England Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has advocated a policy that would deny asylum to gay and lesbian Iranians in the U.K., claiming that they would be safe in their home country if they remained in the closet.

According to EDGEBoston, Smith wrote a letter to Liberal Democrat Lord Roberts stating that as long as the asylum seekers remained “discreet,” they would not face any adverse action. Smith’s letter comes after a group of MPs spoke out on behalf of the gay Iranians, saying that they would face dangerous repercussions if forced to return to their country.

The paper reports:

The MPs who called for a change in the immigration policy were moved by the story ofa gay Iranian teen, Mehdi Kazemi, whose life depends upon being allowed to remain in the U.K. Kazemi, the Independent reported, would have been killed if he had been deported back to his home country.

Kazemi’s story served as a case in point for the MPs pressing for the changes in immigration policy. The MPs, reported the Independent, declared that such changes to the law represented the “only moral course” in dealing with gay and lesbian asylum seekers.

The letter that Home Secretary Smith wrote to Lord Roberts voiced skepticism about sweeping changes to immigration policy. The independent quoted the letter as saying, “We recognize that the conditions for gay and lesbian people in Iran–and many other countries–are such that some individuals are able to demonstrate a need for international protection.”

The letter went on, “We do not, however, accept that we should make the presumption that each and every asylum-seeker who presents themselves as being of a particular nationality or sexuality, regardless of their particular circumstances, should automatically be… allowed to remain in the UK.”

Wrote Smith, “With particular regard to Iran, current case law handed down by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal concludes that the evidence does not show a real risk of discovery of, or adverse action against gay and lesbian people who are discreet about their sexual orientation.”