BO.HO.CO.

Indonesia, the largest archiepelago in the world

2010-12-27T09:55:00.000-08:00


(photo by Karen Liao, Common Language China)

With an estimated total of 17,508 islands, Indonesia is the largest archiepelago in the world; with a population of around 238 million people it is also the fourth most populous country in the world. And to add record on record, the country is also host to the biggest Muslim population on the planet. Although Indonesia is broadly considered a moderate Muslim country and religious freedom is enshrined in the country's constitution, there is apparently a trend towards adopting laws inspired by Sharia at a local level. In addition to this there is one province, Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, which is totally governed by Sharia law.

Aceh became the theatre of a most vile violation of human rights in 2007 when a gay couple had their lodgings stormed into and was verbally abused and beaten by its neighbours who then proceeded to call the police to get them arrested. Once at the police station the nightmare reached higher levels when thy were submitted to torture at the hands of the very law enforcement officers.

In March 2010, an lgbt conference organized by ILGA Asia in Surabaya, East Java, had to be cancelled following threats from Islamic fundamelist groups coordinated by the Islamic Defenders Front. These protests apparently led to the Indonesian police denying permission for the conference, rather than safeguarding basic civil liberties and protecting the delegates' right to freedom of assembly and safety from harm. The hotel where the lgbt delegates were originally supposed to stay reneged on their word, following threats from the fundamentalists and a second hotel where the conference was moved to had the lobby invaded by protesters shouting abuse and threatening violence (see photo above). After fearing for their lives the delegates had to leave the hotel in small groups so as to avoid detection and stay in the city as tourists waiting for their flight back.

The Islamic Defenders Front hit the headlines again in September 2010 on the occasion of a gay film festival taking place in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. It wasn't the first time the festival had been organized, but this time the increased publicity was possibly at the root of the unwanted attention, i.e. homophobic abuse and threats of burning down the venues where the films were being screened, had the festival not be cancelled. Some foreign cultural centres like the French and Japanese ones bowed to pressure and halted further screenings, whereas the German Goethe Institute apparently expressed the intention to go ahead with the schedule.

That an otherwise moderate Muslim country should be run by a group of Muslim hardliners who seem to call the shots and decide which cultural or social events should take place is a disgrace. These people should be treated like the thugs that they are for disrupting what may be controversial (in their view) but otherwise completely legitimate events. Police should have the obligation to safeguard organizers and public and secure the normal running of events and not be complicit with protesters/radical groups as was apparently the case in the protest against the lgbt conference earlier in the year (where policemen were seen conversing amicably with protesters). Indonesia need to prove that it is indeed a secular country not run by Sharia law and whose democratic life is not swayed by radical Muslims.

Maldives... the sunny side of life?

2010-04-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

A deft slogan no doubt for a website promoting tourism to the Maldives, but not everyone will have the priviledge to see the sunny side of it, especially those seven locals who got arrested in December of 2009 for suspected homosexuality activity. In Maldives homosexuality is a crime and apparently the sun doesn't shine favourably on everyone.

The following is taken from the ILGA report of 2009 regarding countries where being gay is a crime persecuted by law:
'The Penal Code of Maldives does not regulate sexual conduct. It is instead regulated by uncodified Muslim Sharia law, which criminalises homosexual acts between both men and between women. For men the punishment is banishment for nine months to one year or a whipping of 10 to 30 strokes, while the punishment for women is house arrest for nine months to one year. There have been reports of women being sentenced to a whipping as well for lesbian acts.'

I should add the Maldives was also one of the 57 UN countries which not only opposed a statement for the decriminalization of homosexuality presented to the UN General Assembly on 18 Dec 2008 on the intitiative of France, but signed an opposing statement (backed mainly by Muslim countries), which saw the issue as mainly an internal affair and the legitimization of homosexuality as leading to deplorable acts such as paedophilia (the old rotten chestnut).

