The back and side of Rolston Ryan’s body still bear the marks of the stabbings in two gay bashing attacks that he suffered in St. Kitts.

The popular island resort in the Caribbean may be paradise for many Canadians, but the 31-year-old man says it was hell for him, and he finally made an escape for Toronto in 2013 with help from Rainbow Railroad, a Toronto-based group that helps rescue sexual minorities abroad to safety here.

However, the break from daily taunts and harassment — and threats of his life — is short-lived as Ryan struggles with the prospects of deportation from Canada.

Despite the scars of his stab wounds — and acknowledgement that he would “face a serious possibility of persecution” as a gay man if he returned to his homeland — the Immigration and Refugee Board denied Ryan’s refugee claim because, in refugee judge Brenda Lloyd’s own words, “the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis provides adequate protection to its citizens.”

A subsequent appeal to the refugee appeal tribunal was also rejected in 2014 on the same ground by adjudicator Stephen Gallagher.

“I don’t believe St. Kitts, where being gay is criminalized, can protect Rolston. They’re too feared to call the police,” said Joel Dick, a lawyer who, along with his wife, Dara Douma, sheltered Ryan for five months at the request of a friend at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto.

“We are just so sad for him,” added Douma, a firefighter. “All his life, he was not able to be himself. It goes beyond harassment. He was a victim of physical violence.”

Although the refugee appeal tribunal’s decision had been quashed by the Federal Court earlier this year and a new hearing was scheduled, the rejection of Ryan’s asylum protection was upheld by a different adjudicator in a recent decision.

“While the evidence in the record establishes that there are laws which prohibit same-sex conduct, the record does not provide persuasive evidence of the enforcement of that legislation,” wrote appeal adjudicator Roslyn Ahara in her decision.

“There is insufficient evidence in the record which suggest that an individual’s sexual orientation would preclude the availability of state protection for crimes committed against them.”

A customer services representative, Ryan said he was attacked twice by mobs, who taunted him by calling him “anti-man” and “batty-man.” He was taken to the hospital but no police report was taken in either incidents.

“I didn’t know there were places that helped gay men,” said Ryan, who now works in a bakery factory in Toronto. “It is really tough being gay there. You have to do everything hidden. It is a very small, tight country. If people know that you are gay, they are going to beat you up.”

Douma and Dick, along with their families and close friends, are helping to fund a new appeal to the federal court against the appeal tribunal’s latest decision.

“In Canada, Rolston is out and happy. He has a life and can live as himself,” said Dick. “He is still reserved and private, but he feels secure here and is less invisible because he doesn’t have to hide who he is.”

Campaign launched to build home for gay activist left disabled in attack:

Augustas Dennie was lucky to be alive after he was attacked in his native St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 simply because he was gay.

Suffering from permanent brain injuries that left half of his body paralyzed, he managed to scrape together money for a plane ticket to seek asylum in Canada in 2010, when visitors from the Caribbean country were still exempted from the visa requirement.

Three years later, Dennie was deported from Canada after his refugee claim – on the basis of sexual orientation – and subsequent appeals were denied.

However, his ties with Canada are still strong.

His friends and supporters in Toronto have launched the Augustas Dennie Home Project to raise money on GoFundMe.com to help him build a house on a small plot of land he recently inherited from his late maternal grandmother. Construction has already started.

“Because he is disabled, he has trouble taking care of himself. He is estranged from his relatives and friends. He has been assaulted a number of times and still receives threats,” said Craig Cromwell, a refugee settlement coordinator, who helped spearhead the project.

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“He lives in a tiny shed right now. Sometimes he has to beg on the street for food.”

Dennie, 51, who still suffers memory loss, seizures and a speech impediment, became a gay rights activist and made many friends during his time in Toronto.

“He has made an impact on each one of us,” said Cromwell. “Too often people are deported from Canada and you never hear what happens to them. He is still suffering back home. We are just trying our best to help him find a safe place to live.”