The Brish lonial origs of anti-gay laws - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY
• MALE STATE: RSIA BANS GROUP FOR ANTI-WOMEN AND ANTI-GAY POSTS
• COMMONWEALTH GAM 2022: TOM DALEY AND PROTTERS CRICISE ANTI-GAY LAWS 35 COMMONWEALTH UNTRI
• THERA MAY SAYS SHE EPLY REGRETS BRA'S LEGACY OF ANTI-GAY LAWS
• TOM DALEY SPEAKS OUT ON ANTI-GAY LAWS COMMONWEALTH NATNS AFTER WNG GOLD
• THE BRISH LONIAL ORIGS OF ANTI-GAY LAWS
• THERA MAY URGED TO APOLOGISE FOR BRA'S ANTI-GAY LONIAL PAST

HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Kamala Harris has been a vol supporter of LGBTQ rightsUS Vice-Print Kamala Harris who is on a tour of three Ain untri - Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia - has drawn cricism over her support for LGBTQ Ghana, a speech llg for "all people be treated equally" she appeared to cricise a bill before the untry's parliament which crimalis advocy for gay rights and propos jail terms for those that intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, or untry's Speaker Alban Bagb later lled her remarks "unmocratic" and urged lawmakers not to be "timidated by any person" Tanzania, a former mister spoke agast US support for LGBTQ rights ahead of the vis and Zambia some opposn policians have threatened to hold is homosexualy still outlawed? In the same month, the high urt Barbados stck out laws that crimalised gay July last year, the urts Antigua and Barbuda clared a law crimalisg same-sex acts between nsentg adults Febary 2021, Angola's Print Joao Louren signed to law a revised penal to allow same-sex relatnships and ban discrimatn on the basis of sexual 2020, Gabon reversed a law that had crimalised homosexualy and ma gay sex punishable wh six months prison and a large fe.

Mozambique and the Seychell have also scrapped anti-homosexualy laws recent there are untri where existg laws outlawg homosexualy have been tightened, cludg Nigeria and 's parliament recently passed a law to crack down on homosexual activi, promptg wispread source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Campaign agast LGBTQ rights some Ain untri has tensified recent weeksAnd some untri, efforts to get the laws removed have May 2019, the high urt Kenya upheld laws crimalisg homosexual acts.

And many plac, breakg the laws uld be punishable by long prison of the 53 untri the Commonwealth - a loose associatn of untri most of them former Brish loni - 29 have laws that crimalise homosexualy. Although the origal Brish laws applied only to men, untri that crimalise homosexualy today also have penalti for women who have sex wh Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (Ilga) monors the progrs of laws relatg to homosexualy around the says the ath penalty is the legally prcribed punishment for same-sex sexual acts Bnei, Iran, Mrania, Sdi Arabia, Yemen and some northern stat of five untri - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, and the Uned Arab Emirat - there is no legal clary and the ath penalty uld be source, AFPImage ptn, An Indian gay rights activist protts agast a urt lg 2013 upholdg a law which crimalis gay repealed the ath penalty for nsensual same-sex sexual acts observers note that the risk of prosecutn some plac is mimal. For example, a 2017 report on Jamai by the UK Home Office said that Jamai was regard as a homophobic society, but that the "thori do not actively seek to prosecute LGBT persons".

MALE STATE: RSIA BANS GROUP FOR ANTI-WOMEN AND ANTI-GAY POSTS

Image ptn, The group's founr Vladislav Pozdnyakov has an Instagram acuntA Rsian urt has banned as "extremist" a social media movement lled Male State, for cg hatred of women and gay week YouTube and the msagg service Telegram blocked accs to channels n by Male State's founr, Vladislav group, set up 2016, has attracted thoands of followers.

Pozdnyakov is said to be now urt Nizhny Novgorod, a cy on the Volga river about 440km (273 ) east of Mosw, accepted the prosecutor's evince that Male State had hound women and gay people example was the group's targetg of a shi rtrant cha lled Tani. Sexism and homophobia are wispread Rsia, but those exprsg such prejudic are not often December 2018 Pozdnyakov was sentenced to two years jail for extremism, after a prosecutor had acced his group of "activi aimed at nigratg women".

COMMONWEALTH GAM 2022: TOM DALEY AND PROTTERS CRICISE ANTI-GAY LAWS 35 COMMONWEALTH UNTRI

A total of 72 untri have crimal laws agast sexual activy by lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or tersex (LGBTI) people, acrdg to a new tally by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, or ILGA. ILGA, the publitn “State-Sponsored Homophobia 2017” by Aeng Carroll of Ireland and Lus Ramón Mendos of Argenta, leav out Egypt om s “Same-Sex Sexual Acts Illegal” list of 71 untri wh anti-LGBT laws.

Should Rsia’s semi-tonomo republic of Chechnya be add to the list bee of the btal mpaign agast gay and bisexual men that has been sweepg through Chechnya recent months?

This blog’s total would be 78 untri if were to clu Rsia and Lhuania, two untri that do not have laws agast homosexual acts but do have reprsive laws agast “propaganda of homosexualy. The ty natns of Pal the wtern Pacific Ocean and São Tomé and Príncipe, the Atlantic Ocean off the shor of central Ai, recently crimalized homosexualy and were dropped om this list 2014.

