Rights must be balanced
THE persecution of homosexuals in many countries of the world is shameful, illogical and indefensible.
But the decision of the Appeal Court to grant the right to live in Britain to two foreign nationals on grounds that both are gay and could face persecution in the Cameroon and Iran respectively sets a troubling precedent.
From now on anyone from any country with a less than unblemished record on gay rights will have a new argument to put forward for being granted asylum in Britain.
Sir Andrew Green, of Migrationwatch, is right to warn that this could apply to “literally millions of people around the world”. This is a classic case of ivory tower judicial thinking. No weight whatever appears to have been given to the likely impact on Britain.
Of course homosexuals across the globe should be able to live free from persecution but their right to do so should not take precedence in British law over the right of the British people not to have their country overrun by foreigners.