Worldfocus Radio: LGBT politics and gay asylum
I produced this radio show for Worldfocus.org.
Martin Savidge hosts David Rayside and Rachel Tiven on LGBT politics and gay asylum. We begin the conversation with Jamaica, which makes up 17 of the 55 U.S. asylum cases won by Immigration Equality last year alone. We examine the metastasizing colonial and slave culture, entrenched poverty and rampant violence in Jamaica.
In 1994, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno expanded asylum law to include persecution based on sexual orientation. Sexual orientation has been increasingly used as grounds for asylum. We also discuss how to begin the process of applying for gay asylum in the U.S.
From human rights abuses to political progress, the gay rights movement is at different stages throughout the world. We take a comparative look at the progress of LGBT politics and the gay rights movement in different countries, including the best and worst places to be gay.
Worldfocus: Caribbean HIV rate ranks second to sub-Saharan Africa
I produced this interview for Worldfocus: Caribbean HIV rate ranks second to sub-Saharan Africa
In terms of global HIV prevalence rates, the Caribbean region ranks second only to sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 230,000 people are living with HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean. And in some places — like Haiti and the Bahamas — AIDS remains one of the leading causes of death.
Daljit and Julia also look at the role women play in the epidemic. Women make up half of the adults living with the virus in the Caribbean, and are infected by “bridging populations” — bi-sexual men who are leading double lives. Julia raises the possibility of linking women’s rights with gay rights to tackle the spread of the epidemic.
The Glass Closet is a multimedia reporting project produced by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and Worldfocus. It explores the themes of HIV, AIDS and homophobia in Jamaica.
Worldfocus: There are no gay pride parades in Jamaica
Lisa Biagiotti (right) walks with Ida Northover (left) through an inner city on the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica
Lisa Biagiotti is working on signature stories for Worldfocus on HIV/AIDS and homophobia in Jamaica. She reported with Producer Micah Fink and Director of Photography Gabrielle Weiss, both from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Their reports will air on Worldfocus later this summer. Lisa gave the below interview to Thirteen.org.
Q: Gay pride is celebrated across the U.S. every June. Could there be similar celebrations of gay pride in Jamaica?
Lisa Biagiotti: No, there could not be an openly gay pride parade on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, as in New York or San Francisco. In Jamaica, anti-sodomy laws criminalize sex between men, fundamentalist interpretations of the bible and pride in reproduction contribute to the general disdain and non-acceptance of the gay lifestyle.
The idea of a “glass closet” best describes the public’s expectations of homosexuals, meaning, “We know you’re gay, and we can see you, but stay in that glass closet.” In fairness, Jamaica tends not to be a heavily PDA (public display of affection) culture. You don’t see men and women petting each other or even holding hands in public, with the exception of the dancehalls.
One thing that was interesting was the way homophobia finds its way into the language, in the choosing (or avoiding) of certain “gay” words. When little boys call each other “sissy” names, they say “you’re a battyman.” “Batty” means buttocks and is a derogatory name for a gay man. Saying the number “two” — referring to the anus — is also avoided. We heard a story of a father instructing his two-year-old son to say he’s going to be three. You’d say “come forward” instead of “come back.” If you’re ordering fish to eat, you’d say, “Give me a swimmer or a sea creature.” “Fish” is another term for a gay man.
Q: This anti-gay side of Jamaica doesn’t really jive with what many Americans may think of Jamaica. (Stereotypically, sun, fun, Bob Marley and “no problem, mon.”) How did you become interested in this topic?
Lisa Biagiotti: I first became interested in the subject of gay Jamaicans about 18 months ago. I was reporting on gay asylum in the U.S. and was told that Jamaica was one of the most violent and homophobic places for gays. I was told by human rights organizations that if you’re gay and Jamaican, you’d qualify for asylum. I then spent a year profiling Alex Brown, a gay Jamaican who received asylum in the U.S. In all honesty, this portrait of Jamaica was completely foreign to me — it contradicted the image of the Jamaica I know and love.
Q: Your mom is Jamaican, and your family ties to Jamaica span three generations. Was it difficult to report these seemingly negative stories for Worldfocus? What did your family think?
