US: Obama clashes with Kenyan president over gay rights

US president Barack Obama, visiting his late father’s homeland for the first time as president, launched an unprecedented defence of gay rights in Africa, telling Kenya’s president that the state has no right to punish people because of “who they love”. Homosexual acts are illegal in Kenya and surveys show nine in 10 people find them unacceptable.

Obama personalised the issue by comparing homophobia to racial discrimination that he had encountered in the United States: “When you start treating people differently, because they’re different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode. And bad things happen. When a government gets in the habit of treating people differently, those habits can spread. As an African-American in the United States, I am painfully aware of the history of what happens when people are treated differently, under the law”

The Kenyan president publicly disagreed with Obama. “There are some things that we must admit we don’t share,” Kenyatta said, insisting that gay rights “is not really an issue on the foremost mind of Kenyans”. He added: “It’s very difficult for us to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept.” Watch the remarks   

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Australia: Indonesia dismisses suggestion relations with Australia could be affected if same-sex marriage legalised

Indonesia's foreign ministry has dismissed the suggestion relations with Australia could be affected if same-sex marriage was legalised in Australia. Australian Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has said Asian countries could see Australia as "decadent" if same-sex marriage was legalised. And Senator Eric Abetz suggested that if Asian countries did not accept same-sex marriage then Australia should not either, pointing to the often-repeated phrase that for Australia this was the Asian century.

Spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the issue was one for the Australian Government as it was an issue of Australian law: "As I understand it, is a national legislation, national rules and legislation ... and it has nothing to do with ... our national law."

He said Indonesia's law on marriage would stay the same. In addition to not allowing same-sex marriage, Indonesia doesn't allow people from different religions to marry, though some are attempting to challenge that law. Read More 

South Africa: Behind the reluctance to champion gay rights in Africa

South Africa is, in some ways, the exception to the generally grim situation facing the estimated 50 million-strong LGBTI community in Africa. Its progressive constitution explicitly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. The country’s vibrant civil society includes a broad range of gay advocacy groups.

But South Africa’s stance on gay rights in Africa is opaque. Scientists from South Africa and Uganda produced research demonstrating that the rationale for repressive laws on the continent are baseless and pernicious. The study found that homosexuality is a normal sexual orientation and that criminalising it can have negative repercussions across society. In 2011, South Africa bravely led on gay rights issues by introducing a resolution to the UN Human Rights Council that called for equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation.

Yet less than three years later it was reticent about a follow on resolution calling for countries to report on LGBTI violations. Graeme Reid of Human Rights Watch described South Africa’s foreign policy on gay rights as “at best inconsistent and at worst obstructionist”. South Africa’s uncertainty on if, and how, it should promote gay rights in Africa stems from two primary sources. Read More

Swaziland: ‘No legislation against lesbianism’

While male homosexuality is criminal in Swaziland, it turns out there has never been any legislation that criminalises lesbian relationships in the country. According to annual research reports, ‘A World Survey of Laws’ compiled by the International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), female same-sex relationships have always been ‘legal’ in Swaziland while male same-sex relationships have and still remain illegal, in that sodomy is a common law crime in the kingdom.

Asked yesterday on government’s position on the legality of lesbian relationships as claimed by the reports, Spokesperson Percy Simelane said; “We have made our position clear on these fictitious reports more than once before and are not going to repeat ourselves save to say that someone needs a doctor urgently”.

Last year, Simelane said the state was closely monitoring the situation with a view to take a legal position. He had said gays and lesbians were regulated by the nation’s moral obligations and biblical values, and that as soon as a legal position had been taken, government would make it public.   Read More 

European Parliament: Vote to address LGBTI rights

The European Parliament voted to put human rights, including of LGBTI people, at the heart of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The Parliament emphasised the “need to focus on strengthening and consolidating … respect for diversity and the rights of minorities, including … the rights of LGBTI persons.” 

The ENP organises relationships between the EU and its closest Eastern and Southern neighbours*, and has a budget of more than €15 billion (2014-2020), part of which goes to civil society.

Tanja Fajon MEP, Vice-President of the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights, said: “This report recognises the need to improve the situation for LGBTI people in our neighbourhood. It gives the European Commission and all EU delegations in the ENP countries the mandate to tackle discrimination and work with civil society to change the situation for the better.” Read More

Russia: Top Russian official says antigay politicians pose direct threat to national security

Vice-chairman of the Federation Council constitutional legislation committee, senator Konstantin Dobrynin proposes implementing “don’t ask – don’t tell” principle towards LGBT people in Russia and calls to “immediately reduce the intensity of aggression” towards them as they do not pose a direct threat to national security, unlike antigay politicians, as Dobrynin commented the latest MP Milonov’s initiative to ban Facebook in Russia due to rainbow avatars dedicated to celebrating LGBT marriage equality in the USA.

