Gay and lesbian refugee applicants are turning to new-age technology to make their case in order to shed old-world views of their sexuality. The popular online social network, Facebook, is being used by a number of applicants as a tool to prove their sexual orientation to the immigration officials in Canada.

Diego Macias, a member of the Toronto based gay and lesbian refugee support group, said that sexuality has always been very complicated and one has to use all the resources available when you have to prove it as a matter of life and death. All this is required because all of those seeking refugee status after 1992 were permitted to claim status based on their sexual orientation and then prove it to the Immigration and Refugee board.

Actually, for many of these people, wearing their sexuality on their sleeve was never required. Therefore, to catch up with suitable evidence in order to support their claims are difficult. The applicants claim that they might be tortured, raped or even subjected to death if they returned home and so they need to invent ways to avoid such a situation.

In more than 75 countries in the world, people having gay sex may face jail or even worse. Not just this, acts of homosexuality can result in deaths in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan. In fact, in most of the Muslim countries, homosexuality may lead to prison sentences, fines or corporal punishments.

Last week in Winnipeg, a Nigerian man was ordered to be sent back to his native country by a federal court, because the IRB ruled his claim of being a gay as a trick. The man says that his life is in danger if he goes back to his country.

Immigration lawyer E1-Farouk Khaki, who specializes in representing gay and lesbian refugee claimants’ said that he often provides his clients with a list of items that might strengthen their appeal and prove their sexual orientation to the Immigration Board. Claimants make use of the letters from family members and friends pictures at Pride Festivals and also their membership on gay chat rooms.

Charles Hawkins, the spokesperson for the Immigration and Refugee Board said that evidence can be of any form. He added that among all the evidences produced, a board member can accept any relevant evidence and then assigns the evidence an appropriate value.