The natns where 's still crimal to be gay (as India marks an awkward anniversary) | ITV News

Contents:

• WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY?
• HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY
• THE NATNS WHERE 'S STILL CRIMAL TO BE GAY (AS INDIA MARKS AN AWKWARD ANNIVERSARY)
• MAP SHOWS WHERE IT’S ILLEGAL TO BE GAY – 30 YEARS SCE WHO DECLASSIFIED HOMOSEXUALY AS DISEASE
• WHY LEGALISG GAY SEX INDIA IS NOT A WTERN IA
• IN INDIA, GAY, LBIAN AND TRANS PEOPLE N FACE WCHDOCTORS, EXORCISTS AND 'RRECTIVE RAPE'
• BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG
• THE WORLD'S WORST PLACE TO BE GAY? IT'S CHA, ACRDG TO NEW RANKG

WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY?

In five untri and parts of two others, homosexualy is still punishable wh the ath penalty, while a further 70 imprison cizens bee of their sexual where homosexualy is legal, many untri treat those same-sex relatnships differently, such as havg an unequal age of nsent or a ban on marriage.

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.

HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY

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".

Tuday marks 10 years sce India crimalised gay sex, but 's unlikely the tone will be 's bee the 2009 lower urt lg was short-lived; overturned wh a few years by the natn's Supreme 2012 judgment effectively re-tablished the Brish lonial-era law Sectn 377, which saw gay sex punished by up to 10 years took another six years - September 2018 - before India's top urt fally brought the natn le wh the majory of the world and stck down the there are still dozens of untri where same-sex relatnships are the world is still crimal to be gay? The Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA) listed the followg natns s 2019 map of crimalisatn of nsensual same-sex sexual acts between shas of yellow ( facto crimalisatn) through to brown (effective or possible ath penalty) show the natns which still outlaw gay relatnships 2019. Cred: ILGASome untri have varyg levels of punishments bee of regnal differenc Facto crimalisatn: 2Iraq, EgyptUp to eight years imprisonment: 31Moroc, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Chad, Cameroon, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Guea, Senegal, Namibia, Botswana*, Zimbabwe, Ethpia, Errea, Somalia, Oman, Syria, Lebanon, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwa, Comoros, Mri, Eswati, Bhutan, Sgapore, Papua New Guea, Samoa, Cook Islands10 years to life prison: 26Jamai, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kts and Nevis, Domi, St Vcent and Grenad, St Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Banglash, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bnei, Soloman Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, TongaEffective ath penalty: 6Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Sdi Arabia, Yemen, IranPossible ath penalty: 5Mrania, UAE, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gambia*Sce the list was published Botswana scrapped s law, banng gay sex June.

THE NATNS WHERE 'S STILL CRIMAL TO BE GAY (AS INDIA MARKS AN AWKWARD ANNIVERSARY)

"Our inty n be challenged bee of the motherland, " she told ITV Loi is CEO of Gaysians, which overseas a UK alliance of more than 20 Brish Asian LGBT+ said even those not born India still "hold onto whatever piece you have of your homeland", so remembers the 2012 reversg of the crimalisatn as "terrible, horrifyg (and) heartbreakg that you're not accepted for beg who you are. "India has moved on so many ways but diaspora muni haven't, " she law changed 2018 after a petn of gay people who said they were livg fear of beg harassed and prosecuted by police.

The map by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn shows that only 65% of those livg UN untri around the world n now be, legally, nsensual same-sex relatnships. "Siar discsns have been takg place on social media where many agree wh this 's historians and mythology experts have differg source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Most Indian ci wnsed celebratns after the lgNoted historian Harbans Mhia says one has to know India's history to unrstand why the Brish ma gay sex illegal.

It was more to do wh their Christian belief systems, " he adds that the urt's cisn has taken India back to s experts also believe that India had a more open attu to homosexualy before the Raj and there is ample evince of medieval history and mythology.

MAP SHOWS WHERE IT’S ILLEGAL TO BE GAY – 30 YEARS SCE WHO DECLASSIFIED HOMOSEXUALY AS DISEASE

One n see the pictns of homosexualy the templ of Khajuraho and Mughal chronicl, " she most vivid example of this n be seen Khajuraho town of the central state of Madhya source, Getty ImagImage ptn, The fight to crimalise gay sex took sThe temple plex was built between 950 and 1050 by the Chanla dynasty. Though not part of the mastream, s existence was acknowledged but not approved, " he source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Khajuraho templ are a popular tourist statnProf Mhia says books and scriptur om medieval tim also suggt that homosexualy was not looked down upon. Historians also believe that India's nservative outlook about homosexualy started wh the Brish Raj and beme stronger after Mhia adds that the Sectn 377 remaed place event after India's pennce 1947 largely bee of "our ignorance of history and policians' apathy" source, Getty ImagImage ptn, LGBTQ muny wants India to bee more liberalKhav Suri, the owner of a hotel cha and a proment LGBT rights activist, believ that young people need to be ted about the untry's LGBT history.

WHY LEGALISG GAY SEX INDIA IS NOT A WTERN IA

Unn of India (2018)Facts of seKey issuImportant observatns by the Supreme CourtJudgement of the Supreme CourtDevelopment post crimalisatn of homosexualyThe Transgenr Persons (Protectn of Rights) Act, 2019Transgenr fn Prohibn agast discrimatn Obligatns on the ernment for welfare measurThe Natnal Council for Transgenr Persons (NCT)Offenc and penaltiAn Kumar and Sreeja vs. From a posn of plete lack of rights, the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, Queer, and Intersex (hereafter referred to as the LGBTQI) muny has waged numero societal wars to achieve eedom and treatment as equal cizens or human begs. The movement has begun to pture the imagatn of crimalisatn of homosexualy, the right to fay, and, some untri, even the right to adoptn, rangg om basic dwellg rights, to accs to public employment, to the right to self-termatn of one’s own sexual inty.

