By Melanie Nathan, July 23, 2015. A new revealing report on persecution and discrimination against Uganda’s LGBTI community has been released by the Consortium on Monitoring Violations Based on Sex Determination, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation. The report refers to 89 verified documented violations in 2014 in Uganda. That was the year the Anti-Homosexuality Act […]
Kenyan Police detain Ugandan Refugees Victims of Anti-Gay Mob Attack
Calls into Question Whether UNHCR is able to adequately protect LGBT Refugees By Melanie Nathan, July 9, 2015 This morning, four young Ugandan urban refugees were eating breakfast in the privacy of their rental premises in Kenya, when a mob entered the gate and started banging on their door and window screaming anti-gay slurs. After […]
Deputy President of Kenya wants to Eradicate Gays
Posted from African HRC, May 4, 2015 As homophobia continues to rise in many African countries, Kenya seems to be joining the crusade against its LGBTI citizens. Kenya’s deputy president, William Ruto, has told worshipers at a church service in Nairobi that homosexuality has no place in Kenya. “We will not allow homosexuality in our […]
Xenophobic Mayhem and Murder may make South Africa a Skunk Nation yet again
Xenophobia a Scourge and Scapegoat felt by all immigrants also impacting LGBT refugees By Melanie Nathan, April 17, 2015. The sordid side of South Africa, reared its ugly head this past week, as Xenophobic mobs attacked foreigners and immigrants, causing at least 5 deaths in the Durban area. This brewing inferno, which spread to other […]
Ugandan LGBT Refugees in Kenya Launch UNHCR Protest
While pleading with International LGBT Community for Help By Melanie Nathan, March 09, 2015. There are many problems currently brewing in Kenya for Ugandan refugees who, after fleeing homophobia and persecution in Uganda, have been caught in a quagmire of funding and fraud issues. What follows is a desperate plea written by Ugandan refugees in […]
UNHCR Puts Hold on Registrations of Large Groups of Ugandans
Of Large Groups of Ugandans who claim to have an LGBT Profile By Melanie Nathan, February 20, 2015. I reported at African HRC that unscrupulous people may be conducting scams and taking advantage of LGBTI people who seek to escape their countries of origin. Of the several problems that seem to be happening at this […]
Marin County School Superintendent Pleads for Measles Vaccinations
The greater good of the community demands that we take action to prevent any further spread of the measles in Marin County. By Melanie Nathan, February 04, 2015. I barely write about local issues. Marin Country, where I live, has become the epicenter of the controversy around Measles and parents who refuse to allow their […]
Accused Human Rights Group Reopens in Uganda
Melanie Nathan, January 22, 2015 The Ugandan Refugee Law Project (RLP) which works directly with refugees and asylum seekers in the refugee settlements was suspended on 14 March 2014 following allegations that RLP was promoting homosexuality under the guise of human rights promotion and protection. This suspension was subsequently extended to their offices in Kampala […]
ORAM’s New Uganda report on Sexual Orientation and Gender Minorities
Geneva, November 3, 2014 As Uganda debates the re-introduction of an Anti-Homosexuality Bill, ORAM publishes a comprehensive Country of Origin Report on the conditions of LGBTI individuals in the country ORAM has published an extensive report titled “Country of Origin Report: Sexual and Gender Minorities – Uganda.” The report includes an extensive case law section, […]
Setting the record straight – false rumors about my part with LGBT refugees in Kenya
This post serves to correct one of the many untruths being spread on the internet about my work: Unlike some would have you believe, Melanie Nathan did not tell people from Uganda or anywhere else in Africa to seek refuge in Kenya: In fact the opposite is what occurred. I am in possession of many […]
Ugandan Gays in Kenya Desperate, Sick and Fear Death
The Ugandan LGBT who fled to Kenya are desperately seeking help from our United States LGBT community. Here is the call. By Melanie Nathan, June 16, 2014 Most refugees, when finding shelter in UNHCR camps, despite the difficult conditions, can at least find solace in the fact that they have escaped the persecution that sent […]
Iceland Receives 5 LGBT Refugees from Africa While Pipleine to USA is slow
By Melanie Nathan, June 08, 2014 Iceland is set to receive approximately 5 LGBT refugees, including one lesbian, from Uganda, Cameroon and Zimbabwe. The Committee on Refugees made the recommendation, accepted by the foreign minister and the minister of welfare. Each of the individuals made application to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The municipalities of […]
San Francisco Pride 2014 vs Cher
An activists choice – How I gave up dancing with Cher to march for Africa By Tony Rowe, June 02, 2014. PALM SPRINGS, CA – When I heard that Cher and Cyndi Lauper would be performing at a concert in Los Angeles on my birthday I was so excited. My partner and I will be […]
What we can do as dramatic increase in persecution of Ugandan Gays since Anti-Homosexuality Act
Updated 7/9/2014. This post had been removed to archives private because it is an OLD post dated May 16, 2014, and its is being misused by some as a reference for a current Relief Fund , which it is not. It referred to an older relief fund campaign which has since closed. A new relief […]
Refugee Action vs UK Home Office policy on asylum wins support rates ruling
CONGRATULATIONS and CALL TO ACTION – See BRING BACK DIGNITY CAMPAIGN BELOW Posted by Melanie Nathan, April 16, 2014. A High Court judge in the United Kingdom, ruled that current Home Office policy on asylum support rates is unlawful. Dave Garratt ,Chief Executive, of Refugee Action, Victoria Charity Centretook , U.K., took the Home Office […]
European Union Court of Justice rules lesbian and gay asylum seekers can’t be told ‘go home and hide’
By Oram, November 07, 2013. Lesbian and gay asylum seekers in the European Union can no longer be told to go home and pretend they’re straight. The European Union Court of Justice ruled Thursday, November 7th, that ‘voluntary discretion’ is not an acceptable rationale for rejecting asylum claims based on persecution grounded in sexual orientation. […]
Global LGBTI refugee organization joins Europe’s premier refugee network
Posted by Melanie Nathan, October 17, 2013. San Francisco, 16 October 2013 – Europe’s leading civil society network for refugees accepted its first LGBTI member, last week. ORAM (Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration) – is proud to announce that the European Council of Refugees & Exiles (ECRE) Board has voted to accept ORAM into […]
World Refugee Day Highlights Failure to Protect LGBTI Refugees
First survey of international refugee assistance organizations finds widespread failures to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex refugees. Posted by Melanie Nathan, June 18, 2012. San Francisco – As increasing numbers of refugees flee persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM) and Indiana University […]
Call for Investigation into Numerous Sexual Abuse Reports of LGBT Immigration Detainees
LGBT Detainees Specifically Targeted for Sexual Abuse and Denial of Care in the U.S.A. Posted by Melanie Nathan, 01-09-2012, WASHINGTON—Following repeated reports of sexual abuse in the immigration detention system by the Heartland Alliance, Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate and offer possible remedies […]
Chaos expected as South Africa to Repatriate LGBTI Refugees to Zimbabwei
July 18, 2011 By Paul Canning As South Africa gears up to remove more than one million refugees, advocates are warning that gay asylum seekers risk being ‘refouled’ – returned to a place where their lives or freedoms could be threatened. Most asylum seekers in South Africa are from Zimbabwe – but the country hosts […]
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