Asylum Board Must Consider Abuse for Perception of Being Gay – Bloomberg Law

A woman will have another chance to convince the Board of Immigration Appeals that she’s entitled to asylum because she was persecuted in Guatemala for being wrongly perceived to be a lesbian.

The BIA must decide whether women in Guatemala perceived to be lesbian constitute a particular social group, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday, in an opinion written by Judge Mark J. Bennett.

If the BIA finds that such women do constitute a social group, it must then consider whether Rebeca Cristobal Antonio was persecuted due to her membership in that group, Bennett said. …