Meet Our Team
Staff
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Okan Sengun, Esq.
Co-Founder and Executive Director Okan Sengun is the Executive Director and Co-founder of the LGBT Asylum Project, the leading San Francisco-based nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to providing legal representation for LGBTQ+ immigrants who are fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in the United States. The LGBT Asylum Project is the very first immigration law group to be located in the historic Castro, a beacon of hope just across the rainbow crosswalk. Okan is also the founding attorney of Okan Immigration Law Group, a private law group that handles marriage-based green card and naturalization applications as well as asylum cases based on political opinion, race, nationality and religion. Okan served as the San Francisco Asylum Office Liaison, the LGBT Coordinator and on the Advisory Council of American Immigration Lawyers Association, Northern California Chapter between 2012 and 2018. Okan Sengun serves as a panel attorney at AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP) and was awarded as the “Attorney of the Year” in 2016 by the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. Okan is also a mentor immigration attorney at Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and he is a member of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF). Okan worked at several non-profit organizations and law firms in California and Turkey prior to starting Okan Immigration Law Group and the LGBT Asylum Project. Okan is admitted to New York Bar and U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit. |
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Brooke A. Westling, Esq.
Co-Founder and Legal Director Brooke Westling is a California-licensed attorney who is dedicated to fighting human rights abuses by challenging social and legal constraints on gender and sexuality. She first realized the crucial need for greater social awareness and legal advocacy in this realm after serving as a high-school peer group facilitator, addressing gender and sexuality biases among high school students, as an undergrad at The Ohio State University. After graduating with a BA in Psychology, Political Science, and Women's Studies, Brooke went on to obtain a JD from Capital University Law School in 2009 then relocated to the Bay Area. In 2015, she received her LL.M. in International Legal Studies from Golden Gate University School of Law, where she focused on human rights. Brooke began working on asylum cases with Okan Sengun in January of 2015. The two co-founded the Center for Immigrant Protection in order to alleviate the financial burden placed on their clients. Brooke currently serves as a Panel Attorney for the Aids Legal Referral Panel, is a member of BALIF (Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom) and of the Policy Subcommittee of Women Get It Done. She is also a member of the State Bar of California. |
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Kenan Arun
Director of Operations Kenan is an LGBT activist and has been working on LGBT issues for more than 10 years both in Turkey and in the United States. He was born and raised in Gaziantep, Turkey, and moved to the U.S. in 2013. He enjoys being active & connected in multiple arts and community programs. In addition to The LGBT Asylum Project, he is an active member/artist of The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, Golden Thread Productions, Drunk Drag Broadway, The Turkish-American Gezi Platform and Kaos GL (a Turkish-based LGBT nonprofit organization). |
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Chava Hernandez
Paralegal Chava is an educator with 20-plus years of LGBTQ activism under their belt. They were born and raised in the Los Angeles area by two wonderful immigrant parents, but now resides in the SF Bay Area with their husband and cat. As Bilingual (English/Spanish) Paralegal, Chava brings their passion for immigrant rights and building strong community relationships to the table. In their spare time, Chava enjoys supporting the arts, playing video games, and learning to speak Italian. |
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Norjmoo Battulga
Legal Services Funders Network Fellow Norjmoo Battulga is a recent graduate of Golden Gate University School of Law. Norjmoo externed at various public interest agencies including the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project and as a judicial extern at the Ninth Circuit and the Alameda County Superior Court during law school. As a first-generation immigrant and DACA recipient, Norjmoo is committed to ensuring access to legal services for all immigrants regardless of financial standing. Prior to law school, Norjmoo earned a Bachelor of Art in Journalism, with a Public Relations Concentration and a Minor in Marketing from the Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2017. |
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Ignacio Hernandez
City and County of San Francisco - Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs' DreamSF Fellow Ignacio is a senior at UC Berkeley studying Film and Public Policy. He has years of experience advocating for impacted community members including immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community, two communities he is proud to be part of. He believes that everyone deserves the opportunity to succeed and that advocating for resources will achieve that. He currently serves as a board member and as the Community Development Coordinator for the Queer Alliance Resource Center (QARC), a queer student-lead organization on campus. As a Legal Fellow, Ignacio is excited to assist The LGBT Asylum Project in advancing its mission of providing legal representation to some of the most vulnerable immigrant LGBT+ community members. |
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Railyn Aguado
City and County of San Francisco - Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs' DreamSF Fellow Railyn Aguado is a current UC Berkeley student pursuing a degree in Media Studies and Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Technology. She is passionate about the advocacy of people who are historically underrepresented. Railyn currently serves as a student leader at the Educational Opportunity Program at Cal. It is her hope that through her participation in the LGBT Asylum Project as a Communications fellow, she will able to assure that individuals who shares her space are visible, heard, and valued. Moreover, she also hopes that she will be able to extend the knowledge she has learned about resources on an educational and professional level as support for all. |
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Andres Molina
Communications Coordinator Andres Molina graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a degree in Marketing. He takes great pride working at the intersection of immigration and LGBTQ+ rights. As Communications Coordinator at The LGBT Asylum Project, he's looking forward to directing people to the right resources and get them the help they need. When he's not replying to your messages on social media, Andres directs and edits videos for the Okan Media channel on YouTube. Like and subscribe! |
Of Counsel
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Dodi Gomez Paloma, Esq.
