UK tells Nigerian asylum seeker: 'You can't be a lesbian, you've got children'

           

     
A gay rights campaigner in the UK has been told she's 'not homosexual' so can not be granted refugee status in Britain despite fears for her safety if she's deported back to anti-gay Nigeria.


The Home Office has been accused of having ‘outdated’ views on sexuality, after it rejected an asylum claim made by a Nigerian lesbian Aderonke Apata.

The 47-year-old came to Britain in 2004 and is challenging the decision not to grant her asylum on the grounds that deportation to Nigeria would compromise her safety.

In 2014, the African country passed a law criminalising homosexuality. Those found guilty of being gay and/or of attempting to enter into a same-sex marriage face up to 14 years in prison.

Anyone found supporting a LGBT organisation can be jailed for10 years.

Since the anti-gay law was implemented, there has been a noticeable backlash against the homosexual community, with vigilante attacks against gay people increasing dramatically.

In March last year, four Nigerian men were publicly whipped after being convicted of gay sex.

Ms Apata appeared in London’s High Court to appeal her case on Monday, and even went so far as to submit footage and photographic evidence of her sex life to prove that she is homosexual.

However, the Home Office has refused to recognise her sexuality – arguing she can not be classified as a lesbian because she has children from a previous heterosexual relationship.

Barrister Andrew Bird, on behalf of the Home Secretary, claims Ms Apata “is not part of the social group known as lesbians."

“You can’t be a heterosexual one day and a lesbian the next day. Just as you can’t change your race,” he added during the hearing.

Apata’s barrister, Abid Mahmood, called these views: “highly offensive”.

“Some members of the public may have those views but it doesn’t mean a government department should be putting these views forward in evidence,” he told the court.

Until recently, gay asylum seekers in the UK were liable to be asked ‘intrusive’ and personal questions about their sex lives, in order to establish the validity of claims about their sexuality