Lisa Biagiotti: At first, I was concerned we were doing advocacy journalism. I questioned whether we were imposing our U.S.-centric views on a country with a different cultural bedrock. Did we really understand the Jamaican culture, which is steeped in religion? Admittedly, I was protective of Jamaican people, who I still hold to be some of the warmest and most resilient people on Earth.
Going into these stories, I was aware of my bias. As a journalist, first-hand observation served as my guide. My team and I went to the places where people were literally living in hiding. We listened to the palpable stories of many gay men — the violence against them, the families that rejected them, the double lives they lead and the idea of mainstreaming their lifestyle to “make it right with God.”
We spoke to hundreds of Jamaicans from all walks of life to try to understand the cultural nuances and attitudes toward homosexuals. And everywhere we went, we heard the same things — said with varying levels of vitriol. Open homosexuality is not accepted. Tolerance and violence really depends on class and whether people act on their general disgust toward gays.
After observing and speaking with people on the ground, I’m confident that the stories we’re producing are fair and accurate illustrations of Jamaican attitudes toward homosexuals. As for my family in Jamaica and abroad, I believe they will respect that. Our goal is not to change Jamaican culture and mores, but to present what it’s like to be gay in Jamaica, and why it is important for the general population to talk about homosexuality because gay men are living double lives in secret.
Q: What do you mean by “double lives?” How is this playing into the spread of HIV?
Lisa Biagiotti: A recent Ministry of Health study showed that more than 30 percent of gay men are HIV+. It was a small sampling of about 200 gay men. But it was one of the first surveys conducted within the gay community. Whether or not the study is actually reflective of the larger gay community is questionable, but this rate is still 20 times higher than that of the general population.
What’s important here is that gay men are not isolated from the rest of the population. These men lead double lives — one gay life underground and another “heterosexual” life to save face in their communities. Gay men have girlfriends and wives and children, who likely do not know of their secret lives. This poses a threat to spreading HIV into the general population. So, when you layer this 31.8 percent figure over the laws, religion and general stigma against homosexuality, you’re masking the problem and potentially spreading the infection into the general population.
Q: How does the Jamaican government address the HIV problem without acknowledging the gay community?
Lisa Biagiotti: It’s difficult to target the gay community because they’re not out in the open. There could be no ad campaign in Jamaica talking about using condoms for anal sex because anal sex is illegal and punishable with a 12-year prison sentence of hard labor. The channels of awareness and education of gay men are limited and insufficient.
I should also mention that, on the flip side, Jamaica has made incredible strides in making anti-retroviral medication free and accessible to everyone. Early testing has whittled down the mother-to-child HIV transmission rate to under 5 percent. But the gay community is not siloed from the general population and could potentially reintroduce the disease into the general population.
Q: Given the extreme anti-gay discrimination and level of violence in Jamaica, did you ever feel that you were in danger as you covered these stories?
Lisa Biagiotti: Every day, approximately four or five people are murdered in Jamaica. For a country the size of Connecticut, with 2.8 million people, that’s a staggering murder rate. I don’t know if I had a false sense of security, but I never felt in danger. We had local guides taking us around and introducing us to communities, and I think that was key. We made sure we had introductions wherever we went. We told people we were reporting on homosexuality, HIV and AIDS. We knew these were touchy topics, but we were open and I think Jamaicans appreciated our honesty, and were in turn welcoming.
Visit the Pulitzer Center’s multimedia website Live, Hope, Love, which explores living with HIV in Jamaica.
Worldfocus: Gay men in Jamaica lead two separate lives
This was originally published on Worldfocus.org.
A gay Jamaican man shares his story, but conceals his identity for fear of attacks. Photo: Lisa Biagiotti
Lisa Biagiotti is reporting on HIV/AIDS, sexuality and young gay men in Jamaica. Her interest in the subject began when she met Alex Brown* 18 months ago. The story below is his — of a gay Jamaican who received asylum in the U.S. because he was persecuted on the basis of his sexuality. Though Alex is free from persecution, he still wrestles with issues of secrecy and religion, and his family in Jamaica still doesn’t know he’s gay.
It’s no secret that homophobia crosses class lines in Jamaica. From the inner cities to elite high schools, homosexuality is not accepted in Jamaican society. Pastors preach against the sin of homosexuality from the pulpit and dancehall lyrics glamorize gay killings.
