The Supreme Court in the UK has today ruled that one can apply for asylum on the basis of persecution for having a non-heterosexual orientation. In this specific case, two men had previously been refused asylum on the basis that they could effectively live “in the closet” in their home countries to avoid persecution. You can read more about it in this BBC news article.
Sadly, homophobia is still all too prevalent in the world – even now, in the 21st century. Worse still, there are homophobic states that have institutionalized prejudice against non-heterosexuals, which can include prison sentences or even execution! As a civilized nation, I believe it is absolutely correct that we should protect people from such persecution as a point of principle.
However, there are some other issues here that are beyond that simple point of principle. Firstly, the individuals in question had to cross a lot of other countries to get to the United Kingdom, some of whom are also signatories to the Refugee Convention and are “liberal European states”. Why is it that one has to come all the way to the UK specifically to file such a claim for asylum, I wonder?
Secondly, I think more diplomatic pressures need to be applied to such homophobic countries (with a zero-tolerance policy at home) because there are a huge number of non-heterosexual folk out there and asylum isn’t the long term solution!