New York Times: "EU Court: Homosexuality Can Be Grounds for Asylum"

The New York Times reports that the top court of the European Union has decided refugees facing imprisonment in their home country because they are gay might on a case by case basis be granted asylum:

The existence of laws allowing the imprisonment of homosexuals "may constitute an act of persecution per se," if they are routinely enforced, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice said.

A homosexual cannot be expected to conceal his sexual orientation in his home country to avoid persecution since that would amount to renouncing a "characteristic fundamental to a person's identity," the EU court added.

Meanwhile, ABC News reports on asylum seekers to the US who have obtained asylum due to anti-gay persecution they faced in their home countries. One of these is Oliver from Nigeria, who was at one point locked inside a church in Nigeria with angry mobs outside. "'It was horrifying,' he said. 'I wanted to kill myself.'"