Thu 23 Feb 2017 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
A man has been denied entry to the US after a Customs and Border Patrol officer read his gay hookup profiles. Vancouver man André was stopped before entering the US and accused of being a sex worker because his profiles on apps such as Scruff and Bareback Real Time mentioned he was “looking for loads”. Chosen for further inspection before his flight, André was told he needed to give over his phone and laptop along with passwords. He told Daily Xtra “I didn’t know what to do, I was scared, so I gave them the password and then I sat there for at least an hour or two. I missed my flight. “He came back and just started grilling me. ‘Is this your email?’ and it was an email attached to a Craigslist account for sex ads. He asked me, ‘Is this your account on Scruff? Is this you on BBRT?’ I was like, ‘Yes, this is me.’” He decided to stop the interrogation and return home, only a month later to be subjected to inspection despite bringing proof to the airport that he is not in fact a sex worker and deleting all sex apps and browser history. Customs and Border Officials found nude photos of André on his phone during the second screening. “They said: ‘Next time you come through, don’t have a cleared phone,’ and that was it. I wasn’t let through. He said I’m a suspected escort. “You can’t really argue with them because you’re trapped.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 23rd February 2017 - 1:25pm