Seychelles, the otherwordly archipelago

2010-04-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

In what some tourism literature define as the 'otherwordly archipelago' on account of the 115 islands' beautiful sandy beaches and crystal waters, not to mention the luxurious forests, homosexuality is persecutable by law according to section 151 of the Criminal Code.
'Transgressors' are liable to imprisonment for 14 years.

Kenya, land of safaris... and witch-hunts

2010-02-21T15:29:00.000-08:00

(photo by Picture Taker 2, Flickr)

Kenya is a renowned destination for people who want to go on a safari or soak the sun on its beaches, but it is also a country where consensual sexual relationships between men are illegal. There are penalties of up to 14 years in prison for 'transgressors'. Like in many other countries in Africa and elsewhere around the world, this is a legacy of the British empire which around 1700 introduced the so-called Sodomy Laws in its colonies.

The news of a real gay marriage celebrated in London in October of 2009 between two gay Kenyan nationals had already caused quite a stir back home and now the unfounded news of a 'gay marriage' occurring on the self-same Kenyan soil on 12th of February ruffled quite a few religionists' feathers. Apparently it all stemmed from a rumour started in a barber's shop (if it wasn't for the tragic events ensuing, it'd be something to laugh at) which was then reported in the media giving it the seal of authenticity, as it were.

But given that the country does not even acknowlege any fundamental gay rights and in fact considers gays on a par with criminals, how could a 'gay marriage' be taking place? It is basically a misnomer, it's the fabric of dreams. According to the country's laws, gays are not even allowed a sexual/amorous identity, let alone the formal legal institution of a 'marriage'. The media should have been more savvy and demistify the event for what it was... a witch-hunt, a gay purge, a gay pogrom.

Religionists doing what they do best started to glow with religious fervour at the news and, spraying self-righteousness and hatred from every pore, mounted a crusade against the evil infidels. A muslim chief and a christian bishop joined arms to instigate a nazi-like purge of gays from their community called 'Operation Gays Out'. One must hand it to the hate-mongers that the naming of the operation is somewhat polite compared to the branding of gays by dictator mugabe (and yes the small letter is not a spelling mistake) as pigs and dogs, in fact the nice man said gays are 'worse than pigs and dogs'.

Read the letter sent to the Kenyan authorities by Human Rights Watch Scott Lee for a more detailed account of events. And I don't know about you, but personally I won't be going to a Kenyan safari or beach resort any time soon.

Appeal for the common 'wealth', bar none

2010-01-08T05:09:00.000-08:00

Here follows an email I sent to the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations, Kamalesh Sharma, regarding the human rights abuses in some of the organization's member states.

You can write to him at secretary-general@commonwealth.int

'Dear Secretary-General,

I am writing to you as I am concerned about the flouting of human rights in some Commonwealth states.

Uganda is currently under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, its Parliament discussing a law which amounts to a proper which-hunt of gay Ugandans. But unfortunately Uganda is not the main culprit, many are the Commonwealth countries where homosexuality is deemed to be a crime and prosecutable by law: Rwanda, Jamaica, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, to name but a few.

I understand the Commonwealth is an interogovernmental organization of member-states which operate within a framework of common values and goals, inlcluding democracy, good governance, individual liberty and human rights. None of these values can be honoured if a section of the population is left out on the grounds of highly questionable 'moral' or 'religious' grounds. In fact, to even use the words 'moral' or 'religious' in such a context is sheer heresy. Much more appropriate terms are: ignorance, phobia, violence.

The situation of gay Jamaican is dire, ditto for gay Ugandans. Rwanda seems to be embarking, alongside other African states, on the same wretched course pointed at by Uganda.

I would hope - and I'm sure that a lot of people feel the same way - that as the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth you would honour the mission of your own organisation and stand for the 'common' wealth of all citizens, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity, and make a statement denouncing the countries which infringe the very principles held dear by the Commonwealth of Nations.'

