Strip clubs, gay venu nearby, London landmark buildg to be turned to mosque - India Today

Contents:

• DUTCH NATNAL AT CENTRE OF HOMOSEXUALY SE MALAWI SAYS HE IS NOT GAY
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
• ADVOCY GROUPS: ETHPIAN ERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY RHETORIC SPURS ONLE ATTACKS
• MALAWI GAY AND LBIAN RIGHTS NEWS TOPICS

DUTCH NATNAL AT CENTRE OF HOMOSEXUALY SE MALAWI SAYS HE IS NOT GAY

Dutch natnal Jan Willem Akstar, one of the applints the Malawi homosexualy se and who is alleged to have sexually abed men the untry, has told the High Court Blantyre that he is not gay. The se is beg terpreted by the protters as a step towards legimisg LGBTQ+ general secretary for Malawi Council of Church (MCC), the Rev Alemekezeke Chikondi Phiri, who helped anise Thursday’s march the ci of Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu and Zomba said the Christian church are not agast dividuals but that the practice of homosexualy is a s. In fact, their march is ntrary to what is the urt, and I wonr if they really unrstand what they are dog bee the se is not about legalisg homosexualy, ” said Nyasa Rabow Alliance -founr and executive director, Eric Sambisa, said that as well as vlence, the LGBTQ+ muny Malawi is facg challeng to accs jtice.

“Rsia should reverse s outrageo policy and ensure rights to inty, fay life, and medil re for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people – startg wh reversg the anti-trans law.

The natnwi protts e as the Constutnal Court Malawi ntu to hear a se which Dutch natnal Jan Willem Akstar and transgenr Malawian woman Jana Gonani argue that Malawi's anti-homosexualy laws vlate their fundamental rights, cludg privacy and digny. “In a dramatic expansn of the threat of vlence; there have also been lls to kill, burn, and beat up fai of those of who are openly LGBTQIA+ and live abroad orr to make their fai unrstand the ep shame and wound that Ethpian homophob the diaspora feel due to the outspokenns of those openly LGBTQIA+ dividuals, ” reads a statement that Hoe of Guramayle issued this week.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

A recent study found 97 percent of Ethpians believe homosexualy is a “very harmful way of life that society should not accept” and anyone a same-sex relatnship should be punished. Then-World Bank Print Jim Yong Kim 2014 postponed a $90 ln loan to the Ugandan ernment rponse to Meveni’s cisn to sign a versn of the Anti-Homosexualy Act that did not nta a ath penalty provisn.

Dpe the harrowg experienc some of the legat shared, the nference highlighted some of the posive stris that some Ain untri have unrtaken to bat homophobia and transphobia. “Türk warned agast retrogrsn om Uganda’s mments unr the ternatnal human rights treati has ratified, cludg the passage of the eply discrimatory and harmful anti-homosexualy law, that is already havg a negative impact on Ugandans, ” said the U. Almost om the time of the arrts of the two fendants, the se beme an ternatnal e célèbre, as shone a light on the divisn over sexualy between the Wt, where the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) movement has gaed tractn recent s, and Malawi, a natn where homosexualy is outlawed and nsired by many Malawians to be morally reprehensible and “un-Ain”.

ADVOCY GROUPS: ETHPIAN ERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY RHETORIC SPURS ONLE ATTACKS

The ncln is that, spe the negative impact that the se had on the LGBT movement and the qutnable utily of the ternatnal prsure that followed, domtic advocy shows promise as a vehicle for changg the legal amework and public attus toward homosexualy Malawi.

In particular, tracg the historil velopment of the Malawian attu towards homosexualy will, perhaps, better illumate a cisn which rulted the harsht possible sentence beg hand down to the fendants.

MALAWI GAY AND LBIAN RIGHTS NEWS TOPICS

This sectn of the article aims to provi the rear wh background knowledge about Malawians' attus to homosexualy, which will then rm an analysis of the setbacks ed by the se.

In light of the myriad historil and social factors atg agast acceptance of LGBT rights Malawi, many Malawians have adopted the view that homosexualy is a wtern ncept fostered by the nce of the wtern secular state. Not only was the se manipulated by the Malawi ernment, particular the print, to reerate the “unAins” of homosexualy (which self created setbacks to the LGBT movement), the se also proved stctive to the general and nstutnal rights of the fendants, then members of the LGBT muny, as well as future members. Moreover, is arguable that the treatment of Soko and Kachepa was a setback to the general LGBT movement, as created an unwele precent for how members of the muny were likely to be treated by the jtice system, if arrted for homosexual sodomy offenc.

Though the secretary general flanked him durg the prs nference, the print did not temper his words, as he stated that the “two gay boys” had jured the tradnal valu of Malawian culture and what they did was a crime. Ined, as one mentator not, “[a]lthough Ain homophobia is not a new disurse south-central Ai, did not meangfully here the Malawian cultural imagatn until the 2009 gay engagement ceremony”. It is reasonable to surmise that the potent batn of the ernment's fervent anti-homosexualy msage, the privatn of rights at the pre-trial and vtigative stag of the se and the public sentiment toward the se, had a chillg effect on the LGBT movement.