by Lars-Erik Nelson

About the author: Lars-Erik Nelson is a syndicated columnist.

On June 16, while Coast Guard cutters were stopping boatloads of desperate Haitians on the high seas, Attorney General Janet Reno established a new basis for claiming refuge in the United States: homosexuality.

In a directive to the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals, Reno wrote that “an individual who has been identified as homosexual and persecuted by his or her government for that reason alone may be eligible for relief under the refugee laws on the basis of persecution because of membership in a social group.”

Reno directed immigration appeals judges to use as a precedent the case of a Cuban refugee who had initially been turned down for asylum because of his criminal record—but...