PRECEDENTIAL

      UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
           FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
                _____________

                    No. 18-1342
                   _____________

                     JOHN DOE,
                           Petitioner

                          v.

         ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE
         UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                              Respondent.
               ______________

       On Petition for Review of an Order of the
            Board of Immigration Appeals
             (Agency No. A209-390-025)
           Immigration Judge: Leo Finston
                   ______________

               Argued: April 30, 2019
                  ______________

Before: RESTREPO, ROTH and FISHER, Circuit Judges.

                (Filed: April 16, 2020)
Adrian N. Roe
First Floor
428 Boulevard of the Allies
Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Paige Beddow [ARGUED]
Scott A. Cain [ARGUED]
(Admitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 46.3)
West Virginia University College of Law
101 Law School Drive
Morgantown, WV 26506
      Pro Bono Counsel for Petitioner

Jeffrey R. Meyer
Jonathan K. Ross [ARGUED]
United States Department of Justice
Office of Immigration Litigation
P.O. Box 878
Ben Franklin Station
Washington, DC 20044
      Counsel for Respondent

                     ______________

               OPINION OF THE COURT
                   ______________

RESTREPO, Circuit Judge.

      Petitioner fled his home country of Ghana and entered
the United States without authorization after his father and
neighbors assaulted him and threatened his life when they




                              2
discovered that he was in a same-sex relationship. Petitioner
seeks asylum and withholding of removal under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and protection from
removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT),
because he fears being persecuted or tortured on account of his
sexual orientation and identity as a gay man if returned to
Ghana – a country that criminalizes same-sex male
relationships and has no proven track record of combatting
widespread anti-gay violence, harassment and discrimination.
The Immigration Judge (IJ) denied his application and ordered
his removal, and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)
affirmed.

       He now petitions this Court for review of the BIA’s final
decision. He argues that the BIA erred in finding, among
others, that he had not suffered past persecution and did not
have a well-founded fear of future persecution. For the
following reasons, we will vacate the BIA’s decision and
remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.1

                     I. BACKGROUND

            A. Petitioner’s Experience in Ghana

       Petitioner was born and raised in Ghana’s capital,
Accra. He first realized he was gay when he was fourteen years
old. He came to this realization after sharing an intimate
encounter with another boy, whom he had met at Muslim
school. One afternoon, the two boys were spending time
together in Petitioner’s bedroom and, after sharing a toffee that

1
 Because we believe this case can be disposed of on the merits
of Petitioner’s asylum claim, we will not resolve his
withholding of removal or CAT claims at this time.




                               3
Petitioner had bought for his schoolmate, they had sex for the
first time. Over the next twelve years, the two young men
continued to see each other but kept their sexual relationship
hidden. Being gay in Ghana, Petitioner believed, was simply
“not acceptable.” JA101. He could not speak to his family
about his feelings because he worried that, as Muslims, they
would disapprove of his sexual orientation or, even worse, that
his father would kill him.

        When Petitioner was twenty-six years old, his anxieties
materialized into a harsh reality. One morning in January
2016, his father unexpectedly entered Petitioner’s bedroom at
the break of dawn and discovered him havi