"Leonor and Armando Garzon, who came to Queens from Bogota in 2001 to be at the bedside of their son Edgar in the days before he died from a gay-bashing in Jackson Heights, have passed their citizenship exam and become naturalized citizens. They worked for seven years to see to it that the perpetrators of the murder of their son were brought to justice and, on October 17, John McGhee was sentenced to 22 years for that crime." [GCN]

"A new research project aims to investigate the migration of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people from Scotland. Stonewall Scotland said the LGBT brain drain is a serious issue, including the flight from rural areas to cities such as Glasgow or Edinburgh. The gay rights group is recruiting volunteers to take part in focus groups and talk about why they moved." [Pink News]

Those Brits are full of good ideas! The United Kingdom's Home Office today announced that "hate preachers" could be banned from entering their land.

Foreign-born "preachers of hate" and other violent extremists will have to prove they have publicly renounced their views or be refused entry to Britain under tough new rules unveiled today.

The measures, set out in a written ministerial statement by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, will make it easier to exclude those who want to come to the UK to stir up religious or racial hatred.

Obviously "hate" can include homophobia, so Andy over at UK Gay News did a little digging and found that anti-gay preachers, like Fred Phelps, also face British banishment.

CONTINUED »

"Arsham Parsi, the well-known Iranian gay activist, has announced the launch of the Iranian Queer Railroad (IRQR), a new organization designed specifically to help the growing number of LGBT Iranians forced to leave their country by the violently homophobic policies of the ayatollahs' theocracy… Parsi said he and his organization are now in contact with 145 LGBT Iranian refugees currently in limbo and seeking permanent asylum… But, said Parsi, 'there are many, many more queer refugees from Iran who haven't yet been in contact with us and who also desperately need help.'" [GCN]

Two gay Iraqi refugees are making serious headway here in New York City, especially among the bear scene: "…Here they look exotic among the mix of bellies, baseball caps and bearded men. It’s this all-American aesthetic, however, that draws Mohamed and Ahmed week after week." [NY Press]

"A Guatemalan man who made up a story about political persecution to obtain asylum in the United States, then later said he had feared for his life because he is gay, lost his appeal for asylum Monday. Two judges with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said in an opinion filed Monday that it would be a 'manifest injustice' to allow Saul Martinez to benefit from gaming the system after he lied under oath. A third judge disagreed, arguing that it was easy to understand how a man who was persecuted because of his sexual orientation felt compelled to invent a story to escape from that persecution." [Mercury News]

A funny thing happened at Sacramento's American River College, where only 300 of the 30,000 pupils voted in recent Student Council elections.

Since many of the school's citizens apparently didn't care, they left a power vacuum to be filled by their more civic minded peers, a not uncommon trend across the nation.

Inside Higher Education's Scott Jaschik writes:

Low voter turnout isn’t unusual at American River, or at many colleges and universities. Nor is it unusual — at colleges with low turnout — for a group of students with a shared interest and a desire to serve together to run for office as a slate, and to win.

Many of the new leaders of American River hail from the former Soviet Union, a region not known for its pro-gay policies.

And those policies seem to have been enacted here in the States.

CONTINUED »

President Bush and Congress this summer voted to repeal a ban on HIV-positive travelers.

The move was hailed as a huge success by activists on both sides of the political divide, particularly within gay communities.

Such celebrations, however, were premature, because the Department of Homeland Security announced yesterday that it is "streamlining" the process, but will not be lifting the ban entirely.

From an Immigration Equality press release:

[The DHS says] it will issue regulations which purport to “streamline” the waiver application process for HIV-positive short-term visitors. The move comes nearly two years after President Bush directed the agency to streamline the process and fails to follow Congress’ mandate to end the ban.

"The timing of these regulations is deeply troubling," said Victoria Neilson, Legal Director of Immigration Equality. "In July, Congress issued a bipartisan message to this Administration – remove HIV as a barrier to travel and immigration. Instead of simply ending the HIV travel ban, the administration is again treating HIV differently from any other medical condition."
…
Regulatory change is needed to completely lift the ban; meanwhile, the HIV travel ban continues to be enforced. The regulations issued yesterday do not end the ban.

Maybe the DHS thinks HIV-positive people are terrorists, or something…

"The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), a bill that grants equal immigration rights to Americans in same-sex binational relationships, garnered an unprecedented level of support in Congress this month when four more Senators and sixteen more Representatives joined in cosponsoring the legislation." [Constant Contact]

The UK's Home Office gets a big thumbs down after deporting two gay men this weekend. Despite expressing fear for their lives, John Nyombi and Babakhan Badalov were sent to their respective homelands of Uganda and Azerbaijan. [Pink News]

John Bosco Nyombi's shaking in his boots right now.

The British government this week informed Nyombi, an openly gay Ugandan national, that he will deported, despite the fact that the Ugandan government has a strict "no homo" police. What's more, Nyombi's brother worked as an opposition leader before being murdered by pro-government supporters.

Nyombi arrived in England in September of 2001 and has been living quietly in the country for seven years. He works with special needs adults.

Nyombi had once been granted asylum, but for some inexplicable reason, the Home Office appealed against it and Nyombi will be shipped off this Sunday.

This is, in a word, senseless.

"A sexual health charity has launched a new website and printed materials in six languages in an attempt to reach migrants… The leaflets have been produced in English, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and French. Marc Thompson, Deputy Head of Health Promotion at THT said: 'Some gay men come to the UK to escape homophobia and abuse and to live a more liberated life. But when they get here they find things are more difficult than they expected… The website and leaflets aim to give men who are new to the UK the information and contacts they need to stay safe and adjust to life in Gay Britain.'" Shouldn't they offer an Arabic translation? [Pink News]

"Ethnic and racial minorities will comprise a majority of the population of the United States in a little more than a generation, according to new Census Bureau projections, a transformation that is occurring faster than anticipated just a few years ago. The census calculates that by 2042, Americans who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander will together outnumber non-Hispanic whites. Four years ago, officials had projected the shift would come in 2050." [IHT]

Activist Davis Mac-Iyalla definitely felt gay yesterday. The Nigerian national heard that he has been granted asylum in the United Kingdom.

Mac-Iyalla, who works with Anglican group Changing Attitude Nigeria, released the following statement:

I'm very grateful to the UK government for granting me asylum.

It means I will have an opportunity to continue working for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the Anglican church in Nigeria.

My heart really goes out to my LGBT brothers and sisters still trapped in Nigeria.

They are intimated and threatened by the increasingly hostile and violent environment against them, fuelled by the hostility of Archbishop Akinola and his fellow bishops - who claim that we don't really exist, and if we do then we are the spawn of the devil.

It is impossible to have a rational debate in such a climate of hatred coming from what is supposed to be a loving church.

Mac-Iyalla fled Nigeria earlier this year and received notes saying he'd be killed upon his return. And he didn't want that, obviously.

"A Winnipeg man who claims he will be persecuted for homosexuality if he returns to his native Nigeria may be ordered to leave Canada after a federal court judge recently upheld a refugee board decision to deny the man's claim based partly on the fact they don't believe he's gay." In addition to the fact that the man called no witnesses, the judge was unmoved by his inability to remember the gay bars he allegedly frequented. [Winnipeg Sun]