International Watch: Bahrain Seeks Crackdown on Homosexuality. Again.

This week marked the third time in 2008 that political leaders in Bahrain have called for a widespread crackdown on homosexuality.  In February 2008, the Foreign Affairs, Defense and National Security committee of Bahrain's Parliament backed policies that would tighten immigration checkpoints to prevent "foreign homosexuals" from entering the country.  In April 2008, Bahrain's Parliament considered a resolution to deport homosexuals.  And now in October 2008, during the first week of the new session of Bahrain's Parliament, MP Shaikh Mohammed Khalid Mohammed called for a series of national policies directed at eliminating the homosexual population of Bahrain.

Bahrain, like India, inherited anti-sodomy laws from its colonizer, the British Empire.  As a result today, "homosexual behavior" in Bahrain can be rewarded with a ten-year prison sentence.  (Thanks, England.  Sometimes I'm really glad we stole David Beckham from you.)

Showing how well informed he is on the issue, MP Khalid Mohammaed had this to say about Bahrain's LGBT community:

We have homosexual rates on the rise, with such people working in flower shops, massage parlours or barber's salons.  Sluts walk around residential neighbourhoods untouched.

This same MP called for school students to be spied on, so that their sexuality could be monitored.  Of course, I can't seem to find anything from this member of Parliament addressing anything related to Bahrain's poverty levels, the disparity in income between private sector and public sector employees, the fact that most Bahraini families have trouble providing basic needs for their children, or the fact that the Ministry of Labor forces Bahrainis to become cheap laborers for the private sector without adequate working conditions.

I also can't find anything from this MP addressing the fact that while he'd like to kick homosexuals out of the country, Bahrain as a whole was fine with welcoming Michael Jackson into the country and potentially working with him to develop a line of Middle Eastern theme parks.  But beating up on Michael Jackson was so 1990s.

Given that cracking down on homosexuality has come up three times this year alone, it's likely to stay at the top of particular political agendas.  Keep up to date on Bahrain's human rights situation by checking out the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society.  The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission is also a great resource for international LGBT news, updates and publications.  U.S.-based Human Rights Watch also has a country page for Bahrain, which details a number of human rights issues within the country.