The Miriam Webster dictionary defines asylum as "protection given by a government to someone who has left another country in order to escape being harmed; or "Protection from arrest and extradition given especially to political refugees by a nation or by an embassy or other agency enjoying diplomatic immunity."

From the above definition, it is implied that asylum can only be granted to immigrants in a country. The United States, a country that welcomes in excess of 700,000 visitors (and immigrants) to its shores each year, has laws that specifically deal with the issue of immigrants seeking asylum in the country. Article 1, sections 8 and 9 grant implicitly grants the US Congress the power to regulate immigration to the country, and naturalization.

Moreover, 8 USC 1158(b)(1) provides that: "Asylum may not be granted to an alien unless the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General determines that the alien is a refugee. A refugee is a person who is outside any country of such person's nationality, or in case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion."

Furthermore, the language in 8 U.S.C.A. section 1101(a)(35) indicates that children of asylees may benefit from such status too. The statute provides that:

"A spouse or child of an alien who is granted asylum may, if not otherwise eligible for asylum, be granted the same status as the alien if accompanying, or following to join, such alien unless it is determined that:
- the spouse or child ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

- the spouse or child, having been convicted by a final judgment of a particularly serious crime, constitutes a danger to the community of the United States.

- there are serious reasons for believing that the spouse or child has committed a serious nonpolitical crime outside the United States; or

-there are reasonable grounds for regarding the spouse or child as a danger to the security of the US, or the spouse or child is inadmissible or removable under the statutes relating to terrorism. The relationship of spouse and child must have existed at the time the principal alien's asylum application was approved."

I guess one can claim asylum on the basis of a fear of persecution due to sexual orientation