Dodi was born and raised in Naples, Italy. In 2013, she moved to San Francisco to attend Golden Gate University School of Law. While in law school, as an immigrant herself, Dodi was attracted to the field of immigration law, which she explored by taking courses, pursuing pertinent internships, and volunteering at naturalization clinics. Through 2016, Dodi proudly served on the LGBT Asylum Project’s first Board of Directors. Upon passing the California Bar Exam, Dodi worked for an immigration firm where she mainly focused on affirmative asylum cases. In 2020, Dodi attended a few asylum interviews for clients of the LGBT Asylum Project; she is always happy to help fellow immigrants, in particular asylum seekers, as she believes everyone deserves to live fully and safely. |
Asylum Advocates
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Colin Gallagher
Colin is an LGBT activist and an attorney. He represents injured workers in workers’ compensation claims filed in California. He has been a certified specialist in workers’ compensation since 2009 and has over 15 years’ experience having represented employers and insurance carriers in workers’ compensation cases. In his spare time, he is a marathon runner. |
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Rod Finetti
Rod is a Planning Analyst and Project Manager for the San Francisco Human Services Agency - or as his wife likes to describe him, a starry-eyed bureaucrat à la Leslie Knope of the TV show Parks and Rec. Rod also serves as the president of the board of Community Awareness and Treatment Services, one of the oldest and most central behavioral health treatment organizations in the city for homeless persons. He has a J.D. from Golden Gate University and prior to working for the City, worked in grant and contract management at UCSF, as well as at La Raza Centro Legal, where he provided legal advocacy services to low-income immigrants. He is passionate about serving the public interest, with a particular commitment for immigrant and LGBT rights. |
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Douglas Pinter
Douglas Pinter is an entrepreneur and lawyer with a passion for justice and fairness. Pinter is experienced in finding solutions to the business and legal aspects of new ideas and new enterprises. He applies those skills to helping entrepreneurs succeed. His pro bono efforts focus on representing affirmative asylum petitioners with a thorough, substantiated presentation of their request in the US immigration system. |
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Daniel Assumpção
Daniel is a Brazilian immigrant living in the United States since 2018; he is a proud member of the LGBT community and an enthusiastic volunteer for the LGBT Asylum Project. Having lived in Brazil, Argentina, Italy, and the United States, he is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and English. Because Daniel is a Chemical Engineer by profession, he always wondered how he could give back to his communities – both LGBT and immigrant. This question was fortuitously answered when he accidentally passed the LGBT Asylum Project’s office on a weekend walk and saw a flyer seeking translators. Since that day, he has finally been able to help by interpreting and doing translations for LGBT asylum seekers. |
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Jim Soos
Jim Soos has been a proud volunteer at the LGBT Asylum Project since October 2019. He appreciates working with clients as well as helping the Asylum Project with behind the scenes projects. Jim has a bachelors degree in Sociology from the University of Michigan and masters degrees in Public Health and Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. After working for 27 years in public health and health care administration, Jim retired in 2018 and has been looking for meaningful ways to spend his time. He is an immigrant from Canada and his husband is an immigrant from Turkey, so he is sensitive to the need for just and compassionate immigration policy. |
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Mel Stenger
Mel Stenger is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. After coming out he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and worked in health insurance. Disillusioned with the corporate world, he became an elementary educator with degrees and credentials in Multiple Subjects and School Administration. He has taught high school, middle school, elementary, and graduate school, and has been an elementary principal. He has been with his partner since 1982 and were among the first to adopt infants through Alameda County. Their two sons are now adults. After his retirement in 2017, Mel continues to indulge his lifelong passions of gardening, singing (with the Golden Gate Men's Chorus) and cooking fabulous dinners, and pursuing new interests in Country Western dancing and photography. He has volunteered with the LGTB Asylum Project since October, 2019. |
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Bruce Trevithick
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Clark Ludlow
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John Herbstritt
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Samantha Wilkinson
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