If you think a TSA grope is bad, gay men seeking asylum in the Czech Republic are forced to drop their pants and get hooked up to a penile plethysmograph to find out just how gay they are. After the “peter meter” device is attached to their penises, they are subjected to all kinds of pornography to see what happens to their junk. This test then determines if they can seek asylum.
The European Union’s main human rights agency, the Fundamental Rights Agency, denounced the procedure. BBC reports, “The case first came to light after a German court refused to deport an Iranian asylum seeker to the Czech Republic, saying as a homosexual he would be subjected to the test.” Apparently, your religious views about viewing pornography are ignored. And it’s OK, sez Czech officials, because they only do it to asylum seekers who identify as gay.
The device was developed in what’s now the Czech Republic by psychologist Kurt Freund, who then moved to what’s now called the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Canada. Freund’s CAMH protégés are still the most vocal proponents of the device, and this peter meter has been used on children as young as 13 in Canada. Earlier this year, a Canadian tester was charged with sexual assault.