Austria rejects asylum-seeker’s ‘gay’ claim

IMMIGRATION officials in Austria have come under scrutiny after they reportedly rejected a gay asylumseeker because he did not walk or dress “like a homosexual”.

The unnamed 18-year-old claimed he faced persecution in his native Afghanistan because of his sexuality.

But asylum officials dismissed the claim because he did not conform to gay stereotypes, according to details leaked to Austria’s Falter magazine.

“Neither your gait, your posture, nor your dress sense even come close to suggesting you are homosexual,” the asylum office in Wiener Neustadt allegedly stated in a rejection letter.

The official in charge of the case also said the man had “too few friends” to be gay. “Aren’t homosexuals supposed to be more sociable?” he wrote.

He also said the asylum seeker had a “tendency to aggression you would not expect in a homosexual” as he had argued with other residents at a shelter.

The letter also dismissed the Afghan teenager’s claim he had kissed other youths who were not homosexual as “utter nonsense”. The letter read: “If you had actually done this with a non-homosexual, you would have received a serious beating.

“You are not homosexual and therefore have nothing to fear when you return to Afghanistan,” the letter concluded.

Austria’s interior ministry said the leaked details “did not reflect the wider reality”. The Afghan teenager has appealed against the decision.