News and Events => People news => Topic started by: LostInTime on March 30, 2007, 03:32:01 PM Return to Full Version
Title: Ugandan Lesbian Seeks U.S. Asylum
Post by: LostInTime on March 30, 2007, 03:32:01 PM
Post by: LostInTime on March 30, 2007, 03:32:01 PM
link (http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2007/03/30/ap/us/d8o6lbgo0.txt)
Olivia Nabulwala says her family in Uganda was so angry and ashamed to learn she was a lesbian that her relatives hurled insults at her, pummeled her and, finally, stripped her and held her down while a stranger raped her.
"I hated myself from that day," she says in a sworn statement. "I disliked my family for subjecting me to such torture, and yet they felt this was a good punishment for me."
Now, in a case that illuminates a relatively unexplored area of immigration law, the African immigrant is asking for asylum in the U.S. on the grounds she was persecuted over her sexual orientation. And a federal appeals court ruling last week in St. Louis has raised her hopes of success.
Olivia Nabulwala says her family in Uganda was so angry and ashamed to learn she was a lesbian that her relatives hurled insults at her, pummeled her and, finally, stripped her and held her down while a stranger raped her.
"I hated myself from that day," she says in a sworn statement. "I disliked my family for subjecting me to such torture, and yet they felt this was a good punishment for me."
Now, in a case that illuminates a relatively unexplored area of immigration law, the African immigrant is asking for asylum in the U.S. on the grounds she was persecuted over her sexual orientation. And a federal appeals court ruling last week in St. Louis has raised her hopes of success.