Australia's Brutal Treatment of an LGBT Tamil Refugee

Life hasn't been easy for Leela Krishnan Thinagaran Harindran, at least in recent years. Leela, an LGBT 21-year-old from Sri Lanka, faced horrible persecution in Sri Lanka, where queer people suffer from rough laws that demonize sexual orientation and gender identity. Since 1995, sodomy has been criminalized for both men and women, and some religious groups in Sri Lanka punish homosexuality with the death penalty.

Leela certainly experience the brunt of this homophobic baggage. Regularly harassed and beaten, Leela's experience in Sri Lanka culminated in being detained by police. Leela was stripped and beaten, with cops saying that they would strip Leela naked, and turn on the video camera for the whole world to see Leela's bruised and bloody nude body.

In early 2009, things got worse. A stepped up campaign of aggression by the Sri Lankan government against the Tamil people escalated to epically violent proportions. More than 50,000 Tamils were murdered, and hundreds of thousands of others were placed in Concentration Camps. Leela was surrounded by violence, some parts based on his ethnicity as a Tamil, and some parts based on his sexual orientation and gender identity.

On September 11, 2009, Leela would flee Sri Lanka on a small boat with 43 others. Three weeks later, after being intercepted by the Australian Navy, these folks would find themselves on Christmas Island, a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. For Leela, despite the change of location to a seemingly more accepting place, the homophobic and transphobic treatment would only continue.

As Community Action Against Homophobia notes, Leela has been in captivity since October 2009. The good news is that Leela's been given refugee status in Australia, on the basis that if he were sent back to Sri Lanka, he would face severe persecution and violence based on his identity. But the bad news is that despite being given refugee status, Leela is still stuck in an Australian detention center — Sydney's Villawood Detention Center, to be exact. And Leela's condition in captivity is not good.

"Leela is anguished in prison. He is singled out in detention because of his sexuality and his mental state is deteriorating. The Department of Immigration have not been to see him for one month," writes Community Action Against Homophobia. The group worries that Leela may not last the expected six months it will take for Australia's immigration system backlog to catch up with Leela's status and free him from detention.

Might this LGBT refugee die in prison, while bureaucrats toil? That's the concern. And that's why Community Action Against Homophobia is urging folks to email Australia's Minister of Immigration and Citizenship as well as Leela's immigration case manager, prompting these two key officials to move quickly to free Leela from detention.

Leela's life should be turning over a new page. Help make that happen by putting the pressure on, and demanding that Leela no longer languish in detention while the Australian government moves like frozen Cream of Wheat.

UPDATE: The Australian Department of Immigration & Citizenship (Canberra) disputes the allegations being made by Community Action Against Homophobia regarding Leela's case. You can read a comment from their Communications Manager, Sandi Logan, below, addressing some of their concerns. We have asked the Australian Department of Immigration & Citizenship to respond to several of the points made by Community Action Against Homophobia in their petition, and will update this post as necessary with new information from them.

Photo credit: Community Action Against Homophobia