Africa is the continent with the most hostile laws on same-sex relations, but a few countries have legalised gay marriage in the past year and there are other signs of a positive shift in public opinion, the ILGA says
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Despite very encouraging developments such as the legalisation of same-sex marriage in some countries last and this year, homosexual acts remain a crime in many parts of the world and a capital offence in some countries, a report said on Wednesday.
Worldwide, 78 countries criminalise same-sex acts between adults, while 113 do not, the State-Sponsored Homophobia Report issued by the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) said.
In five countries – Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen, and in some parts of Nigeria and Somalia, same-sex intercourse is punishable with death.
But the report also highlighted positive changes in legislation in a number of countries and stated that 2012 and 2013 will be remembered “as the years of same-sex marriage laws.”
During 2012 and the first months of this year, gay marriage was legalised in some parts of the United States, in Denmark, France, Uruguay and New Zealand, bringing the number of countries where marriage is legal for same-sex couples to 10.
Gay couples can benefit from most or all of the rights of marriage through civil partnerships, civil unions and similar ties in 14 countries. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited by the constitution in six countries, while 52 nations have some form of legislation that prohibits it.
The report also noted that in some 15 countries legislation sets a different minimum age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sex, the former usually being higher than the latter.
AFRICA “WORST CONTINENT”
Over the last 10 years, the situation for LGBTI people in Africa has gone from bad to worse, according to the ILGA.
Africa is “by far the continent with the worst laws on the books when it comes to homosexuality and other sexual minorities,” the report said, adding that gay sex is criminalised in 38 of 54 African states.
In some countries the situation for LGBTI people has been worsening. In Burundi, for example, the government has introduced a law criminalising sodomy, and Liberia, Nigeria and Uganda have increased the penalties for same-sex relations, it said.
An increasing number of LGBTI people are seeking asylum abroad, but attitudes in destination countries to people seeking asylum on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity have, in some cases, been “shameful”, the report said.
MIXED RESULTS
In Russia, where same-sex relationships are not outlawed, six regions introduced homophobic laws in 2012, prohibiting “propaganda” about homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism from being disseminated to minors.
In the United States, while the legal status of gay unions remains contentious at both the federal and state level, two Supreme Court hearings earlier this year could prove a milestone in the battle for gay rights in America.
The Supreme Court hasn’t yet ruled on the cases - one on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the other on the constitutionality of the proposition which overturned California’s same-sex marriage bill – but they highlighted a growing concern over the issue of gay marriage, the ILGA said.
Several U.S. states have legalised same-sex marriage over the past year, signalling a positive shift in public opinion, the report said. But 38 states still prohibit it and, the report noted, violence aimed specifically at ethnic trans women in the United States has increased dramatically.
In the Middle East and North Africa, LGBTI people are seen as a threat to social order and any discussion of sexuality is taboo, the report said. Nearly all the countries that punish gay sex with the death penalty are in this region, it said.
In recent years - especially since the Arab Spring uprisings - the internet has been the relief valve of gay people in the region, enabling many to start blogs to speak out and share their experiences while being forced to live a “double life” at home.
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