A Lebanese man who says he is gay and only became engaged to an Australian woman to please his abusive father has been denied a protection visa because he was not believed to be homosexual. The 25-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sought the visa eighteen months ago, saying he suffered persecution in his homeland for being gay and experienced constant pressure from his father to marry because he was not ''acting like a man.'' He claims to have had two secret gay relationships before coming to Australia for the first time in 2007. One night when he had returned home late with a friend, his father tied him up, hit him and burnt him with a cigarette, the man claims. But during his first visit to Australia, the man became engaged to a woman and applied for a prospective spouse visa, providing the Immigration authorities with photographs of an engagement party and saying he planned to marry and have children. A week later, he told the department he had broken off the engagement. In evidence before the Refugee Review Tribunal, he said he had been ''desperate'' to escape pressure from his father, who had tried to convince him he would eventually fall in love with his fiancee. The only reason he said he loved the woman was to get a visa, he said. When his boyfriend in Lebanon became upset at what he had done, he withdrew the application. The man told the tribunal his actions showed ''the struggles which a gay Muslim man faced when reaching marital age and in trying to avoid the stigma associated with being gay.'' But the Tribunal did not believe he was homosexual or that he had been persecuted, finding his purported levels of fear would have resulted in a more prompt application for protection.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 10th November 2010 - 3:42pm