British see sexual identity as human right

The UK's supreme court has granted two gay men from Iran and Camerun the right to asylum because they face persecution in their home countries. With this ruling the court rejected the line of the British Home Office, which wanted to deport them arguing that they could keep their sex lives secret in their home countries. The left-liberal daily The Guardian celebrates the ruling as a milestone in social development: "It is only because of the progress gay rights have made in the west during the last 50 years that the law can now clearly see it as an issue of fundamental human rights. It is only by the distance we have travelled as a society that we are now obliged to offer protection to those who would face prison, rape, torture or death for their sexual identity. ... Key to any democracy is a living law. This case shows the continued vitality of the refugee convention and its ability to move with changing times. This judgement should be celebrated as a victory for progressive thought; but at the same time it is nothing more than justice being done."

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