Mob violence and attacks against gays have earned Jamaica the mark as one of the most intolerant nations for homosexuals. And the act of sodomy is still illegal, holding a 12-year prison sentence of hard labor.
Hurling stones in Jamaica
Alex Brown knew he had to leave Jamaica after back-to-back anti-gay attacks at work and home. On a Saturday evening in August 2002, two young men knocked on Alex’s cottage door in Kingston, shouting, “We know you’re a battyman (gay man — batty means buttocks) and you better pay us.”
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, I’m not a battyman. No, I’m not,” he cried. The 6-foot-3-inch Alex shut the front door, cowered beneath a window of his one-room hut and watched five men hurl stones at his home, shattering windows and alarming neighbors.
“Are you going to come pick up my dead body?” Alex pleaded to the female police dispatcher. Alex feared he would end up like his gay uncle, who was beaten to death in downtown Kingston in the late 1990s.
The police were stationed two blocks away, but it took more than an hour for them to arrive. They rounded up the men at a corner store. When the men accused Alex of making a pass at them, an officer turned to Alex and said, “If we find out you’re a battyman, we’ll come over there and lock you up.”
“The police don’t protect gay people in Jamaica,” Alex said. He feared reporting other anti-gay incidents where he was punched in the face, threatened to be run over by a car, or robbed at gunpoint at Portmore Plaza. “I could not go back to the same police station that threatened to lock me up because I’m gay.”
In 2002, Alex left his 9-year-old son, the offspring of the only opposite-sex encounter he has had, and his job of 13 years as a wharf warehouse supervisor. With a fellow gay Jamaican, he headed to London to complete his bachelor’s and earn a master’s degree in business administration.
“I had to move from one place to the next,” Alex said. “I was accused of being gay. I learned my lesson.”
When he couldn’t pay his tuition bills, he was forced to return to Jamaica in June 2006. The anti-gay sentiment seemed more hostile. Alex’s best friend Emil and ex-lover Robert had been murdered earlier that year. Six months of further harassment ensued and Alex decided to board a plane to the U.S.
In 1994, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno expanded asylum law to include immigrants who could prove government persecution based on sexual preference. Asylum applications must be filed within one year of entry into the U.S. Immigrants must prove persecution in their home country on the basis of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group — gay asylum cases fall under this category.
While gay asylees make up a small percentage of the 12,000 total asylum cases per year, the severe situation in Jamaica against homosexuals proved grounds for asylum.
Immigration Equality, a national U.S. organization that works to end immigration discrimination, handles about 100 gay asylum cases a year. They are seeing a steady stream of applications from Jamaicans, which make up about 20 percent of their caseload. Their stories always seem similar.
Living a double life, again
Gay Jamaicans abroad still face challenges in reconciling two parts of themselves — being gay and being Jamaican. Despite the freedom from persecution that asylum offers, they are frequently drawn into communities of other Jamaican immigrants, including the very same people that persecuted them. They find themselves see-sawing between gay isolation and keeping up appearances for the Jamaican community at home and abroad.
“You live a double live,” Alex said. “Sometimes living two or three lives; that’s how it is.”
After spending a year on a cot in a New York homeless shelter, where he shared a room with two other men, Alex now has his own subsidized apartment in the Bronx. He received his Greencard and is working on his nursing certificate.
But even with asylum and a new start, some Jamaican roots cannot be forgotten completely. So, he hasn’t told anyone about his asylum — not his 13-year-old son, his family in Jamaica or his church communities.
“When you’re gay, you’re isolated,” Alex said. “Once you interact, it opens up a gate for your own downfall.”
- Lisa Biagiotti
*Alex Brown’s name has been changed to protect his identity.
NYC24: Gay immigrants find safe space in New York
NYC24.com: Gay Immigrants Find Safe Space in New York March 2008, multimedia story
After 9/11, U.S. priorities shifted from providing a safe space for others to protecting its own citizens. Today, immigrants fleeing persecution are applying for asylum in fewer numbers as deportation rates are increasing.
Dane Solomon is No Longer Afraid
By Lisa Biagiotti & Channtal Fleischfresser
In 1997, Dane Solomon went to the movies alone in Georgetown, Guyana, as he always did. At 11 p.m., he crossed the street to catch a bus home when two men asked him to spare some change. When Solomon declined, they punched him in the stomach.
