Appeals Court Rejects Ruling That Gay Nigerian Didn't Prove He's Gay
Reuters.Wednesday’s decision was unanimously made by the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In its decision, the court said Peter Udo's inconsistent testimony over where the hotel was where he said he and his boyfriend had been detained and attacked wasn’t a cause to end his asylum request.As Reuters notes, those whose asylum applications are “deemed frivolous” are usually forever banned from seeking immigration support from the U.S.In Udo’s case, the U.S.
Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed a judge’s decision that his bid for asylum was frivolous because the judge said Udo lied on his application and failed to show he is gay.Udo said he and his boyfriend were found having sex in a hotel room in 2015, according to Wednesday's ruling.
A local security force beat them up and told Udo he would be killed.Nigeria criminalized same-sex marriage and relationships in 2014.Udo escaped from a detention center and, with help from his family, made his way out of Nigeria and to California, where he applied for asylum.He originally told an asylum officer a name of a hotel that didn’t exist.
He later said he had been scared to name the actual hotel, according to court documents.The court of appeals decided, however, that the location of the hotel “is certainly not a material element.”It also said the board and the previous judge had ignored other evidence, such as an “excommunication notice” from local leaders in Udo’s community that even stated he was being persecuted for being gay.