THERA MAY SAYS SHE EPLY REGRETS BRA'S LEGACY OF ANTI-GAY LAWS

Mozambique’s LGBTI advocy anizatn, Lambda, n celebrate the repeal of the untry’s anti-gay law, but has not yet won s battle for official ernment regnn, which has been seekg sce 2008. Commissned by the Kaleidospe Tst and piled by LGBT activists throughout the Commonwealth, the report lls for Commonwealth untri to repeal anti-gay legislatn, wh an immediate moratorium on enforcement.

In fact Sri Lanka has gone out of s way to refe visas to any lbian or gay group, to ban their own activists the untry, and the agenda has absolutely nothg foced on this. At the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetg London, the Brish prime mister, Thera May, urged Commonwealth natns to reform existg anti-gay legislatn held over om Brish lonial le.

TOM DALEY SPEAKS OUT ON ANTI-GAY LAWS COMMONWEALTH NATNS AFTER WNG GOLD

The drama me later durg an terview wh BBC Rad 4’s Today programme, when Tridadian Anglin Bishop Victor Gill lled ments ma by May a form of “neo-lonialism” when he nounced the lg – whout noticg the irony that was Brish lonial admistrators who troduced the anti-gay law the first place. As we show our newly published book, Brish Colonialism and the Crimalisatn of Homosexualy, many laws that make homosexualy a crime today were imposed durg le by the Brish Empire. We pared several former Brish loni such as Sgapore, Uganda and India, that still crimalise homosexual sex wh another group of former loni that have ma signifint stris toward greater social cln of their sexual mori – among them South Ai, Belize, and Fiji.

THE BRISH LONIAL ORIGS OF ANTI-GAY LAWS

To tt the still que prevalent ia that Brish imperialism “poisoned” societi agast homosexualy, we looked some tail not jt at the historil origs of the untri’ anti-homosexualy laws, but of the ntemporary polil procs that have so far prevented some of them om scrappg the laws. When champn diver and gay rights advote Tom Daley entered Alexanr Stadium Birmgham, England, on July 28 as one of the fal athlet chosen to fish the Queen’s Baton Relay, the Commonwealth Gam’ equivalent to the Olympic torch, to officially open the 22nd Gam, he was flanked by an honor guard of activists rryg Pri flags.

“I thk the Commonwealth is strategic and n wield more power pellg member untri to crimalizg homosexualy, by takg [a] stronger stance beyond mov like banng untri om hostg gam, ” Oluchi said. Image ptn, Birmgham 2022 is expected to be the most clive Gam yetCountri where is illegal to be gay are ls likely to host the Commonwealth Gam the future, the head of s feratn has than half of the 54 untri petg Birmgham 2022 have laws agast same sex athlet will be able to wave the rabow flag on the podium for the first time at the Sadlier, of the Commonwealth Gam Feratn, said "embrac clivens everythg we do". Loted the cy's gay village, Pri Hoe Birmgham, which lnched on Friday, is led by 50 volunteers who will wele people - athlet, spectators and alli - to Birmgham and celebrate the diversy of the cy and be a safe and clive space durg the gam.

LGBT rights activist and champn diver Tom Daley waved the pri flag at the openg ceremony of the Birmgham Commonwealth Gam prott at anti-gay laws participatg 35 out of the 56 Commonwealth natns homosexualy is nsired a crime, wh some untri still punishg wh the ath, who me out as gay 2013 and is married to Osr wner Dt Lance Black, said he “uldn’t image” what life is like for LGBT athlet attendg om such Daley said: “Seven Commonwealth natns have a maximum penalty of life imprisonment unr laws imposed by Bra the 19th century when was the lonial power. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Before India legalised homosexual sex 2018, at least one billn people Asia lived wh some form of anti-LGBTQ legislatnFor much of the past two centuri, was illegal to be gay a vast swathe of the world - thanks to lonial today, lonial-era laws that ban homosexualy ntue to exist former Brish terrori cludg parts of Ai and is Asia where they have had a signifintly wispread impact. This is the regn where, before India legalised homosexual sex 2018, at least one billn people lived wh anti-LGBTQ n be traced back to one particular law first nceptualised India, and one man's missn to "mornise" the lony.

THERA MAY URGED TO APOLOGISE FOR BRA'S ANTI-GAY LONIAL PAST

'Exotic, mystil Orient'Currently, is illegal to be gay around 69 untri, nearly two-thirds of which were unr some form of Brish ntrol at one pot of is no cince, acrdg to Enze Han and Joseph O'Mahoney, who wrote the book Brish Colonialism and the Crimalizatn of Han told the BBC that Brish lers troduced such laws bee of a "Victorian, Christian puranil ncept of sex". Whether you ternalise or not, affects you and everyone who lov you, " she told the ptn, The SG Boys is the first LGBTQ podst Sgapore, where gay sex is still illegalThe Covid panmic has exacerbated the problems, she recent example her group found was Sri Lanka, where the police were tasked to distribute emergency ratns while the untry was unr curfew - but some the LGBTQ muny were too aaid to e forward due to the untry's anti-sodomy law. The lack of rights is one reason they fd difficult to return, as well as the refal among some Sgaporeans cludg ernment misters to acknowledge that there is source, Olivia and Irene ChngImage ptn, Olivia (send om left) and Irene (far right) live Seattle wh their two dghters"I thk for me the biggt tratn om the fact that Sgaporeans thk everythg's okay - that as long as gay people keep quiet...