News: Rob Gronkowski, Immigration, NASA, Asylum

Nate Silver makes his prediction for the Super Bowl.

His team may not be competing in the Super Bowl, but Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski found himself partying shirtless in New Orleans.

NASA says an approaching asteroid will be the largest object to ever come this close to Earth, but the mega rock won't zip by until later this month.

Harry Reid says immigration reform should include same-sex families: "If we have gay folks in this country who have children, or they come from some other place they should be protected just like any other child."

Ricky Martin lands in Oz.

Buzzfeed: The Dying Political Tradition Of Avoiding The Gay Question.

Britney Spears will not be playing Vegas.

Louisville, Kentucky, expands anti-discrimination protections for city employees.

Inventor of the Etch A Sketch dead at 86.

Iowa Senator Matt McCoy wants to reduce the penalty for HIV-positive people who don't purposely pass the virus to their sex partners. "...someone convicted of intentional or attempted transmission of the virus could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and face a $750 to $7,500 fine. That would put HIV in the same criminal category as transmitting any other communicable disease, such as Hepatitis C."

Report: Gay UK asylum seekers frequently required to prove sexuality: "(Lecture) will detail the extraordinary methods to which individuals are resorting – including filming themselves having sex – to justify requests for refuge."

Mexican Gay Man Granted Asylum in The U.S.

After considering evidence that Jorge Soto Vega "was beaten by police with a 'metal baton or flashlight' and then robbed, called 'anti-gay slurs' and told that he would be killed if he was ever seen again" while living in Guadalajara, a U.S. immigration judge has granted Soto Vega asylum. He has been living in the U.S. since being smuggled into the country in 1988, according to the L.A. Times.

Soto Vega had applied for asylum once before, in 2003, but was turned down by judge John D. Taylor "who said he could return to Mexico since 'it would not be obvious that he was homosexual unless he made it obvious himself.'"

Jon W. Davidson, legal director at Lambda Legal, told the LAT that at the hearing on Tuesday, which was once again held in front of judge Taylor, "the judge agreed that a person should not have to conceal his or her sexual orientation in order to be free from persecution."

Davidson told the Associated Press: "It seemed to us this is a real double standard. Courts don't deny asylum to someone based on their political beliefs by saying, 'If you just didn't tell other people what you believed, you would be fine.'"

Said Soto Vega following the decision: "It's been a long, long wait to get to this point where I feel today, secure and happy."

Citing persecution, judge grants gay Mexican immigrant asylum in U.S [la times]
Gay Man From Mexico Wins U.S. Asylum [ap]

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