[PHOTO COURTESY]Kenneth Macharia, a Kenyan gay rugby player who plays for Bristol Bisons, a gay and inclusive rugby club in the UK has won his five-year battle to remain in the UK after being granted refugee status. A first-tier tribunal of the immigration and asylum chamber on Monday upheld Macharia’s appeal against deportation. “Now that I have been successful in my refugee appeal I feel that I can live a full life.” Kenneth Macharia plays for the Bristol Bisons, an inclusive rugby club. Photograph: Bristol Bisons RFC/Twitter/PAMacharia first claimed asylum in 2016, having arrived in the UK on a student visa in 2009 to study mechanical design engineering. In 2018, his club, the Bristol Bisons RFC - an LGBTQ+-inclusive rugby club in the city protested when the Home Office issued a removal notice and detained him while deportation plans were made.

Source: Standard Digital July 19, 2021 18:11 UTC