Human Rights Watch: Anti-gay laws promote vlence, discrimatn St. Vcent

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS AROUND THE WORLD: WHERE ARE WE AT?
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
• ‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA

GAY RIGHTS AROUND THE WORLD: WHERE ARE WE AT?

The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey.

Dpe major chang laws and norms surroundg the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opn on the acceptance of homosexualy society remas sharply divid by untry, regn and enomic velopment. And Poland, supporters of the erng PiS (Law and Jtice), which has explicly targeted gay rights as anathema to tradnal Polish valu, are 23 percentage pots ls likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted by society than those who do not support the erng party.

But even untri like France and Germany where acceptance of homosexualy is high, there are differenc between supporters and non-supporters of key right-wg populist parti such as Natnal Rally France and Alternative for Germany (AfD). If the legal stat of homosexualy is today a nsens France, where has been crimalized sce 1791, this is not the se many untri around the world where same-sex relatnships n be punished by var penalti, rangg om f to prison time or even the ath penalty. Laws are very different: while some parts of the world, lbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people n marry, adopt, and are legally protected om discrimatns, many untri still penalize homosexualy through forced labor, torture, prison terms, and even the pal punishment.

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

As such, we n ce the removal of homosexualy om the list of mental illns the Internatnal Classifitn of Diseas (ICD) 1990, or the adoptn of the Yogyakarta prcipl 2007, which ern ternatnal law matters of sexual orientatn and genr inty. In France, blood donatn by homosexual men has only been thorized sce 2016 unr the ndn of twelve months of abstence, a perd revised downwards (four months) 2019 and which should disappear pletely followg a law passed last July.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

In France, when marriage for all was legalized 2017, “Le Pacte Civil Solidaré”, better known unr the name of PACS, had already been open to homosexual upl sce 1999 but did not provi the same rights as married upl the fields of work, social secury, e tax, property rights, or jot adoptn.

‘I’M AAID FOR MY FUTURE’: PROPOSED LAWS THREATEN GAY LIFE RSIA

In the Central Ain Republic, homosexualy is not illegal per se, but article 85 of the penal is sometim ed to arrt and nvict homosexual persons, punishg so-lled “unnatural” acts mted the public sphere, punishable by six months to two years prison and a fe of 150, 000 to 600, 000 CFA ancs. The rt of Indonia allows nsensual and private homosexual relatns, but homosexual people are victims of discrimatn and even vlence on the part of civil society and the police, and the ernment censors films and ntent nsired to be promotg homosexualy. In Oceania, only male homosexualy is penalized and the laws are not enforced, if they ever were: up to 14 years prison the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guea, and the Islands Solomon, up to seven years Samoa and ten Tonga.

In Bnei fally, nsired by OutRight Actn Internatnal as the most worryg Southeast Asian untry terms of LGBTQIA+ rights6, homosexualy is punishable, sce the applitn of Sharia law 2014, of imprisonment, rporal punishment amountg to torture, or the ath penalty by stong. Even when laws crimalizg homosexualy are not applied, their very existence creat a climate of secury, discrimatn, and even persecutn, both the private and public spher, of LGBTQIA+ people who nnot return rely on the law to protect them.

A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law. He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”.