According to reports published in the Toronto Globe and Mail, Alvaro Antonio Orozco, now 21, will be deported on Tuesday, Feb. 13, unless Immigration Minister Diane Finley grants his request that he be allowed to stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds.

Orozco told the Globe and Mail that his father used to beat him and call him derogatory, anti-gay names.

He told the newspaper he felt and behaved differently from other boys from a young age, pursuing artistic endeavors and preferring to play indoors. He also said that now he often hangs out in Toronto’s gay clubs and that he wants to be a nurse.

After a year hitchhiking through Central America, living off the kindness of strangers, Orozco, now 21, arrived in Texas. He was detained in a group home but left it for Toronto in January 2005, after learning Canada respects gay rights.

"Gay people in Latin America have to act straight to hide their (sexual) identity because people there are Catholic and are very conservative. I was afraid," he told the Toronto Star. "The (refugee) judge just didn't think I was gay enough and I didn't qualify to be gay."

According to the Star, adjudicator Deborah Lamont, who conducted the Oct. 6, 2005, hearing from Calgary via videoconference, took issue with his lack of same-sex relationships during his six years in the U.S.

"I determined on a balance of probabilities the claimant did not pursue same-sex relationships in whatever capacity...because he is not a homosexual," she wrote in her decision.

Lawyer El-Farouk Khaki said his client had to hide his orientation from the conservative church people who helped him.

Khaki told the Globe and Mail that the board’s decision “shows a lack of understanding of issues facing queer kids from homophobic cultures and what they have to deal with in terms of gender stereotypes.”

"Did (Lamont) expect all gay teens to be sexually active at 14, 15, 16 years old? That's horrid," said Khaki, who will file a motion in federal court tomorrow to stay the removal, reports the Star. "In my view, the refugee board has failed to recognize that my client is a victim of violence, a victim of abuse. He's simply vulnerable, whether he's gay or straight."

Until next time!