Attack on blogger driv Uzbek gay muny unrground | Rters

Contents:

• ATTACK ON BLOGGER DRIV UZBEK GAY MUNY UNRGROUND
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• GAY LIFE UZBEKISTAN
• GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
• GAY UZBEKISTAN TODAY

ATTACK ON BLOGGER DRIV UZBEK GAY MUNY UNRGROUND

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. "Bazarov was jt lookg for hype and hurt the (LGBT) muny, " said the human rights Bazarov's remarks, several public figur and one football club have spoken out to nmn homosexualy.

"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.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Human rights groups have renewed lls for Uzbekistan to crimalize homosexualy, sayg is imperative for the Central Asian untry to make progrs toward honorg s ternatnal human rights mments.

GAY LIFE UZBEKISTAN

Uzbekistan, a Mlim-majory natn of some 34 ln people, is the only former Soviet untry that hasn’t removed a Soviet-era law crimalizg homosexualy. Lbians, gays, bisexual, and transgenr people (LGBT) Uzbekistan are at nstant risk of ser human rights vlatns whout any possible reurse to jtice, says a new report released by the Associatn for Human Rights Central Asia (AHRCA), the Eurasian Coaln on Health, Rights, Genr, and Sexual Diversy (ECOM), and the Internatnal Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR).

GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

The report, Like Livg On A Different Pla: Gays, Bisexual Men, And Trans People Vulnerable To Abe, Imprisonment, And Discrimatn In Uzbekistan, as Uzbekistan’s new draft Crimal Co is beg nsired. Dcribg the suatn of LGBT people Uzbekistan, one gay man said: “It’s as if we lived on a different pla, where is normal to hate, imprison, discrimate, and kill people simply for who they are.

Some police officers explo the crimalizatn of homosexualy and the societal shame associated wh a nservative society to extort money om gay and bisexual men, the report said, cg acunts by many who had been victimized. But the medic prsed further, qutng why he was unmarried, assertg that Uzbekistan HIV is only spread by homosexuals of a certa age, and claimg on that basis that Rasul mt be a homosexual. This dispute culmated the doctor threateng to disclose Rasul’s diagnosis to his fay and put him on rerd as a homosexual, the report said.

GAY UZBEKISTAN TODAY

The rights groups have also documented s that some “aggrsive homophob” Uzbekistan equently seek out LGBT people, threaten them wh vlence, and dissemate their nam, ntact tails and photos onle wh lls to kill them. Bazarov has openly said he is not an LGBT activist but rather believ beg gay is a personal issue and hence there should be no laws agast .

“By turng a bld eye to hateful homophobic rhetoric and vlence, Rsian thori are sendg a dangero msage as the world is about to arrive on s doorstep for the Olympics that there is nothg wrong wh attacks on gay people, ” said Tanya Cooper, a Rsia rearcher at Human Rights Watch.