March 17, 2009
To: The United States Government
Regarding: Asylum Case of Mr. Dunrick Sogie-Thomas of Hyattsville, Maryland
I am
writing the United States Government regarding the compelling
asylum case of Mr. Dunrick Sogie-Thomas of Hyattsville, Maryland, whom I
read about in The Washington Blade story republished at the International
Campaign Against Honour Killings (ICAHK) at website
http://www.stophonourkillings.com/?name=News&file=article&sid=3399.
Mr. Sogie-Thomas is seeking protection in the United States due to threats
that he anticipates based on laws against homosexuals in Sierra Leone carrying
life imprisonment that violate fundamental human rights and our own
Constitution.
I am the founder of the organization,
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), website
http://www.realcourage.org, which[L1]
has as its mission the defense of the inalienable human rights of equality and
liberty, and the defiance of supremacist ideologies and organizations that would
oppose such human rights. Two weeks ago, we spoke at a public rally in front of
the United States Capitol on International Women's Day, March 8, opposing those
supremacist ideologies that believe that they have the right to murder women in
the name of so-called "honor killings," based on their supremacist views of a
human being's gender.
That outrage against human rights is no different when it is violence,
oppression, and discrimination against someone because of their sexual
orientation. We have seen such outrages in Sierra Leone before, such as the
murder of Fanny Ann Eddy because of her sexual preference,
Turkey, and
other nations that have allowed lethal violence against homosexuals to
become institutionalized.
In the
2008 State Department report on Sierra Leone published on February 25, 2009,
the United States government stated that "[t]he law prohibits homosexual acts,
and there was official and societal discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Many homosexuals concealed their sexual orientation." By the United States
government's own published statements, Mr. Dunrick Sogie-Thomas' freedom and
safety is at risk should he be denied asylum in the United States and returned
to Sierra Leone. The news reports that Arlington, Virginia Asylum Office
Director Ann M. Palmer states in her November 19, 2008 Notice of Deny to Mr.
Sogie-Thomas' asylum request that his prospective persecutor is "that portion of
the general society that is homophobic." This is only half the full story since
the Sierra Leonean government is a clear agent of persecution against Mr. Sogie-Thomas.
We respectfully ask Ms. Palmer to read the February 25, 2009 U.S. State
Department report on Sierra Leone that outlines the clear risk of death to Mr.
Sogie-Thomas because of his sexual orientation.
Supporting the asylum for an individual who seeks to be protected from
punitive laws that threaten imprisonment and violence against them because of
their sexual identity in their native country is not about gay rights. It is
about human rights.
It is not merely about the merits of the asylum seeker. It is mostly about the
merits of who and what we are as a nation - responsible for equality and
liberty.
I don't know this asylum seeker personally, but I know what the United States
government has published about Sierra Leone and its practices of rejecting the
inalienable human rights of equality and liberty, because of individuals' sexual
orientation. I know that, in America, we believe that all men and women are
created equal. That is what we have declared as our identity, and as truths that
we hold self-evident. I know that the United States government was among those
nations that have adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, defending
such equality and liberty.
There are no "but not in this case" clauses in the American Declaration of
Independence's support of the inalienable human rights of equality and
liberty. When you go to see it framed in the National Archives or hammered in
stone at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC, you will see no asterisks or
footnotes. There are no "exception rules" in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. Everyone deserves equal rights, not just those who are like us, and not
just people who we like. Everyone means everyone.
Today, the United States of America and the free people of the world are engaged
in a mortal struggle against those seek to promote supremacist ideologies, and
who seek to convince people in America and around the world that the inalienable
human rights of equality and liberty don't exist. This is an existential battle
of the truth of human rights versus the lie of supremacism. This existential
battle is for nothing less than the future of humanity itself. Every time our
nation looks the other way or ignores supremacism, and every time our nation
fails to defend the inalienable human rights of equality and liberty, it is a
victory for the propagandists of supremacism around the world. They turn and
tell the rest of world - see - you can't count on America for equality and
liberty, they don't believe what they say. Every propaganda victory that they
win turns yet another human soul to the darkness of denying equality and
liberty, and yet another human being against the fundamental rights of humanity
itself.
So I beg you to consider carefully those instances, such as this case for
asylum, where your decision represents how Americans are responsible for
equality and liberty. I beg you to consider carefully, how your decision will
not only influence the asylum seeker, but also how your decision will affect
those who seek the destruction of equality and liberty itself.
In three weeks, we will remember the passing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a heroic man murdered because he dared to stand against supremacism in America and who awakened us to the desperate need to reclaim the courage of our convictions on equality and liberty. As we say never again to supremacists who seek to regroup in America, so we must also say never again to those who seek to leverage our lapses on these inalienable human rights to justify their destruction.
On the asylum petition by Mr. Sogie-Thomas, please consider not only the impact of this case on his personal safety and welfare, but think also about how your decision will affect countless others in America and around the world who are counting on America as the land of the free.
Thank you for your time. All Americans are counting on your leadership and
courage.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty
Jeffrey Imm, R.E.A.L. founder
http://www.realcourage.org