CBC photo via cireport.ca

Irish 'transgender woman' can request refugee status in Canada

Canadian immigration officials have given an Irish man, who had sex change therapy in an effort to make himself a woman, permission to apply for refugee status. The man claimed he would be subjected to hate and his life would be in danger if he was forced to return to Northern Ireland, reports Thaddeus M. Baklinski, LifeSiteNews.com.

Tanya (born Tim) Bloomfield, has 28 days to file a refugee claim after passing an eligibility interview and test on Thursday at the Halifax offices of Citizen and Immigration Canada, according to a statement made by immigration lawyer Lee Cohen.

Bloomfield came to Canada in 2006 and settled in Chester, a small town outside of Halifax, where he married and applied for spousal sponsorship for permanent residency in Canada.

After separating from his partner in 2009, the spousal sponsorship application was terminated and he had to apply for temporary residence status. This was denied, whereupon Bloomfield contacted immigration lawyer Lee Cohen who applied to have him stay in the country as a refugee.

Cohen said his client would be targeted for hate if he is forced to return to Ireland because he is "transgendered."

"Today is a huge day for Tanya because it allows her to proceed with the refugee claim and to make the argument she says needs to be made to give her protection . . . in her country of origin," Cohen said.

"Once the refugee board receives our written submission, we will continue to have homework to do because we have to prepare our exhibits and the evidence that we want to use in our hearing to prove the claim," Cohen said.

Even though Bloomfield was reported to have said, "People have sent me research and statistics, which are compelling, about abuse that queers deal with across Europe," homosexuality and its various permutations are generally accepted across the EU, thus making Citizen and Immigration Canada appear to be pointing a finger at Northern Ireland as a hotbed of homosexual persecution.

"We're cognizant of the possibility that the refugee board might say, 'Well, if you couldn't find safety in Northern Ireland, why couldn't you do so elsewhere in the European Union?'" Cohen said.

"That would be a legal issue, and at this point, we haven't researched it, but we will probably argue that she shouldn't be obliged to live in another country."

Tanya Bloomfield is the son of Lady Elizabeth Bloomfield of Belfast, who revealed how her son had always been somewhat peculiar.

“When he was 10-years-old he knew there was something not quite right about himself,” she told the Belfast Telegraph. “He kept the fact that he wanted to change to himself, until he was 35-years-old."

Comment from Citizen and Immigration Canada was not available by press time.

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TAGS: Ireland sex change therapy refugee status Tanya Bloomfield Tim Bloomfield Lee Cohen

[08/23/2010]

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