スペイン、セクシュアリティを理由とする難民受け入れへ

Sexuality To Be Grounds For Asylum In Spain
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 2, 2006 - 9:00 pm ET

(Madrid) Spain is about to join the Netherlands, Canada and a growing number of other countries that grant political asylum to gays and the transgendered.

People fleeing their homelands over persecution over their sexuality would be granted status under the new law proposed by the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

LGBT applicants in the United Sates are often granted asylum, however some judges continue to deny claims. Last month a gay Zimbabwe man who says he faces persecution at home has had his appeal for asylum rejected by a federal appeals court. (story)

William J. Kimumwe told the court that he fled Zimbabwe and eventually made it to the United States in 2002, settling in Minneapolis where his initial bid for asylum was denied.

In federal court he related to the three judges the the situation in Zimbabwe under strongman Robert Mugabe where gays are routinely arrested and often held for months without trial.

Last April in Britain a gay Iranian man under a deportation order killed himself rather than be returned to a country where homosexuality is punishable by death. (story)

A spokesperson for the Spanish government said it was amending its asylum laws to bring the country into line with other "progressive" countries.

Spain in June became the third country to legalize same-sex marriage. (story)