Homophobia Kills, don’t support it

2009-12-25T09:13:00.000-08:00

Honorary British Consul John Terry is the latest victim of Jamaica’s deeply entrenched hatred towards gays. He was severely beaten and strangled in his flat on 9th September 2009. A handwritten note found on his bed read ‘Batty man’ and it added ‘this is what will happen to ALL gays'. But this is only one in a long string of brutal attacks against gay people on the Caribbean island. A leading lgbt activist, Brian Williamson, co-founder of Jamaican lgbt group J-FLAG died from multiple stab wounds in 2004. A mob was later seen celebrating around Williamson’s mutilated body, some chanting ‘Boom Bye Bye’, a song by Jamaican singer Buju Banton about shooting and burning gay men with acid. In 2005 a leading HIV activist Steve Harvey was abducted and killed. Most worryingly, many are the episodes of mass hysteria where entire groups of people abuse, chase and assault gay people, like the angry mob who chased a young man, Nokia Cowen, to his death off a pier in 2006 or the mob that disrupted the funeral service of a gay man attacking attendees believed to be gay with stones, knives and bottles in April of 2007. Earlier in the same year three gay men were stoned by a huge mob and forced to seek refuge in a pharmacy.

The violence is given free rein, when it is not effectively being fomented by an old colonial law (which makes homosexuals criminals who can be sentenced with up to 10 years in prison) and the institutional homophobia rife among politicians, the police, hospital staff and the leaders of ultra conservative Christian churches. The popular appeal of some reggae and dance hall singers advocating in their lyrics the shooting, maiming and burning of gay people does the rest (incidentally the notorious hate lyric, Boom Bye Bye, is still unashamedly broadcast on Youtube).

A collateral but not less sinister effect of this homophobic violence is the island’s high rate of HIV infection. It’s easy to see how gay people would be inclined to shun health institutions for fear of mistreatment and abuse.

International human rights organizations have described Jamaica as the most homophobic place in the world.

In March 2009 Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding declared:

We are not going to yield to the pressure, whether that pressure comes from individual organisations, individuals, whether that pressure comes from foreign governments or group of countries, to liberalise the law as it relates to buggery.

Action you can take:

Write an email/letter of protest to the Jamaican ambassador in your country.

Ask your MP, MEP or Congressman to write in protest to the Jamaican PM.

Ask your elected politicians to make sure your country/the European Union’s trade deals and aid are conditional on Jamaica’s repeal of anti-gay laws and that a firm commitment be made by the Jamaican authorities to protect the lgbt community from violence.

Boycott the island as a tourist destination and tell the Jamaican Tourist Board why you’re not going on holiday to the country.

Raise awareness and seek support among friends and family.

Flag Youtube’s videos entitled ‘Boom Bye Bye’ for containing material that promotes hatred and violence against gays.

Boycott Jamaica

2009-11-07T12:33:00.000-08:00

I found a very nice posting in favour of a boycott of Jamaica in a blog called The Unspeakable Truth. It's entitled Boycott Against Institutionalized Bigotry

A global struggle

2009-10-18T03:43:00.000-07:00

I thought I would link to a beautiful lecture delivered by lgbt activist Peter Thatchell who takes stock of the current situation of lgbt rights around the world:
The global struggle for queer freedom

And I would like to make a little consideration prompted by the word 'global'. The struggle for gay rights is indeed a 'global' one as Peter Tachell defines it. It's global because we human beings don't live in a vacuum, we're all interrelated, what is generally created in a specific area of the world can have effects in others - look at international terrorism and the relation between the destruction of the rainforest and global warming, just to name a couple.

Recently in Italy, Prime Minister Berlusconi has finally bowed to international pressure and answered the 10 questions put to him by a national Italian newspaper which asked the PM to answer concerns regarding his relationship with whom appeared at the time to be an under-age girl. The PM's initial reaction to the questions being put was one of a disputable claim to privacy, a call to conspiracy, an attack on the 'communist' newspaper and intimidation and abuse of journalists. There is no doubt that the consistent backing of the international media, which have rallied round the Italian paper concerned, have helped to bring home the result - a belated, elusive and indirect reply from Mr. Berlusconi to the 10 questions.

