The day after President Trump issued his anti-Muslim travel ban, I received several complaints from LGBT Muslim people and allies who were caught up in his Executive Order. I’m a lawyer and I counseled them with the best legal assistance that I could provide, but my phone kept ringing. There were just too many people.
Trump’s Executive Orders clearly threatens the lives of immigrants and refugees from all walks of life. Trump’s anti-Muslim and anti-refugee ban also has a direct impact on the lives of LGBT people and tears our families apart.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear oral arguments in the case Hawaii v. Trump in Seattle, WA on Monday, May 15th. The lawsuit that challenges President Trump’s anti-Muslim travel ban which bars people from certain majority Muslim countries coming to the United States and delays all refugee entries. The federal court in Hawaii suspended the Executive Orders. That order is on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), the NYC Gay & Lesbian Anti Violence Project and Immigration Equality, with the pro bono assistance of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief illustrating the impact of Trump’s Executive Orders on the LGBT community.
The brief details country conditions and shows that many LGBT people live in countries, including those named in the order, where homosexuality is criminalized. The order prevents those who are fleeing oppression due to their sexual orientation or gender identity from reaching safety. Barring their entry, or simply delaying their application for refugee status, prevents them from escaping persecution in their home countries or in refugee camps abroad.
Moreover, the brief illustrates the impact on U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have LGBT partners and family members abroad who are seeking refuge in the United States. The order deprives U.S. citizens and LPRs of their constitutionally-protected liberty interests in maintaining familial relationships with their loved ones -- whose safety is jeopardized by their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Recent federal courts decisions have struck down discriminatory statutes against the LGBT community. The Ninth Circuit should strike down Trump’s anti-Muslim travel ban because of its impact on the LGBT community.
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The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) is a nationwide federation of LGBT Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations. We seek to build the organizational capacity of local LGBT AAPI groups, develop leadership, and expand collaborations to better challenges anti-LGBT bias and racism.