Seeking asylum

FRAMINGHAM - Although the struggle for LGBTQ civil rights in the United States is still fraught and tense, thousands of refugees from around the world come to America seeking an escape from the oppression they face for their sexual orientation or identity.

On Sunday, refugees with the LGBT Asylum Support Task Force in Worcester aligned with The Plymouth Church on Edgell Road to shine a light on the cruel reality that gay, lesbian and transgender people face in countries like Uganda, Jamaica and throughout the Middle East and Africa. As part of its open and affirming congregation platform, the church is looking for donations and to raise the profile of LGBT Asylum, which works to help people settle into life in America by finding housing, work and support through the asylum application process.

LGBT Asylum was co-founded by Sean Martin, who attended the worship service Sunday. Martin, 34, is originally from Jamaica, but had to seek refugee status in 2008 while living in Florida on a work study program. Because homophobia is so intense in his home country, Martin was receiving death threats regularly during this time.

"I knew if I had gone back I would have ended up dead," he said.

After making a connection with a lawyer in Worcester, Martin moved to Massachusetts and began navigating the asylum process. At the time there was a short wait list and he was able to achieve refugee status quickly. But because of his experience, where he knew nobody and had no job, no place to live, he co-created the Task Force to help others who with similar stories. He hopes to earn his U.S. citizenship by the end of the year.

Many of the refugees Martin works with have arrived in the country more recently and are now stuck in a much longer wait list to meet with government asylum officers.

Because having their identities known could lead to violence against their families, several refugees have agreed to tell their stories on the condition that only their first names be used.

According to Craig, also from Jamaica, homophobia is deeply entrenched in the cultural and religious roots of the country. People who are even perceived as gay or lesbian are regularly harassed, denied housing, disowned by their families, fired from jobs and beaten or killed. Police do little, if anything, to protect them or get them justice.

"A lot of persecution comes from the church," Craig said. "They sponsor groups that call for killings and beatings. It's even in the music. Popular songs tell people they should maul LGBTQ people."

Worse is that it is a common perception that people can have their homosexuality "beat out of them." Families will sometimes actively find men to rape their daughters, believing that they can be "cured" of their lesbianism.

"The public perception is that if you beat a gay man enough you'll beat the gay out of him. If you rape a woman enough you will turn her straight," Craig said. "State agencies will not protect you. Persons are robbed, houses are looted, they are rendered homeless. There's nowhere they can go, so many try to leave the country."

In Uganda, the violence has reached an even greater furor. In 2014, the country passed its "Anti-homosexuality act," which became largely known in western media as the "kill the gays bill." The original version of the bill instated the death penalty for homosexuality, although it was later passed with life in prison as the punishment. Currently it has been ruled invalid by the Constitutional Court of Uganda, but although killings are not state-sponsored, lynch mobs have been known to burn people alive once they have been outed.

Remmy was a lawyer in Uganda who arrived in the U.S. in January. She attempted to flee to Kenya after her sexuality was discovered by her husband, but he tracked her down and brought her back to Uganda. She managed to make her way to the U.S., but in March her partner who had fled to Ghana was caught and imprisoned by old neighbors. Remmy received numerous threats that if she didn't return to Uganda they would kill her partner.

Hoping it was a bluff, she stayed put. The mob set fire to her partner's home and burned her alive.

"They said if I don't come back they will come back for me," Remmy said. "It doesn't end."

Remmy said she held out hope that a new president may change the law, but Pharizah, another Ugandan refugee, said she didn't think it was ever going to change.

At the age of 20, Pharizah was married off by her father to a man who already had two wives. Her father believed being married would turn her straight, but after text messages between her and her female partner were discovered, she was forced into hiding. A friendly neighbor set up a safe house and she was able to escape the country while police and neighbors hunted her. She arrived in the U.S. in September.

"Life is a process and I consider myself lucky," she said.

According to Joyce Miller, chairperson of the open and affirming congregation programs at The Plymouth Church, the church intends to continue working with LGBT Asylum. She said Sunday was a way to introduce the issue to the congregation, but there will be future efforts to raise money.

LGBT Asylum can be found at www.lgbtasylum.org.

Brad Avery can be reached at 508-626-4449 or bavery@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @BradAvery_MW.