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Uganda Gay Activist Granted Asylum In US
http://www.africaeagle.com/2014/09/uganda-gay-activist-granted-asylum-in-us.html
A prominent Ugandan gay activist for more than 17 years has been recommended for asylum in the United States, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) announced today.
John ‘Longjones’ Abdallah Wambere, co-founder of LGBTI rights group Initiatives, has been in the US since February and filed for asylum in May.
In Uganda, Wambere was outed as gay by newspapers, harassed by strangers, received death threats from anonymous phone calls, arrested, evicted from his home and beaten up.
He faces the threat of arrest should he return to his home country.
Wambere said, ‘I am overwhelmed.
‘I must say that I am blessed, but there are many stories out there. I call upon everyone who helped me to continue to support LGBTI people around the world and all asylum seekers in the US. And my thoughts are with Uganda; I have sleepless nights while I worry about my community there.’
Uganda’s LGBTI community has been under escalating public, political, and physical attack in recent years, culminating in the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act and its signing into law in February.
It was struck down by lawmakers last month.
Allison Wright, staff attorney at GLAD, said, ‘We are thrilled that John will be able to continue his important work on behalf of the Ugandan LGBTI community from the States, where he will be free from arrests and incarceration because of his sexual orientation and bold activism.
Janson Wu, senior staff attorney at GLAD, said, ‘The United States must continue to grant asylum to LGBTI people from around the world who can’t enjoy the most basic freedoms in their countries of origin, and whose lives are threatened simply because of who they are.
‘Asylum is a life-saving system that protects vulnerable members of the LGBTI community forced to flee places like Uganda, Russia, and Jamaica, where it is fundamentally unsafe to be out.’
Source: Gaystar News
John ‘Longjones’ Abdallah Wambere, co-founder of LGBTI rights group Initiatives, has been in the US since February and filed for asylum in May.
In Uganda, Wambere was outed as gay by newspapers, harassed by strangers, received death threats from anonymous phone calls, arrested, evicted from his home and beaten up.
He faces the threat of arrest should he return to his home country.
Wambere said, ‘I am overwhelmed.
‘I must say that I am blessed, but there are many stories out there. I call upon everyone who helped me to continue to support LGBTI people around the world and all asylum seekers in the US. And my thoughts are with Uganda; I have sleepless nights while I worry about my community there.’
Uganda’s LGBTI community has been under escalating public, political, and physical attack in recent years, culminating in the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act and its signing into law in February.
It was struck down by lawmakers last month.
Allison Wright, staff attorney at GLAD, said, ‘We are thrilled that John will be able to continue his important work on behalf of the Ugandan LGBTI community from the States, where he will be free from arrests and incarceration because of his sexual orientation and bold activism.
Janson Wu, senior staff attorney at GLAD, said, ‘The United States must continue to grant asylum to LGBTI people from around the world who can’t enjoy the most basic freedoms in their countries of origin, and whose lives are threatened simply because of who they are.
‘Asylum is a life-saving system that protects vulnerable members of the LGBTI community forced to flee places like Uganda, Russia, and Jamaica, where it is fundamentally unsafe to be out.’
Source: Gaystar News
