Alvaro faces deadly deportation to Nicaragua

by Joe Mirabella · 2011-05-17 17:33:00 UTC
Topics:

UPDATE May 31, 2011: Victory! Canadian Immigration announced that Alvaro was granted permanent residency in Canada. He will now be able to live freely in Canada and apply for full Canadian citizenship in a year if he so chooses. http://news.change.org/stories/victory-alvaro-can-stay-in-canada

Alvaro Orozco is an awarding winning gay activist in Toronto, Canada. Last week he was arrested while on his way to dinner with friends.

Alvaro's lawyer tried to get him out on bail, but his bail was denied. Now he is in detention at the Toronto Immigration holding center.

Canada is moving forward with deportation proceedings despite a deadly situation when he arrives back in Nicaragua.

According to a petition with more than 1000 signatures started by Michael Erikson on Change.org:

Alvaro first rose to national prominence in 2007 when his refugee claim was denied on the basis that he did not look “gay enough” for the adjudicator hearing his case via a television screen in Calgary.

This story was picked up by the largest newspapers in Nicaragua, effectively “outing” him to the entire country he left at age 12 due to severe physical abuse by a father who threatened to “kill any child of his that was homosexual.”

Support for Alvaro is growing. A Facebook page has more than 1000 likes, and a YouTube campaign features videos from people who know and love Alvero.

Show your support for Alvaro, by signing the petition linked below. No one should be sent into a deadly situation because they don't look "gay enough". Let Alvaro stay in Canada.

http://www.change.org/petitions/let-alvaro-stay-in-canada

Photo via alexindigo

Joe Mirabella is a Change.org Organizing Manager for LGBT rights.

RELATED PETITION

Let Alvaro Stay in Canada
VICTORY!
9,996 People
PREVIOUS STORY:
San Francisco Giants make history - will be first pro sports team to make an "It Gets Better" video
NEXT STORY:
Bullied high schooler convinces MPAA to change ‘Bully’ rating to “PG-13”

COMMENTS (15)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.