Advocates Hail US Court Decision to Grant Undocumented Transgender Immigrant Asylum Tess Owen - VICE News
go to original September 5, 2015

A US appeals court has granted asylum to an undocumented transgender immigrant under international anti-torture conventions, saying she would almost certainly face more sexual and physical abuse because of her gender identity if returned to her native Mexico.

The 9th Circuit Court ruling Thursday overturns a Los Angeles-based immigration court decision in 2013 to deport Edin Avendano-Hernandez to Mexico where she had previously been "raped, forced to perform oral sex, beaten severely, and threatened" by numerous individuals including family, uniformed on-duty police officers, and members of the military.

"Mexico suffers from an epidemic of unsolved violent crimes against transgender persons," 9th Circuit Judge Jacqueline Nguyen wrote in the 20-page ruling. "Avendano-Hernandez, who takes female hormones and dresses as a woman, is therefore a conspicuous target for harassment and abuse."

Zenen Jaimes, policy analyst for youth-led immigration network United We Dream, told VICE News the appeals court ruling is "a very positive step forward" and hopes that more judges will take gender expression into account when making decisions on whether to grant transgender immigrants asylum in future.

Avendano-Hernandez was born in a rural town in Oaxaca, Mexico. From a very young age, she identified as a girl, even though she had been born biologically male. Her behavior and appearance were feminine and she felt more comfortable wearing her sister's clothes than her own, her lawyers said. Because of her gender nonconformity, Avendano-Hernandez was physically and sexually abused as a child — abuse that continued into her adult life.

Read the rest at VICE News

Related: Court: Transgender Asylum Seekers Can't be Equated with Gays (Associated Press)

Related: New US Regulations Ban Transgender Discrimination in Health Care (TakePart)

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