A Ugandan woman who has lived in Toronto since 2004 has been denied refugee status because the Canadian government doesn’t believe she’s a lesbian.
Leatitia Nanziri told CBC News she fled her homeland, where homosexuality is illegal, after she was outed by her girlfriend’s father. She said Ugandan police beat and raped her, resulting in a pregnancy. When she arrived in Canada, she was six months pregnant.
“They do mob justice, by stoning you…or bringing the tire of the car,” Nanziri said. “They bring it and light it and they put it on you until you melt into ashes.”
But because she had a relationship—and another child—with a man in Canada, her sexual orientation is being disputed. She’s scheduled to be deported on August 4.
Haven’t Canadian immigration officers ever heard of bisexuality?
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MikeE
hasn’t Queerty ever heard of immigration fraud?
Chuck
Well, even if she wasn’t lesbian in the first place, if she gets deported now, after publicly seeking asylum for it, she’s going to be branded as one and probably murdered.
James
My government’s immigration ‘policies’ make me ashamed to be Canadian. Send this woman to Uganda and she will be dead within a week.
John Doe
@MikeE…you got it!
@James – I’m glad my country also doesn’t allow frauds.
Tough call to judge any of this without any information.
MikeE
@Chuck: so, to get into Canada, all you have to do is lie, then say that now that you’ve lied, you’d be killed in your native country, so now Canada HAS to accept you as a refugee?
Yeah, not going to happen.
scribe37
Wow Queerty comments as kind and understanding as always!!! Yay people not giving a care about another human being afraid of being hurt or murdered.
scribe37
Personally I feel being gang raped by the state of the country that you lived in should be enough of a reason to allow the woman to stay in Canada (she lived in a place where police are allowed to abuse gays and if she was rape who would help her?). I would also throw in any country that forces female circumcision. But I’m liberal and soft hearted so what do I know?
Lifer
Canada may have to update their status to have an “It’s Complicated” option.
J Stratford
Well, she could be bi.
Its also easy to prove you are “gay” – gay lovers, gay dates, membership in LGBT organizations, people who can swear in front of a judge at risk of perjury that she is gay…. If she is none of these, its not hard to see why the Canadian government thinks she is a fraud.
And if she was married and had children with a Canadian, why isn’t she a legal resident?
Too many questions and too few details to make an informed opinion…
Franco
It doesn’t seem that there is enough information in this article to warrant an opinion.
Belize
@John Doe: And yet you’ve already given your judgment, haven’t you? I bet that was easy since you’re not directly involved.
Belize
@Franco: Yet a lot of bitter, self-righteous queens will happily give theirs. Trust me.
Belize
@MikeE: “@Chuck: so, to get into Canada, all you have to do is lie, then say that now that you’ve lied, you’d be killed in your native country, so now Canada HAS to accept you as a refugee? Yeah, not going to happen.”
And if it wasn’t a lie, tough luck, right? LOL. I love your logic.
mel p
@John Doe: And yet you did! You’re awesome.
MikeE
@Belize: when your country accepts as many refugees as Canada does, get back to us. ok?
Dutchguy
I work with asylum seekers in the Netherlands and there are a lot of people claiming to be gay or bisexual coming from Uganda. Yes there are clearly people pretending but also genuine gays, lesbians and bisexuals who have a harder case to prove because of the frauds. More worrying is that the Dutch authorities want to return people to Uganda who they actually believe are gay. Solution you can live in the closet if you want to. Hopefully the European High Court will overrule this tiresome logic
In this case as J Stratford said too many questions and too few details to make an informed opinion…
Clifford Chan
After years of progressive governments, the idiotic right wing politics of the governing party will use any excuse to deport anyone.
Tom
@Franco: I agree completely. I have to find out more about this. Its really hard to say if she was a fraud or not either way she may be in danger regardless in her home lands because of this
nineinchnail
Looks like she is using her ‘sexuality’ to get a free ride. Why did it take so long for her to ‘come out’.
chuck
Reminds me of the Salem Witch hunts. Witches supposedly can’t drown. So they would throw someone in a river. If they drowned, they weren’t witches. If they didn’t drown…that proved they were witches and were then burned at the stake.
Clifford Chan
On the other hand, I know a refugee lawyer(who’s gay) and suspected one of his African clients was NOT gay but who was applying for refugee status . My friend quizzed the client and then made the conclusion he wasn’t and then asked point blank”You aren’t gay! Am I right?” to which he confessed “No”. My lawyer. friend blew up and screamed something like “Don’t waste my time and integrity! You’re on your own now!”
Chris
My Ex BF was deported for the same reason…. Its a hard thing to prove sometimes but in his case, he came to Canada with his ex bf and was living a fully “gay” life, in fact they got married. Too many people are sent packing from Canada because they aren’t “gay enough” its terrible. And yes i’m sure many try take advantage but I’ve heard of cases where the deported are soon murdered after their return to their home country. Ironically my family is based in Uganda and I am Canadian. Sometimes I think people deserve the benefit of the doubt, or at least there should be better systems in play that follow up with people, what could be lost with that? At least not a life. my 2c.
Rob C
I have an idea. Why doesn’t Canada just pass a policy saying that they don’t believe any refugee’s story, since every refugee conceivably has a motive to lie and can conceivably be falsified? Then we can slam the door on all refugees. Judging by some of the comments on this story, seems like that would be more honest and probably keep the significant minority of people who vote for this idiotic government happy.
Our government is getting away with being evil simply because certain stories will never be able to be absolutely verified as true. God, I wish we could deport Jason Kenney.