Bangladesh refugees say they'll have sex to prove they're gay

Two gay men from Bangladesh who offered to have sex before Australian immigration officials to prove their sexuality will appeal their case for protection visas for the fourth time in 10 years. The men, who cannot be named, saidthey feared being killed if their latest bid for refugee status is refused at a hearing later this month.

A Federal Court judge recently criticised the Refugee Review Tribunal for its treatment of the pair, who first applied for asylum in 1999, finding it was deliberately biased against them. In a scathing summation, Justice Spender found three previous tribunals had unreasonably twisted facts to deny the men were homosexual, using unsubstantiated claims they were brothers who had been married to women.

While a first tribunal found they were homosexual, it refused them entry on the grounds they could avoid persecution in Bangladesh if they "lived discreetly". The High Court later upheld their appeal stating the gay men faced a "real risk" of harm if they were deported and could not reasonably be expected to live in hiding.



A subsequent tribunal then used an anonymous phone call to contest the men were brothers, a claim later disproved by DNA testing.

Increasingly frustrated by the process, the couple said in a submission: "We are prepared to have an adult witness view us engaged in an act of homosexual intercourse and then attest before you to that fact."

Human rights lawyer Bruce Levet, who represents the men, described the tribunal's conduct as "disgraceful" adding: "I was ashamed to be a lawyer." Because the men had lived monogamously for 14 years and did not frequent gay bars or take an active part in the gay community, Mr Levet said they had struggled to convince the hearings of their sexuality claims. He said the Commonwealth had resisted granting the asylum test case for fear of a pink wave of refugees from countries opposed to homosexuality.