Monday, January 30, 2017

Lgbt community registers fierce opposition to Trump's immigration ban


You have to be living under a rock to not have heard about Donald Trump's awful ban on immigrants from Muslim majority Middle Eastern countries and the rage and protests it has caused in so many circles.

Just in case you are wondering, one of the those circles is the lgbt community. The ban affects our community and we will not be quiet.

Shadi Ismail, a gay man from Syria, came to the U.S. in 2012. Since then, he’s resettled in Boise, and even found love with boyfriend Ian Guthrie
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In all, 11,469 Syrian refugees were admitted into the U.S. between October 2015 and September 9, 2016. of them, 118 have relocated to Idaho. (The number in Boise is twice that of New York City.)

Back in September, Ismael told McClatchy, “it’s good, very good news—people coming in, being safe now. They will have a life.” But just four months later, his mood has changed drastically. He worries for his countrymen, and fears Trump’s policies are “signing them to die.”

LGBT organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders have gone on record condemning the ban. Meanwhile, members of the lgbt community are also joining protests.

According to The Washington Blade:

Kent Fogg, a gay 31-year-old D.C. resident, said he came to protest the executive order because he opposed it based on his experience working for human rights overseas in Kosovo, a Muslim-majority country.

“I just spent the last two years living as a guest in a majority Muslim country in Kosovo,” Fogg said. “Everyone was not only incredibly open and welcoming to me, but they look to America as a model of a place that’s welcoming. And as a country in the Balkans that recently had its own refugee crisis, you heard the personal stories of what people went through, why people become refugees, and it’s just inhumane and against everything we stand for for us not to have the compassion that’s required to respond to the situations that are going on, and to let people in regardless of their religious or ethnic backgrounds.”

 . . .  Joe Sudbay, a gay D.C.-based progressive activist and blogger, was among those at the demonstration and said it was important to “make your voice heard in front of the White House” against Trump. “Donald Trump needs to know, the American people, the people of D.C., do not stand for hate, do not stand for the Muslim ban, do not stand for his wall,” Sudbay said. “We’re vehemently opposed to his policies. He’s out of touch, and we need to tell him, and we need to tell him all the time.”

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