Roundup: International Gay Rights News

So much attention these past few weeks has been placed on the historic LGBT rights debate taking place over marriage equality, and especially California’s passage of Proposition 8. But a number of LGBT rights developments are happening outside of the States, so we’ll dedicate this roundup to news from around the globe.

Russia: Russian officials have made a living out of banning gay pride marches over the last few years. In May 2007, when gay rights supporters tried to present a petition to Moscow’s mayor asking him to lift the ban on a gay rights parade, the activists were systematically attacked by neo-Nazi groups and the Russian police. This week, Russian gay rights activists sent a letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, urging them to broach the subject of gay rights with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at this weekend’s European Union/Russia Summit. European governments have roundly condemned Russia for its poor record on protecting LGBT people from violence and discrimination. Russian activists were hoping that Sarkozy and Barroso could at least put the issue back on Russia’s radar screen.

Senegal: In addition to perhaps having the world’s worst airport, Senegal’s record on gay rights isn’t particularly wonderful. Last year, two men held a same-sex wedding in the country. A photographer snapped photos of the grooms and their guests, and then months later sold them to the media, where many of the photos were published. What resulted was a witchhunt to find the “homosexuals” in attendance, and harass and arrest them. Family members of LGBT individuals were harassed and even attacked by mobs. Worried that gays were going to pour out of Senegal and flea to neighboring Gambia, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh vowed to kill any homosexual found in his country.

Given this as a backdrop, one would wonder how in the world the Senegal LGBT community plans to survive, let alone push for equal rights. But this week, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) announced that it was going to renew its efforts to work the Senegalese gay community to regroup after last year’s violence, and fight for less discrimination of sexual minorities. Per the IGLHRC: “In Senegal, the laws and social attitudes leave no place for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people to live in safety.”

Jamaica: Health officials in Jamaica are calling on the government to decriminalize homosexuality, as a means of addressing the country’s HIV/AIDS problem. An official with the Department for International Development has warned, “Within the Jamaican gay community homophobia is a key part of the spread of HIV/AIDS, as the added discrimination against homosexuals discourages many from seeking advice about prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. There are also particular problems with some rap and reggae music which includes lyrics inciting violence against gays.” This comment comes in the wake of a news article from the Toronto Globe and Mail earlier this year, quoting Gareth Henry with the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), where he says that 13 of his friends have been murdered because of their sexual orientation. So yeah, I’d say it’s time to decriminalize homosexuality in the country.

India: Seven years after a lawsuit was filed to overturn Section 377 of India’s penal code (which criminalizes consensual sex between adults of the same sex), India’s High Court is set to rule on the case. The implications are huge, with the UN urging the Court to decriminalize homosexuality and a number of gay rights groups and activists organizing against the ban. The ruling, set to come down at some point after November 17, will be the first ruling by the Court on the subject since the original law (a relic of British colonialism) was put on the books.

Scotland and Latvia: What does an art exhibit in Scotland have to do with Latvia and gay rights? Well, the exhibit is a photographic montage of images from the disrupted Riga Pride 2008. Riga, Latvia’s capital, hosted a gay pride rally earlier this year that brought out a large number of counter-demonstrators and hate crimes, spurred on in part because of Latvia’s Catholic bishop, who called for the march to be cancelled saying that “homosexuality was against the natural order.” The "Hate and Pride in Riga" exhibition features images from the May 2008 Pride March. The exhibition will be shown at the Q! Gallery on Glasgow's Saltmarker until International Human Rights Day, 10th December.