WASHINGTON, Aug 24 2016 – Ray Fuller is likely to be deported back to his native Jamaica soon, even though the U.S. Court of Appeals acknowledged that the original “immigration judge does not know the meaning of bisexual.”
According to NewNowNext, Fuller told the court in Jamaica he had been attacked and stoned by college students because he had sex with men, and that one member of another homophobic mob slashed his face with a knife. In addition, he’d been shot in the back and his buttocks because of his sexual orientation, and that incident at a party prompted his family to kick him out of his home, because the shooting outed him.
But the judge ignored all that and ruled Fuller cannot be truly bisexual, because Fuller married a woman, reported PinkNews. Fuller’s extramarital affairs with men did not sway the judge, primarily because his ex-lovers refused to testify in court.
The case was appealed to the 7th circuit and, shockingly, the majority of the panel accepted the judge’s findings based on discrepancies in Fuller’s testimony, such as inconsistencies in certain dates. They said that error rendered his account unreliable, meaning they let stand the judge’s finding that Fuller is not really bisexual, clearing the way for his deportation.
Judge Richard Posner dissented, and wrote a scathing response, quoted in Slate. “The immigration judge emphasized such things as Fuller’s lack of detailed recollection of events that go back as far as 1983 and a supposed lack of ‘proof’ of bisexuality,” wrote Posner.
“Well, even members of this panel have forgotten a lot of 33‐year‐old details. And how exactly does one prove that he (or she) is bisexual? Persuade all one’s male sex partners to testify, to write letters, etc.? No, because most Jamaican homosexuals are not going to go public with their homosexuality given the vicious Jamaican discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”) persons, which is undeniable.”
“The weakest part of the immigration judge’s opinion is its conclusion that Fuller is not bisexual, a conclusion premised on the fact that he’s had sexual relations with women (including a marriage). Apparently the immigration judge does not know the meaning of bisexual. The fact that he refused even to believe there is hostility to bisexuals in Jamaica suggests a closed mind and gravely undermines his critical finding that Fuller is not bisexual.”
But even Posner’s eloquent rebuke won’t change the decision. Fuller is expected to be deported within days. (LGBTQ Nation)
