Greece Rejects Gay Syrian Asylum Seeker

A 46-year-old gay Syrian refugee will be shipped back to Turkey after Greece refused his asylum claim--the first rejection Greece has made under the shaky deal with the European Union.

According to Agence France-Presse, the man arrived from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos--one of several Greek islands where Syrian refugees have congregated after fleeing the war with the Islamic State in their home country.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees entered the EU last year by way of Turkey, and in a bid to stem the tide, the bloc has worked with Ankara to return some of the migrants.

However, this is the first rejection to be made public, and the Greek asylum board typically grants all requests, the AFP reported. The board ruled against a separate immigrant returning to Turkey over the fear that the country would not honor human rights guaranteed under international treaty.

While Turkey has made significant strides toward LGBT equality in the last decade, the country is still home to strong prejudice against gay and queer people. IGLA-Europe called the bias facing LGBT migrants in Turkey "a matter of great concern."