Acrdg to the legislative history of the issue of homosexualy, the Fleta, wrten 1290, and the Brton, wrten 1300, are the first rerds of sodomy (anal sexual behavur wh another person) as a crime the Common Law of England. This se is important to be mentned here bee even though did not legalise homosexualy the untry per se, was the first judgement ever to state that sexual orientatn is an clive part of the right to privacy and th protected by the Indian Constutn.

Regardg the issue of the nstutnaly of Sectn 377, the Court held that s effects extend far beyond the absorptn of gays to the LGBT muny or anybody else a siar suatn as fully equal cizens. While Sectn 377, on the one hand, crimalis all sex between two adults, whether heterosexual or gay, regardls of nsent, on the other hand, Sectn 375 regnis that the absence of liberate and rmed nsent qualifi a heterosexual act as rape. In this judgement, Sectn 377 of the IPC was found to be unnstutnal by the Supreme Court of India bee crimalis adults’ nsensual sexual acts, regardls of whether they are heterosexual, homosexual, members of the lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr (LGBT) muny, or anyone else a siar suatn.

IN INDIA, GAY, LBIAN AND TRANS PEOPLE N FACE WCHDOCTORS, EXORCISTS AND 'RRECTIVE RAPE'

Though the Act’s text do not specifilly forbid homosexual partnerships, s termology Sectn 4 and Schl 2 – 4 has a heterosexual unrtone, as they pict marriage as a practice between a man and a woman or between a bri and a groom. The stutn of marriage nfers particular rights and privileg on those who are married society, and bee of the aforementned excln, homosexual upl are nied the same rights and privileg. Unn of India (2018) of same-sex marriag vlat the same-sex upl’ right to digny as LGBT people and as a same-sex uple as guaranteed the Puttwamy and Navtej Sgh Johar of same-sex marriag is a vlatn of the right to life, which clus the right to pannship and sexual timacy of homosexuals, as affirmed the s of Madhubala v.

Denial of the stutn of marriage to upl and refal of the state to regnise and acknowledge homosexual maral unns are both crimal and nstutnal vlatns of their right to eedom of exprsn protected by Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constutn as affirmed the s of Vikas Yadav v. When the state’s mandated duti unr Part IV of the Constutn are pared to the jticiable rights unr Part III of the Constutn, is clear that the State is powerls to ny homosexuals and other sexual mori accs to matrimony and that the State has a posive duty to protect the dividuals om all forms of discrimatn based on their sexual orientatn or genr.

Though homosexualy was crimalised 2018 as a rult of a Supreme Court verdict, other civil rights and liberti such as marriage, adoptn, and surance are still unavailable to both gays and transgenr people.

BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG

However, more than four years after homosexualy was crimalised, India’s ernment’s rponse to tablishg LGBTQIA+ digny has been a standstill, if not an attempt to go backwards, by pursug dismissals of petns seekg regnn of same-sex marriag unr existg laws. She fally fled home, fearg she might be forcibly married, or her father would send someone to rape her to change her sexualy, a hate crime known as "rrective rape" was eventually granted protectn by a Delhi urt when her parents tried to track her this was a time when homosexualy was still illegal India n be a dangero place for a gay woman, and Sonia scribed the ensug years on the n as "a lot of mental torture, emotnal torture, fancial torture".

'We felt like we have created history' Jtice N Anand Venkath directed the Indian ernment and stat to ban nversn therapy and to act agast any person tryg to "cure" homosexualy. "Gay Indians still targeted by 'exorcists' and 'shamans' Sonia Sghal has appld the Madras High Court's lg, but she fears s lgs will have ltle impact beyond the state of Ta Nadu, where Shha and Sheema's se was heard.

THE WORLD'S WORST PLACE TO BE GAY? IT'S CHA, ACRDG TO NEW RANKG

"This judge ed the word 'sex' and expands to read sexual orientatn, genr exprsn and genr inty, " Mr Manuraj judge also referred to a landmark Supreme Court se 2018, which overturned Brish lonial-era laws that crimalised same-sex relatns, statg that homosexualy was not unnatural, nor a "mental disorr or a disease". The apex urt also observed that the very notn of a man and a woman is not “an absolute based on genals”, while Senr Advote Abhishek Manu Sghvi, appearg for one of the petners, said that the urt should grant marriage equaly to gay upl not as “same-sex” but as a right for nsentg adults across "bodily genr and sex spectm". The Uned Stat followed a “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy till 2011 when Print Barack Obama signed a repeal act to prevent the discharge of personnel who openly intified as beg homosexual.

When clil psychologist Lata Hemchand, PhD, began her private practice Bangalore, India, almost four s ago, she viewed her homosexual patients the way she was tght to at one of India’s top trag stutns—as sexual viants. ) While the judg foced their arguments primarily on the importance of dividual tonomy, nondiscrimatn and privacy, they poted repeatedly to the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s 1973 cisn to remove homosexualy om s list of mental disorrs. Dpe the longtime ban, some ways acceptance of homosexual behavr is eply rooted Indian culture, says Ahuja, cg as exampl the posive pictns of same-sex activy the 2, 000-year-old Kama Sutra and the 1, 000-year-old erotic sculptur at the Khajuraho templ.