“This faggot came onto us,” the men told arriving policemen, Solomon remembers. In Guyana, only four types of people walk alone at night: policemen, thieves, prostitutes and “anti-men” (homosexuals). Solomon spent a sleepless night in the corner of a crowded jail cell.
Seven years ago, he fled this life, leaving his native country and family, never to return. In the years since, he suffered a stroke, beat brain cancer, and coped with HIV, poverty and the uncertainty of being undocumented in New York.
On Feb. 20, 2008, Solomon, 36, walked out of the immigration office in Lyndhurst, N.J., completing a one-year asylum application process. Weeping, he flipped open his white cell phone and called his mother, Claudette, in Guyana.
“I feel liberated,” Solomon said. “The day in which I received asylum, I called up friends of mine and said, ‘I’m as legal as Barack Obama.’”
But Solomon is not typical of those seeking asylum.
After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, United States priorities shifted from providing a safe space for others to protecting its own citizens. Today, immigrants fleeing persecution are applying for asylum in fewer numbers as deportation rates are increasing. Heightened immigration controls have made it harder for immigrants to obtain visas, and many who are eligible do not apply for asylum because they fear being deported if their application is rejected.
The number of people who voluntarily applied for asylum decreased by 48 percent between 2001 and 2007. During the same period, the number of people deported increased by two and a half times. [Chart]
“In many cases, immigrants won’t apply affirmatively because they don’t want to be placed on immigration’s radar,” said Jonathan Eoloff, an attorney for the National Immigrant Justice Center, an organization focusing on gay asylum in Chicago, Ill.
The drop in asylum applications does not necessarily correlate to rising deportation numbers, but it underscores the apprehension among immigrants to voluntarily present themselves to immigration authorities. An unintended consequence of expanded homeland security measures is that many in need of asylum have been discouraged from applying.
Despite the risk of deportation, Solomon felt he could not return to his native Guyana for fear of further persecution. Unlike many immigrants who find refuge in the safe haven the U.S. provides—albeit illegally—Solomon decided to file a petition for asylum to obtain legal residency.
“I lived in constant fear that I would not be able to put up this facade,” Solomon said. “Knowing who you are inside and pretending to be somebody else takes everything from you.”
At age 16, Solomon left his home in rural Linden, Guyana after years of emotional and physical abuse. He worked his way through the University of Guyana and served in Georgetown’s city police force.
Pressured to prove his masculinity to fellow police officers, Solomon had a one-night stand with a woman. His son, Dane, Jr., is now 14-years-old and lives with Solomon’s mother. Solomon left the force after two years, joining the Red Cross and then the United Nations as a health educator in Guyana. On a U.N. visit to the U.S. in 2001 he participated in his first Gay Pride Parade.
“I saw the freedom of people to express themselves for who they are,” Solomon said. “All I wanted to do was love somebody freely and be loved.” Solomon decided to overstay his visa in the U.S.
In 1994 former Attorney General Janet Reno expanded asylum law to include immigrants who could prove government persecution based on sexual preference. Asylum applications must be filed within one year of entry into the U.S. Immigrants must prove persecution in their home country on the basis of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group—gay asylum cases fall under this category, according to Victoria Neilson, the legal director of Immigration Equality, a national organization that works to end immigration discrimination.
“People don’t know it’s an option. It’s very hard for people to learn about it, and learn about it in time,” said Rachel Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, which screens selectively and accepts only one in seven prospective asylum petitioners. “The number one reason we turn away cases is because they’re beyond the one-year filing deadline.”
A year after arriving in the U.S., Solomon suffered a stroke, which left him paralyzed, unable to speak and walk for seven months. But Solomon chose to apply despite missing the filing deadline. According to Immigration Equality, Solomon’s circumstances were exceptional and he received a waiver for the application deadline.
“I did not have an identity for years,” said Solomon. “My entire life was a lie.” Now, he can run out of his apartment and kiss his boyfriend on the street. As he searches for a job, he can confidently negotiate his salary. And he looks forward to bringing Dane, Jr. to the U.S. after seven years apart.
“This is the start of my American Dream,” Solomon said. “I can make a better life, not just for myself, but for my son.”
Theme design by Borja Fernandez.