Aliens cannot be barred from US on gay grounds

September 9, 1983

The Immigration and Naturalization Service cannot stop homosexual aliens from entering the United States unless medical certificates verify they are psychopathic or have a mental defect, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

The court considered the case of Carl Basil Angelo Hill, a United Kingdom journalist who came to San Francisco in 1980 for the annual Gay Freedom Day Parade. Upon arrival, Mr. Hill volunteered to an INS agent that he was homosexual. The INS barred his entry to the US.