Criminalizing Love

by Eric Grignol · 2009-04-28 06:00:00 UTC
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Burundi President Nkurunziza

This year brought news that gay Iraqis are being painfully tortured for their sexuality, with unspeakable acts of violence, resulting in an estimated 60 deaths so far. Now the African nation of Burundi takes up the mantle of shame, as it outlawed homosexuality this past week, making it a crime punishable by jail time and monetary fines. The Associate Press reports that over 60 organizations have decried the move, asking President Pierre Nkurunziza (pictured above) to reverse it, including Human Rights Watch, which stated:

"We respectfully remind the government of Burundi that according to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, arrests on the basis of sexual orientation are, by definition, human rights violations. We will carefully monitor any arrests made on the basis of this law. We urge the government of Burundi to act promptly to decriminalise homosexual conduct."

As countries have become more interconnected through technologies, travel, information exchange, economies, and the like, the world has quickly become a much smaller place. Being citizens of the world, activists must not let governments hide behind excuses of culture and custom to target gays where life and liberty are at stake. The aforementioned brutal killing of gay Iraqis has shown the global community where this type of intolerance leads, and Burundi should take note. Bordered by Rwanda and The Democratic Republic of Congo, this entire region is no stranger to hate-based violence by singling out particular groups as targets, having lived through civil wars of their own based on race and tribal lines. It's time to accept differences and stop the hate.

Last month, thousands of Burundians demonstrated against the government's decision to criminalize homosexuality. While we struggle to attain equal rights for LGBT people here in the U.S., let's not forget what is happening in our global backyard, and show solidarity with queer activists around the world, especially those courageous enough to risk persecution, freedom, and life for love and for the right to live as who they are.

Eric Grignol
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