"Homosexuals can forget about human rights." - James Nsaba Butoro, former Minister of Ethics & Integrity, Uganda
"I will never initiate or support any attempts to legalise homosexuality" - John Atta Mills, President of Ghana
Today is the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO).
From the
Stonewall website:
"Being gay is still illegal in 80 of 196 countries across the world, being a lesbian is specifically outlawed in 45 – in 6 countries the penalty for both is death.
"We’re lucky to have seen many legal changes in Britain that have improved the lives of lesbian, gay and bisexual people. But for more than 200 million gay people across the world each day is still filled with the fear of being beaten, imprisoned or murdered at any moment."
Many of those countries are
members of Her Majesty's Commonwealth - including Ghana, Uganda, Jamaica, Malaysia, Singapore, Malawi, Nigeria, Pakistan and even the Maldives. In this Jubilee year, it is shocking that the UK still aligns itself with these reprehensible nations.
In the USA,
31 states have anti-gay legislation in place.
The
Nazi Pope condemns homosexuality.
The country that this year hosts the very-gay-friendly Eurovision Song Contest, Azerbaijan has, to say the least, a
shaky record on gay rights issues, in common with many former Soviet countries including
Mother Russia.
And both "allies" (including
Saudi Arabia) and "foes" (
Iran) of the West in the Middle East brutally
outlaw homosexuality.
Shocking.
As has become a bit of a tradition on this very important day of awareness and solidarity, my feelings are quite neatly summed up thus:
IDAHO website
