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In what may be a watershed moment for lesbian and gay Caribbeans seeking refuge in other nations, a Jamaican lesbian who fears for her life has been granted asylum in the United Kingdom.
The woman, whose name was not released, won an appeal from a previous decision that denied her asylum in Britain. This time, immigration judges agreed with her attorneys that Jamaica is "a deeply homophobic society" and her status as an out lesbian could put her at serious risk. The woman said she feared that she would be subjected to "corrective rape" — which she was threatened with in Jamaica — and that she may sink back into a severe depression should she be forced to return to the island nation. The woman first came to the U.K. in 2003 to study and has since begun living openly as a lesbian and entered a long-term relationship. The woman argued to the judges that after living openly for over seven years she cannot go back to her old life — and her partner also refuses to move to Jamaica.
According to Jamaica Observer, many gay Jamaicans are successfully turning to Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. as venues for asylum from their home nation.
