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Bi Week, starting today, tries to make the bisexual experience more visible to the mainstream. The following story illustrates how far we have to go.Â
A 51-year-old bisexual man is being sent back to his native Jamaica after a three-judge appeals court panel upheld a ruling that stated the man was in fact not bisexual.
The earlier, faulty ruling was from a federal immigration judge who didn't believe Ray Fuller, who came to the U.S. in 1999, was actually bisexual because he'd been married to a woman and fathered children. Of course, bisexual people can marry opposite-sex partners and not renounce their bisexuality, though the judge was not aware of this fact.
Though there were inconsistencies in Fuller's report that the immigration judge cited in his decision, he ultimately decided Fuller was not bisexual and thus not in harm's way in homophobic Jamaica.
Fuller appealed, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled 2-1 to uphold the earlier ruling. Though the appeals court focused more on the inconsistencies of Fuller's testimony than whether he was actually bisexual or not, it ultimately gave credence to the immigration judge's ignorant take.
The one dissenter on the panel -- frequent LGBT rights proponent Judge Richard Posner (pictured) -- roundly criticized the lower court judge's take on Fuller, Salon reports.
"Apparently," Posner wrote, "the immigrate judge does not know the meaning of bisexual."
Posner also made it clear that it was nonsensical for Fuller to fabricate his bisexuality, knowing many in Jamaica would be aware of his court case and possibly subject him to violence when he returned there.
After fighting a very similar battle to Fuller's, a bisexual Jamaican man was granted asylum in the United Kingdom earlier this year. Orashia Edwards had to convince immigration authorities that he was actually bisexual and not just "experimenting" with men.
Meanwhile, a gay soccer player in Sweden faces deportation back to antigay Liberia. Swedish authorities don't believe Robert Nagbe will be subjected to state-sponsored violence, though he believes he will be jailed for his homosexuality and raped while in prison.
More information on #BiWeek here.
