This story is just quite lovely, so many levels to it. There is, obviously enough, the Private Eye fnarr fnarr over Ugandan discussions:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]A lesbian asylum seeker kicked out of the UK because she was caught in bed with a man[/perfectpullquote]Said lesbian originating from Uganda of course.
And yes, that particular joke does go one stage further:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] In his judgment, Mr Justice Lewis recorded that the woman’s response to questioning over her relationship with the man was that they had not had sex but that she was considering getting pregnant. The judge noted that PN told immigration officials that her relationship with the man was “just a recent thing because I wanted a child”. [/perfectpullquote]Indeed, discussing whether to create a little Ugandan.
On a slightly higher level there’s that very British thing of trying to insist upon the rules. A Ugandan cannot just come to England because they feel like it would be a better place to make a life. Perhaps they should be able to, perhaps not, but they can’t. There must be some reason why they can claim asylum. As it happens, opinions about the LGBT in Uganda are such that this is a reason why – often enough – asylum is granted in the UK.
At which point we start saying that those rulz is rulz. We’re just one of those sorts of places where we do think they’re important. So, if she’s in bed with a man she’s not a lesbian and therefore she can’t claim asylum on the grounds of being a supporter of Sappho.
Fair enough really.
And then we get really, really, British. Hang on a minute, are we really going to give in to the men with clipboards?
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] The woman, 26, who first came to the UK nearly ten years ago, is also entitled to claim financial damages from the government because she was unlawfully detained and deported, the High Court has ruled. In a judgment published last week Mr Justice Lewis ruled that the woman had been denied the chance to present evidence to show that she was in a lesbian relationship in Uganda. The Home Office had relied on information from immigration investigators that the woman, known only as PN, had lied about her sexual orientation before deporting her. [/perfectpullquote] [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Much of the Home Office case relied on evidence gained during a raid of PN’s London flat, during which investigators forced open her bedroom door to find the Ugandan woman in bed with a man.[/perfectpullquote]Now, seriously, how many countries, how many legal systems, would bother with that? We done her wrong and we’re going to make it up to her? Go find her from thousands of miles away, get her back here, compensate here and then……well, and then she’s going to have to try to prove her sexuality all over again ‘coz rulz is rulz.
Sorry, I just think that’s a great British story. Illustrates rather a lot about us all.
Of course all she needs to do is claim that she is B not L and then the being found in bed with a man should make no difference to the original decision.
What I like is the way you can claim to be homosexual as a reason for asylum, and then, when you are proven not to be, point out that just CLAIMING to be homosexual is enough to get you punishment in the state you have come from.
So you can jump the immigration queue simply by lying and then immediately owning up…
Oh, and lying to infidels is perfectly acceptable according to the Koran. But I don’t suppose that the immigration authorities know that…
“Sorry, I just think that’s a great British story. Illustrates rather a lot about us all.”
Yes, it illustrates my mother’s oft-repeated view that we’re the laughing stock of the rest of the world.