Gay man's murr rais qutns over Uzbek human rights reforms | Rters

Contents:

• UZBEKISTAN: GAY MEN FACE ABE, PRISON
• GAY LIFE UZBEKISTAN
• ATTACK ON BLOGGER DRIV UZBEK GAY MUNY UNRGROUND
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN FACE ABE, PRISON UZBEKISTAN
• GAY UZBEKISTAN TODAY
• GAY MAN'S MURR RAIS QUTNS OVER UZBEK HUMAN RIGHTS REFORMS

UZBEKISTAN: GAY MEN FACE ABE, PRISON

But the urse of nversatns and terviews ’s bee obv that this crimalisatn is wily ed to blackmail and threaten om prosecutn for their sexual orientatn, gay Uzbek men experience daily harassment om the public at large. His whole extend fay followed his social media posts and they were hysterics about his homosexualy, and he eventually closed his acunt and left Uzbekistan bee he was tired of all.

But people this untry have no tert what homosexualy is and why there’s no such thg as homosexual propaganda – no one unrstands that if you’re not born a homosexual, you’re not gog to turn to one jt by gog on a uple of Gay paras. And sex tn general is a disaster this untry – children don’t know where they e om, what “hetero-“ and “gay” mean and so girliend and I are thkg about how to fill this gap: how we n n a urse to expla the basic thgs to people. (Berl) – Men Uzbekistan who engage nsensual same-sex sexual nduct face arbrary tentn, prosecutn, and imprisonment as well as homophobia, threats, and extortn, Human Rights Watch said today.

“Article 120, and ab lked to , has placed gay and bisexual men Uzbekistan a eply vulnerable and margalized posn, leavg them wh almost no protectn om harassment by police and others, ” said Hugh Williamson, director of the Europe and Central Asia divisn at Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch terviewed ne gay men and lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) activists and reviewed other material, such as vios pictg and enuragg huiatn, sults, beatgs, or sexual abe of gay men that were posted onle and homophobic social media groups, such as TashGangs.

GAY LIFE UZBEKISTAN

The men terviewed, who asked to rema anonymo, said that they faced arbrary arrts, threats, extortn, psychologil prsure, and physil attacks by both police and non-state actors for beg gay.

In a Febary 2020 report, the Eurasian Coaln on Health, Rights, Genr and Sexual Diversy (ECOM), an alliance of nonernmental anizatns workg on LGBT issu, cg lol activists, documented that police Uzbekistan harassed gay men, tag and terrogatg several of them between Augt 15 and September 15, 2019. Media outlets Uzbekistan also reported on the shockg se of Shokir Shavkatov, a 25-year-old man who was found stabbed to ath his apartment September 2019, jt days after he me out as gay on his Instagram page. In s May 2020 nclns, the UN Human Rights Commtee lled on the Uzbek ernment to repeal Article 120 and exprsed ncerns about “ntug reports of discrimatn, harassment and vlence, cludg extortn, arbrary arrt, torture and sexual abe, agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr persons by State officials and private dividuals, cludg plac of privatn of liberty, and about the mandatory disclosure of private medil rmatn.

He ntued threateng and puttg psychologil prsure on me by sayg that he would disclose my [sexual] orientatn to others, share our nversatns wh the police, and send my photos to homophobic onle groups that publish personal data of LGBT people and ll for retaliatn agast them. But Uzbekistan, where homosexualy is a crime, was brave and darg, phg the l of how gay people Uzbekistan n live and mandg the sort of digny he knew that gay people had elsewhere. " I was only 12, but I stopped dancg and playg mic, aaid of what would happen if I me and for many others, the close-kn nature of Uzbek fai that n make the untry so warm and supportive mak the culture suffotg when you are gay.

ATTACK ON BLOGGER DRIV UZBEK GAY MUNY UNRGROUND

One member of AHRCA explaed the report that, “Uzbekistan’s patriarchal society regards men who have same-sex relatns wh such disgt that a person who is clared to be gay experienc a total lack of protectn which unrm their will to live.