“For Russia, it is important not to turn away from the realities of time and not to fall into the barbarian antigay fight, but to try and find some legal form that will ensure the the public balance on this subject between the conservative part of society and all the rest,” said the senator. “For a period of time the optimal formula, which in our country would be the case and work without causing aggression, could be the “don’t ask – don’t tell” formula”.

“But we need to take away from the political field and from our lives those pseudo-politicians who openly profiteer in the antigay fighting and engage in the legislative spam, the sooner we do it – the better ” concluded Dobrynin.  “Because they are the ones, unlike gays, who pose a direct and clear threat to the Russia’s security and it’s them who the state needs to confront”.  Read More

Look Who's Stripping for Obama in Africa

According to Vincent Kidaha, a Republican Liberty Party leader, about 5,000 people will strip naked to protest homosexuality when President Obama visits Kenya this month, making a statement against his support for marriage equality, Nairobi News reports. A bunch of guys getting naked seems like an odd way to make an anti-gay statement, doesn't it?

"We have organized a peaceful procession for Obama to understand the difference between a man and a woman in protecting African family values," says Kidaha in a video. Does this guy even know what being gay means? Watch interview now

Kenya: Leaders tell Obama to leave off LGBT issues during visit.

The White House has downplayed demands by a section of Kenyan leaders for President Barack Obama to keeps off gay talk during his impending visit. The President has used previous trips to Africa to urge governments to decriminalise homosexuality, but heads led by Deputy President William Ruto have warned him not to talk about it.

Obama is not expected to shy off any topic, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, in response to a question on the matter, during a press briefing: "I am confident that the President will not hesitate to make clear that the protection of basic universal human rights in Kenya is also a priority consistent with values we hold dear in the United States of America," he said.

Deputy President William Ruto said he was ready to defend Kenya against homosexuality. "We have heard that in the US they have allowed gay relations and other dirty things. I want to say, as a Christian leader, that we will defend our country, we will stand for our faith and our country," he said. Read More

US: Senate votes down measure to ban LGBT discrimination in schools

Fifty-two senators voted for an amendment Tuesday to ban discrimination against LGBT students in public schools, but the measure to amend the Every Child Achieves Act failed because 60 votes were required for passage.

“I’m tremendously disappointed in the Senate,” Sen. Al Franken, who sponsored the amendment, said in a statement after the vote. “The inability to put in place meaningful protections for some of our most vulnerable children is an enormous disservice to LGBT students all across the country who face terrible bullying every day.”

In addition to banning LGBT discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, Franken’s amendment would have required campus officials to intervene when an LGBT student is being bullied. It would also bar schools from retaliating if a student complains to officials. Sen. Patty Murray, from Washington, pointed out the amendment would give LGBT students similar protections to those already on the books for students based on their race, gender, religion, disability, and country of origin. Read More

Japanese out politician urges South Korea to improve LGBT rights

Taiga Ishikawa, Japan’s only gay politician, has spoken about South Korea’s progress on LGBT rights.

He attended the Korea Queer Festival, which was protested against by conservative Christian groups. Police attempted to ban the parade, on public safety grounds, but the ban was overturned by the courts.

Mr Ishikawa said: “I was shocked to hear that the parade was blocked by the state forces. It saddened me. Then it hit me; there isn’t an openly LGBT lawmaker in Korea yet. Policymaking in Japan as a whole is conducted as if sexual minorities do not exist. I wish to be an advocate of LGBTs, as I am one myself."

Mr Ishikawa became Japan’s first gay politician in 2011, when he won a seat on the Tokyo Assembly. He has been firm advocate for LGBT rights. Read More 

Israel: Ministers reject opposition MK’s LGBT rights bill

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Monday voted down a bill that would make it illegal to discriminate against LGBT people in any way. The legislation, proposed by MK Ofer Shelah, would make any law prohibiting discrimination based on gender, age, country of origin, etc. apply to LGBT people as well.

Shelah noted that no other Likud ministers voted in the anti-discrimination bill's favor, though some attended last week’s Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv. “Such a simple matter, that all laws prohibiting discrimination should apply to discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, did not get the approval of the current government,” Shelah said. “On Pride Week, some of the Likud tried to paint rainbows on their faces. Don’t be fooled: Behind that, you’ll find their true faces.”
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US: State Department report documents LGBT human rights violations

The State Department’s annual human rights report, 2014 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, notes anti-LGBT persecution and discrimination were pervasive throughout the world in 2014. A compilation of the information from the report regarding sexual orientation and gender identity can be found here.

 Included in this compilation is information about new anti-LGBT laws as well as the ongoing persecution and violence facing LGBT people around the world.

"While there is no doubt that equality is rising in some places around the globe, this report makes it clear that many LGBT people are not experiencing the benefits of that progress,” said Ty Cobb, Director of HRC Global.  “This report is a critical tool for documenting the violence and persecution faced by LGBT people abroad, and helps to inform our nation's foreign policy.” The situation for LGBT people around the world varies widely, as some countries embrace equality, while in others, LGBT people continue to suffer from discrimination, persecution and violence. Read More