The Williams Institute has congratulated the the current Dukeminier Awards Journal Winners, recognizing the Best Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law Review Articles of 2014. One such article is an important read for those involved in Asylum and Refugee law:
“A Sincerely Held Sexual Belief”: What LGBT Refugee and Asylum Law Can Learn From Free Exercise Claims and Post-DOMA Immigration Benefits for Same-Sex Couples, by Andrew Karp, Cornell Law School, also awarded the Jeffrey S. Haber Prize for student scholarship
"Karp’s comment urges a more coherent approach to sexual orientation across matters pertaining to immigration and asylum.
Karp shows that in reviewing petitions for marriage-based immigration, decision makers recognize the fluid nature of sexuality and do not allow past different-sex relationships to undermine the legitimacy of the applicant’s current same-sex marriage.
Indeed, Karp draws a comparison between reasoning about sexuality in the marriage-based immigration context and reasoning about the sincerity of religious belief in constitutional Free Exercise law.
In the asylum context, however, Karp observes a relatively rigid view of sexuality and notes that decision makers have used past different-sex relationships to question the applicant’s sexual orientation. Accordingly, Karp urges an approach to sexuality in refugee and asylum law that approximates that used for marriage-based immigration."
- TO access the Artcle READ HERE .
