According to a report from Pink News, Europe’s Largest Gay News Service, the Czech Republic uses a test to determine whether asylum seekers are really gay.  The test involves a cleverly-named device known as a “phallometer,” which measures arousal.  The theory is that if a man (the test only works for people with phalluses) who claims to be gay becomes aroused while watching heterosexual pornography, then he is not really gay.  Yes, this is about as dumb as it sounds.

Although testing erections seems ridiculous, the problem of asylum seekers lying to obtain status is well known.  Certainly some asylum seekers falsely claim to be gay in order to win their cases.  I had a case once of a Russian woman who falsely claimed to be a lesbian.  Her case was denied by the Asylum Office, and she hired me to represent her in Immigration Court, where she was filing for adjustment of status based on her marriage (to a man).  We admitted that she lied on her asylum application and she applied for a waiver, which was granted.

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