The EU has told the Czech Republic to stop its controversial practice of trying to determine whether asylum seekers are gay by showing them blue movies to gauge their levels of arousal.
Those subjected to what Czechs referred to as the “porno exam” were men claiming asylum on the grounds they would be in danger in their homelands due to their sexuality.
If any of the applicants got aroused at the sight of men and women having sex they were automatically denied asylum rights.
A Prague interior minister spokesman said the tests had been valuable in determining whether men were really gay or not but the EU said they were clearly a breach of its human rights charter.
The men were shown both straight and gay pornographic films by Czech officials.
Sensors were attached to their private parts, linked up to a computer, to test whether they were stimulated or not.
In a report on homosexual equality, the Agency for Fundamental Rights said the “testing was questionable, since it is dubious whether it reaches sufficiently clear conclusions”.
The Czech Republic is the only country in the EU that uses such “phallometric” testing to distinguish true asylum seekers.
The Czech interior ministry says the testing has been carried out in fewer than ten cases and always in the presence of a medical specialist.
Ministry spokesman Pavel Novak also claims that the test was only ever used on applicants from nations such as Iran, where gays and lesbians are subject to persecution. - Daily Mail