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Sexually Ambivalent British Writer Denied
Entry To US
by The Associated Press
Posted: March 21, 2008 - 1:30 pm ET
(London) British writer and
self-styled dandy Sebastian Horsley was denied entry to the
United States after arriving to promote his memoir of sex,
drugs and flamboyant fashion.
Horsley said he was questioned
for eight hours Tuesday by border officials at Newark Liberty
International Airport in New Jersey before being denied entry
on grounds of "moral turpitude."
The 45-year-old author was
traveling to New York for the U.S. launch of "Dandy in
the Underworld," his account of a life dedicated to sex,
drugs and finely tailored clothes.
"I was dressed
flamboyantly - top hat, long velvet coat, gloves,"
Horsley said. "My one concession to American
sensibilities was to remove my nail polish. I thought that
would get me through."
According to Lucille Cirillo, a
spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Horsley
was traveling under the CBP's visa waiver program, which
entitles citizens of some countries - mostly in the European
Union - to enter the United States for business or leisure
without applying for a visa. Travelers can be refused entry if
they admit on a customs form to being convicted of a crime or
to being addicted to narcotics, Cirillo said.
She declined to specify what
responses Horsley listed on the form.
"We interviewed the
individual extensively and the CBP officers decided he was not
admissible under the visa waiver program," she said.
Horsley can still apply for a
visa to return to the United States, Cirillo said.
"They knew more about me
than I did," Horsley said Thursday in an interview from
his London home. "They said, 'We know you're a heroin
addict, we know you're a crack addict, we know you're involved
in prostitution.'"
Horsley's book - billed as an
"unauthorized autobiography" - vividly recounts
years of heavy drug use and frequent visits to prostitutes. He
says he has been drug-free for three years.
He said his only conviction
stemmed from an arrest 25 years ago for possession of
amphetamine sulfate, for which he was given a conditional
discharge. He said he has visited the United States seven or
eight times without incident.
"Dandy in the
Underworld" was released in Britain last year to good
reviews. Carrie Kania, of the book's U.S. publisher Harper
Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins, said the book was
"a cautionary tale of a life lived vividly."
"It is unfortunate that
his voice, in person, is being stifled. But the book will live
on," Kania said.
Horsley achieved his greatest
notoriety in 2000 when he had himself crucified in the
Philippines as part of an art project.
©365Gay.com 2008
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