Law and reality ‘widely divergent’
It might surprise Canadians who cruise and relax in Puerto Vallarta to discover that Mexican refugee claimants paint a grim picture of life for Mexico’s queers. According to case files queer men and women receive death threats. They are attacked by strangers in the street, by coworkers and even the police. It is not unusual for the police to laugh them out of the station when they try to file a report.
In a typical case one man described a series of violent incidents beginning with verbal and physical attacks at school, through to being attacked by police officers when he was seen leaving a gay bar with his partner. When he tried to report the incident he says he was told he could not do so without the names of the officers who had attacked him. He was fired from jobs when coworkers discovered his sexual orientation and, finally, he and his partner were beaten so severely that his partner was still in a coma at the time of the applicant’s hearing for refugee status in Canada. Though later granted leave to appeal his claim by a federal justice, he was initially denied refugee status by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) because the board (or IRB) did not believe he was gay. In particular, the francophone board member noted that he does not not possess an "an allure efféminée."
Last year, Mexico surpassed China as Canada’s largest source of refugee claimants. While 38 percent of claimants overall were granted refugee status in 2007, only 10 percent of Mexican claims were successful.
