Family Denied Asylum in US, They Should Have Said They Were Gay

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D. | May 15, 2013

The AP reports on a US Apeals Court decision to leave a family of homeschoolers at the mercy of the German Government, even though the Court found that the US Constitution forbids the state from prohibiting homeschooling. The family faces impossible fines and loss of custody of their children if they are returned to Germany. They should have just pretended to be gay.

Had the family been a homosexual couple they would have probably qualified for asylum. The US government routinely grants asylum to LGBT persons, citing a 1951 UN treaty that is binding on the US government. Under the treaty, states cannot return individuals persecuted because of their membership in a particular group to their origin country. It is tragic that not only homeschoolers, but a host of other individuals do not qualify for asylum, including persons displaced by natural disasters and wars. Homosexuals instead are granted asylum all the time in the US, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees asks that countries be unintrusive into the private lives of refugees when trying to ascertain their sexual orientation. Irony? Sarcasm? Tragedy?

Hopefully the family gets to stay in the US anyway. If the Obama Admin allows the Roemke’s to be returned to Germany, regardless of what the Courts say, it means the US Constitution is no longer a beacon of hope for those in the world that long for liberty.

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