In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 20-3109 ANTHONY LLOYD MURRY, Petitioner, v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General of the United States, Respondent. ____________________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. No. A098-126-854 ____________________ SUBMITTED OCTOBER 5, 2021 — DECIDED OCTOBER 7, 2021 ____________________ Before EASTERBROOK, KANNE, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM. Anthony Lloyd Murry, a Jamaican citizen, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals denying him relief from removal. Murry fears that private citizens may confront him, a gay man, about his sex- ual orientation or the government may punish him for violat- ing Jamaica’s anti-sodomy laws. But Jamaica rarely enforces its anti-sodomy laws for consensual sexual relations, and 2 No. 20-3109 recent reports show growing public support for gay rights. Because substantial evidence supports the Board’s decision that Murry does not face a likelihood of state-sanctioned per- secution, we deny Murry’s petition. I. BACKGROUND Murry has lived in the United States for 16 years. He en- tered in 2005 as the fiancé of a United States citizen, whom he married one month later. Murry eventually applied for per- manent residence based on the marriage, but the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services denied the application in 2011. The government then started removal proceedings. In the decade since, Murry has remained in the United States without authorization. At his removal hearing, Murry sought relief based on his sexual orientation—he testified that he has been attracted to men since he was a teenager in Jamaica in the 1980s. Murry said that he was attacked once, in 2004, after a man publicly called him gay and urged bystanders to shun him. Five men then hit and kicked Murry, who was bruised; fearing reper- cussions, he did not seek medical care or ask the police for help. The immigration judge also considered evidence about how the treatment of gay people in Jamaica has evolved among private and public actors since 2004. Historically, most of Jamaican society has been homophobic: news articles de- scribe demonstrations against gay rights and the murders of two gay activists; two news reports, over a decade old, de- scribe some Jamaican police officers harming or refusing to help the victims of anti-gay violence; and sex between men remains illegal. But attitudes are changing. According to a No. 20-3109 3 recent report that Murry himself submitted, the government rarely enforces its anti-sodomy laws for consensual sex, and a major newspaper has called for the repeal of these laws. An- other article reports that Jamaican police officers have pro- tected gay people from violence; similarly, Jamaica’s public defender has called for prosecution of homophobic attackers. In addition, prominent government officials have endorsed gay rights. Jamaica’s former prime minister, for example, publicly advocated for representation in government of mem- bers of the gay and lesbian communities. And a former mayor participated in a gay pride celebration, affirming that she was accountable to gay …
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