Homosexuality/Bisexuality
Public attitudes to LGBTI persons in the US are quite polarized throughout a majority of the US. The law supports the protection of LGBTI persons. However, campaigners highlight shortcomings which still exist.

This report by academics at UCLA highlights issues around the treatment of LGBTI people by the police. The key points it highlights are concerns around hostile attitudes and verbal abuse from officers and in fewer cases instances of physical assault or sexual harassment. These issues exist in particular for people of colour or transgender and gender non-conforming people.

ORAM’s publication Rainbow Bridges shares the rare experience gained by ORAM during its yearlong pilot program assisting resettled LGBTI refugees in the San Francisco Bay Area. The refugees assisted had fled torture, severe harassment, and even execution in their countries of origin.

While many people have been granted asylum on the basis of their sexual or gender identity, there are no precedential asylum claims recognizing bisexuals as a particular social group. Additionally, public attitiudes and the state’s capacity to protect varies significantly depending on the region of the U.S.

For more information, explore this Non-Discrimination Legal Map of the United States.

 Transgender persons
Similar to the situation for Homosexuality/Bisexuality, the attitudes and state policies around transgender persons varies significantly by state.

Regardless, violence against Transgender and Non-binary people is on the rise in the United States with a series of restrictive laws implemented across the country criminalizing the transgender community. For a map of attacks on LGBTQI+ rights by legislators across the country, explore this state-by-state interactive map from the ACLU.

Matter of Toboso-Alfonso
The applicant was a gay man from Cuba who was persecuted by state actors in his home country for his sexuality. Refugee status was denied to him due to a previous unrelated US criminal conviction. However, under the rule of non-refoulement, his deportation was withheld and he was able to remain in the US. This case set a precedent for sexuality being considered as a particular social group.

Soto Vega vs. John Ashcroft
The applicant was a gay man from Mexico who had suffered past sexual and physical abuse by a police officer because of his sexual orientation. The key issue at hand in the case was the fact that he had returned to Mexico multiple times to raise money in order to permanently relocate to the US and whether this should be held against his case. The Court found that the trips did not render him ineligible for asylum.

M.C vs. Aaronson
This case involved an intersex child who had surgery performed on him at birth to give him female genitalia. His adoptive parents sued the hospital and the doctors for violating his constitutional rights by performing this unnecessary surgery as the child later identified as male. While the case was set to be a landmark one, it was dismissed by the 4^th Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2015.

Obergefell vs. Hodges
This was the Supreme Court case that ruled that same-sex couples had a right to marry and to deny this right was a violation of their right to equality under the US constitution. The decision was binding on all US states.

Simioni vs. Holder
This is a good unpublished decision remanding the case of a gay HIV-positive Brazilian for the court’s failure to consider HIV as a possible ground for persecution.