No federal court has ever held homophobia as a ground for asylum. “This is a remarkably important opinion,” says Jon Davidson, supervising attorney for the pro-gay group Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. “They truly got it.”
Hernandez-Montiel first began dressing as a girl at the age of 12, despite condemnation from the Mexican school system (it expelled him), his sister (she tried to have him “cured”) and countless thugs (one attack left him hospitalized). He fled Mexico in 1994 and has lived in California pending this ruling. “He had experienced more negative things in his life than most of us can even imagine,” says his attorney, Robert Gerber. (His client is not talking.) The court called his gayness and gender identity “immutable,” and overturned previous INS rulings. The INS has until October to appeal.
