Gambian President on Gay Asylum-Seekers: 'I Will Kill Them'

President Yahya Jammeh says those who flee his country and claim they were persecuted for being gay are liars, and he will punish them.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

May 16 2014 3:10 PM EST

July 23 2018 11:52 PM EST

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The president of Gambia has threatened to kill any citizen of his country who cites persecution of LGBT people in seeking asylum abroad.

"Some people go to the West and claim they are gays and that their lives are at risk in the Gambia, in order for them to be granted a stay in Europe. If I catch them I will kill them," President Yahya Jammeh said in a speech in the city of Basse last week, according to African news service APA.

Possibly alluding to a 2013 parliamentary report that challeged procedures for those seeking asylum in the United Kingdom, Jammeh claim that British authorities think some Gambian refugees are lying about being gay, and have decided to administer tests to confirm asylum-seekers' sexual orientation.

Jammeh, who has ruled Gambia in dictatorial fashion since 1994, is well known for his antigay views. In a speech earlier this year celebrating the nation's Independence Day, he referred to gay people as "vermins." Last year, addressing the United Nations, he called same-sex attraction "more deadly than all natural disasters put together" and one of the "biggest threats to human existence." In 2008 he told gay and lesbian Gambians to leave the country or face execution by beheading.