Court rejects deportation appeal by Lebanese man who claims he is gay A LEBANESE man has lost his bid to stay in Australia as a refugee on a protection visa because he could not convince a tribunal he was gay. The man claimed he would be persecuted as a homosexual if he had to return to Lebanon. But the Refugee Review Tribunal found that he had failed to live in Australia as a gay man, and did not accept his explanation that it was "due to his lack of English and a car." The tribunal said he had claimed to have secretly had homosexual relationships in Lebanon, despite not having a car there. "It seems illogical that he has not made any connections or lived openly as a gay man in the 21 months since he arrived in Australia," the tribunal said. The man, who cannot be named, appealed the rejection of his visa application, but on October 3 a federal judge refused his application. The court heard that the man arrived in Australia in December 2011 on a Lebanese passport, with a sponsored family visitor visa, after previously visiting Australia in 2010. In January last year he applied for a protection visa, which was rejected by an Immigration Department official and his later review by the tribunal was unsuccessful. The man claimed that since his arrival in Australia he had told relatives here that he was homosexual and now everybody he knew in Lebanon was aware he was gay. He claimed that if he returned to Lebanon he would face punishment, bullying, harassment and mistreatment by his family, authorities and society in general. The tribunal found the man's evidence regarding his homosexual experience was "vague and lacking in detail in a number of significant respects." He did not articulate any emotional aspect of discovering his homosexuality or provide any meaningful insight regarding the impact on his life, it found. The tribunal found the man's claim that his family in Lebanon was ignorant until recently of his homosexuality was "surprising and somewhat convenient."