Brody's Notes... U. S. Immigration Authorities Set To Deport Gay Ugandan

Joseph Bokombe
Via ABC10News San Diego

By Brody Levesque (Bethesda, Maryland) APR 9 | San Diego, California area LGBTQ activists and friends of Joseph Bokombe, a Gay musician from Uganda, have launched a desperate last minute petition drive to convince the U. S. Immigration & Customs Service to grant him political asylum.

Bokombe, who is being held by U.S. immigration officials, faces imprisonment in his homeland and the prospects of neverending harassment, possible beatings, and even death according to his friends, if he is deported back to Uganda. Bokombe arrived in the United States five years ago from Uganda on a cultural exchange visa, which expired several years ago. His friends said Bokombe was afraid to go home and was detained by ICE over a year ago.

ABCNews local San Diego affiliate ABC10News reported Bokombe's friends now fear his decision to live as a gay man will be a fatal one. "It's so painful to me," said friend Awichu Akwanya.

In March of 2009, American Anti-Gay pastor Scott Lively and several colleagues traveled to Uganda to participate in a conference at which LGBTQ activists claim the conference's principle purpose was to foster an anti-gay sentiment among Uganda's educators, lawmakers, and Christian pastors and ministerial staffs. One of the conferences participants, a member of the country's parliamentary representatives, David Bahati, sponsored a law that would impose the death penalty for certain homosexual acts.

Although the government recently backed off and shelved the bill, homosexuality remains illegal and widely despised in Uganda. This past January, Rolling Stone, (Not affiliated with the U. S. magazine.) a Kampala tabloid printed the words, "Hang them" next to the pictures of Gays on its front page, featuring a noted gay activist David Kato. Not long afterwards, he was found murdered in his home.

10News reports that Akwanya, also a Ugandan native, said he believes Bokombe would face a similar fate:

"Actually I don't think even past the airport. They just get him and then put him in detention. In detention, he can get poisoned or [they will] hire some people in jail to kill him," said Akwanya.

Bokombe volunteers at a church and for several local groups, including Mental Health America of San Diego County, which is the mental health non-profit Hector Martinez works at. Hearing these grim prospects led Martinez to begin the petition drive to help Bokombe's appeal for asylum.

"He's a part of our community and people care about him. He deserves to live freely," said Martinez.

So far, Martinez has collected more than 240 signatures, which will eventually be submitted to a judge. That petition is posted at http://www.change.org/.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement released this statement to 10News:

"Over the course of the last year, Mr. Bukombe's immigration case has undergone extensive review by judges at multiple levels of our legal system. In those proceedings, the courts have held that he has failed to establish a legal basis to remain in the United States. ICE is now in the process of seeking to carry out the deportation order handed down by the immigration court."

RELATED: BN&S columnist Tim Trent reports:
The petition is at http://www.change.org/petitions/san-diego-gay-man-needs-help-now-to-not-face-deportation-to-uganda and can only be signed by US residents.