Not only are gay and bisexual men subject to punishment unr Article 120, but they are subject to harassment and abe by what the report refers to as “aggrsive homophob” — people who malicly seek out gay, bisexual, and trans people and those who support them. Officials and public figur, like Alisher Kadyrov — a polician who once said that gay men, like terrorists, “have no pri, have no natnaly” — “add fuel to the fire, ” Akmal told The Diplomat. The lg dictatorship Uzbekistan has jailed Maxim Popov, a 28-year-old psychologist and AIDS activist the pal of Tashkent, for seven years for promotg homosexualy and th rptg mors through his HIV-preventn work.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN FACE ABE, PRISON UZBEKISTAN

Agence France-Prs reported a dispatch: “Authori have long been spic that foreign aid anizatns have been tryg to spread homosexualy and dg e, said an activist who also requted anonymy. A short-lived newspaper that Khamidov found and ran, Odamlar Orasida (Among the People), which achieved a circulatn of 24, 000 only five months of publitn, discsed the same issu, cludg homosexualy, and was closed 2007 by thori, acrdg to a report earlier this year on the webse of Rad Free Europe/ Rad Liberty.

GAY UZBEKISTAN TODAY

There is an obscure reference the RFE/ RL report to the charg agast Khamidov beg related to his “personal life, ” and some ments by Uzbeks on var other webs suggt that the “banned group” referred to by thori the charg agast Khamidov was the homosexual muny. Bee homosexualy is illegal, Uzbek police not only regularly harass gays but also subject them to extortn by tag them and threateng them wh prosecutn, acrdg to an article Cha Daily.

The JTA dispatch reported that acrdg to a lear Tashkent’s Jewish populatn of 30, 000, “many the Jewish muny there believed Vail’s murr was related to ‘Whe Whe Black Stork’ and s homosexual ntent. A Google search revealed only one sentence mentng Popov the New York Tim, which appeared at the tail end of an Associated Prs dispatch on the paper’s webse; accurately stated, “In late Febary, Uzbek activist Maxim Popov, who distributed brochur sayg ndoms and disposable syrg n help prevent HIV, was nvicted of rptg mors by promotg homosexualy, prostutn, and dg e.

Acrdg to a 24 July 2003 Cha Daily article, gay Uzbek men terviewed by the newspaper dited that homosexuals Uzbekistan regularly experience police “harassment” and that gay tablishments are “forced to close or [are] heavily monored by police. A January 2006 World Organisatn agast Torture (Organisatn mondiale ntre la torture, OMCT) report on human rights vlatns Uzbekistan stat that “athough the crime of homosexualy]has a very high level of latency, law-enforcement bodi n e the charge some fabrited s to huiate the acced or to blackmail homosexuals” In 2003, followg a trial that Amnty Internatnal (AI) scrib as “unfair, ” Uzbek journalist and human rights fenr Surlan Sharipov was charged wh homosexualy and sexual relatns wh a mor and sentenced to five and half years jail. Informatn on legal reurse and protectn available to homosexuals who have been subject to ill-treatment uld not be found among the sourc nsulted by the Rearch Directorate wh the time nstrats of this Rponse.

GAY MAN'S MURR RAIS QUTNS OVER UZBEK HUMAN RIGHTS REFORMS

ALMATY, April 9 (Rters) - Members of Uzbekistan's LGBT muny say they have been driven unrground fear of a vlent backlash after a blogger and some of his supporters were attacked last month followg social media posts llg for gay ralli at Mlim holy s.

Bazarov, who is not gay, had posted on social media llg for LGBT gathergs at holy s and for a new "state and gay" secury angry mob later attacked several young people who planned to attend an event anised by Bazarov, although had nothg to do wh LGBT issu and was voted to Korean pop mic and Japane rtoons. "Karpov said he believed the attackers who beat up Bazarov were motivated ls by his posts on gay rights than by his earlier cricism of the ernment, cludg a ll to boytt a parliamentary electn the gay people who spoke to Rters said they were worried their secury had been put at risk by mpaigners terted provokg nontatn unrelated to their rights.

"The day we allow (legalised gay sex) will be the day of our ath, " Rasul Kherbayev, a proment member of parliament, said last Williamson, Director of Europe and Central Asia divisn at Uned Stat-based Human Rights Watch, scribed last month's beatgs as "totally awful". End attacks on LGBT people, " he thori, wary both of liberalism and of policised Islamist nservatism, seem to be want both gay rights and the backlash agast to disappear back to the Allamjonov, the head of fluential Media Support and Development Foundatn whose learship clus a dghter of Mirziyoyev, urged lol media not to ver LGBT issu. (Berl) – Men  Uzbekistan who engage nsensual same-sex sexual nduct face arbrary tentn, prosecutn, and imprisonment as well as homophobia, threats, and extortn, Human Rights Watch said today.