Nigeria Senate Passes Insanely Anti-Gay Bill

Very bad news out of Nigeria. For the last 18 months or so the LGBT blogosphere has been tracking an anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda which included the death penalty for some homosexual acts. Happily that legislation died when the legislative session ended earlier this year, although there are some reports that Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill is being revived.

Now comes news that an arguably even more repressively homophobic bill has passed one legislative body i Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria.

The Washington Post reports:

Nigeria’s Senate voted Tuesday to criminalize gay marriage, gay advocacy groups and same-sex public displays of affection, the latest legislation targeting a minority already facing discrimination in Africa’s most populous nation. 

The bill, now much more wide-ranging than its initial draft, must be passed by Nigeria’s House of Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan before becoming law. However, public opinion and lawmakers’ calls Tuesday for even harsher penalties show the widespread support for the measure in the deeply religious nation. 

“Such elements in society should be killed,” said Sen. Baba-Ahmed Yusuf Datti of the opposition party Congress for Progressive Change, drawing some murmurs of support from the gallery. 

Gay sex has been banned in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people, since colonial rule by the British. Gays and lesbians face open discrimination and abuse in a country divided by Christians and Muslims who almost uniformly oppose homosexuality. In the areas in Nigeria’s north where Islamic Shariah law has been enforced for about a decade, gays and lesbians can face death by stoning.

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0.

Hillary Issues Statement On Landmark UN Resolution

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesperson

__________________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release                                                                                                                                                June 17, 2011

2011/978

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY CLINTON

United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution on Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity

Today, the UN Human Rights Council adopted the first ever UN resolution on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.  This represents a historic moment to highlight the human rights abuses and violations that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people face around the world based solely on who they are and whom they love. 

The United States worked with the main sponsor, South Africa, and a number of other countries from many regions of the world to help pass this resolution, including Brazil, Colombia, members of the European Union, and others.  This resolution will commission the first ever UN report on the challenges that LGBT persons face around the globe and will open a broader international discussion on how to best promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons.

All over the world, people face human rights abuses and violations because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, including torture, rape, criminal sanctions, and killing.  Today’s landmark resolution affirms that human rights are universal. People cannot be excluded from protection simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The United States will continue to stand up for human rights wherever there is inequality and we will seek more commitments from countries to join this important resolution.

###

UN Passes Historic Resolution On LGBT Rights

The United Nations has passed a landmark resolution acknowledging that LGBT rights are human rights. The  United Nations Human Rights Council has formally adopted the resolution I blogged about earlier by a vote of 23 in favor, 19 opposed and 3 abstentions (very close!).

The list of which countries voted which way is provied by TransGriot:

The UN resolution passed with 23 countries voting in favor, 19 countries against and 3 countries abstaining

The nations voting YES were: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Thailand, UK, USA, Uruguay.

The nations voting NO were:  Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Jordan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Moldova, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Uganda.

Abstentions: Burkina Faso, China, Zambia

Absent: Kyrgyzstan, Libya (suspended)

The resolution text includes (pdf):

Expressing grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity

1.  Requests the High Commissioner to commission a study to be finalised by December 2011, to document discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, in all regions of the world, and how international human rights law can be used to end violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity;

2.  Decides to cenvene a panel discussion during the 19th session of the Human Rights Council, informed by the facts contained in the study commissioned by the High Commissioner and to have constructive, informed and transparent dialogue on the issue of discriminatory laws and lractices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity;

3.  Decides also that the panel will also discuss the appropriate follow-up to the recommendations of the study commissioned by the High Commissioner;

4.  Decides to remain seized of this priority issue.

Note that the United States voted in favor of the resolution, which was sponsored by Brazil and South Africa. Recall that, the next time some idiot tells you it doesn't matter if Obama or a Republican is President.

GRENADA: Man, 41, Charged Under Sodomy Law

Since I was born on the island of Grenada in the Eastern Caribbean I'm always attentive when the island-nation appears in the news. According to the AP, a 41-year-old man has been arrested and charged with sodomy for having consensual sex with a 17-year-old man.

The age of sexual consent in Grenada is 16 but while the sex in question was consensual, local law prohibits sodomy under the charge of "unnatural connection."

Grenada is one of several Caribbean nations that has laws banning sex between men. The penalty in most islands, including Grenada, is up to 10 years in prison, although Barbados and Guyana have life imprisonment, according to a 2010 United Nations report.

Many islands remain socially conservative, with Jamaica considered one of the most hostile islands toward homosexuals. A gay right activist was killed there last year, and three gay men were attacked and beaten in St. Lucia in March. Gay cruises to the region also continue to draw protesters.

In Grenada, gays are discriminated against and find it hard to find employment and housing, said Nigel Mathlin, president of GrenCHAP, a local nonprofit organization that represents marginalized groups.

"The government, they are very much aware of the changes that need to be made, of bringing our laws into line with international human rights principles," Mathlin said.

I'll be following this case relatively closely. I really don't see how the Caribbean nations of Barbados, Trinidad, Grenada and Jamaica can expect to have a vibrant tourism industry while still maintaining anti-gay sodomy laws and an unwelcoming, discriminatory atmosphere.

It's good to see that there is some organized resistance and challenge to explicit homophobia on the island of Grenada in the form of GrenCHAP and Nigel Mathlin.