joined an amicus brief in an immigration/asylum case at the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit authored by Attorney Ilana Greenstein and the law firm of Kaplan, O’Sullivan & Friedman LLP on behalf of GLAD and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers’ Guild. The case, Kadri v. Mukasey, involves an Indonesian gay man, Zulkifly Kadri, a doctor who was fired from his position at a clinic and ostracized at a hospital where he worked when rumors spread that he is gay. Now in the United States, he has sought asylum based on past persecution in his home country, as well as his fear of future persecution should he be required to return to Indonesia.
Kadri’s application for political asylum was granted by US Immigration Judge Leonard Shapiro on April 22, 2005. That finding was subsequently overturned by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) on October 13, 2006, partially on the grounds that “closeted homosexuality” is tolerated in Indonesia and, therefore, that Kadri could avoid persecution by hiding the fact that he is gay and thus could not establish a well-founded fear of persecution. He was “ordered removed to Indonesia.”
GLAD worked with Attorney Greenstein on the portion of the amicus brief that demonstrates that the BIA’s assertion that a person must hide something fundamental to his or her nature - such as sexual orientation - as a valid alternative to refugee protection violates both domestic and international law.
Read the brief [PDF]