A second scandal which saw the Italian Premier inviting escorts, sometimes through state flights, to his Sardinian residence has raised the issue of the PM being liable to blackmail and consequently the issue of domestic and international safety (some of the escorts were foreign nationals, so Mr. Berlusconi may have unwittingly put the safety of the Italian state at risk, but at the same time Italy happens to be part of the European Union and a NATO country). Everything is interlocked.

But getting back to the LGBT rights issue, even when no link of cause and effect or emphatic relation can be foreseen between the human rights, say, people in the UK enjoy and the deprivation of human rights in, say, Uganda, there's an imperative which is dictated by the fact that we all share a commonality - we're all human beings, in whichever part of the world we may happen to live. And as human beings we relate to the pain of suffering injustice, cruelty and discrimination, no matter what the colour of our skin, the belief of our religion or the geographic coordinates we're under.
To that cry of pain we cannot but answer.

Appeal for release of Senegalese men convicted of homosexuality

2009-08-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

Please click on the link below to use an online system which will allow you to write to the Senegalese authorities, asking them to release the men arrested and convicted for homosexuality, including a 17-year-old awaiting trial. Senegal must end the pattern of systemic persecution against perceived sexual minorities by repealing Article 319. Please take a moment to view and sign IGLHRC's action alert. (http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1870/t/9644/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1356)The mission of International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is advancing human rights for everyone, everywhere to end discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. A non-profit, non-governmental organization, IGLHRC is based in New York, with offices in Cape Town and Buenos Aires. Visit http://www.iglhrc.org/ for more information.

New Delhi High Court rules ban on gay sex unconstitutional

2009-08-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

Time for an update. I thought it would be nice to insert a good piece of news in a blog which is otherwise fraught with sad facts. So it is with great pleasure that I announce that on 2nd of July the New Delhi High Court has ruled unconstitutional the country's ban on gay sex, on the grounds that it deprives people of their dignity thus contravening the rights safeguarded by the Indian constitution. Religious groups were up in arms, surprise surprise, and two petitions subsequently submitted to the Supreme Court against the lower court ruling have been rejected. The Supreme Court has decided to wait for the Government to express itself on the issue. And this is going to be the crux of the matter, because an initial timid hint on the part of the government at the intention of scrapping Section 377 (against consensual adult gay sex) was met with fierce opposition by religious groups, after which the government backtracked. So I can envisage a typical conandrum we can all be faced with in life - do we follow our principles, stick to what we think it's right? follow our conscience? do the right thing? or are we too scared to upset the status quo, lose support, face the repercussions? Time will tell. But in the meantime lets rejoice in what is certainly a sign of changing times.

IDAHO appeal against transphobia

2009-04-09T15:00:00.001-07:00

17th of May is the International Day Against Homophobia. IDAHO is the brainchild of monsieur Louis-Georges Tin, a writer and academic from Martinique who now lives in Paris. Louis-Georges Tin is also the editor of The Dictionary of Homophobia and most importantly the main engine behind the non-binding UN statement of 18.12.08 calling for a worldwide decriminalization of homophobia and subscribed by 66 countries. No, the Vatican didnt sign it, before you ask. And no, the US Bush adminstration didnt either (although Obama has now formally endorsed it) and lo and behold the Organization of the Islamic Conference (which comprises most Islamic countries, and in most of these countries as you know homosexuality is outlawed) opposed it. Now, getting back to IDAHO, it was founded in 2005 and four years later the day is officially recognised by UK, Belgium, France, the European Parliament and hopefully soon by many more countries. Every year a host of initiatives take place around the world to mark the International Day Against Homophobia. Here you will find a list of UK events. Also, this year the focus of IDAHO is the fight against transphobia. To this end an appeal will be made to the United Nations, the World Health Organization and all the States of the world to end the discrimination against trans people. Did you know, for example, that according to the W.H.O., trans people are considered to be 'mentally disordered'? Mind you, only in 1990 (on May 17th, hence the idea to commemorate the fight against homophobia on this day) was homosexuality removed by the W.H.O. from its list of mental illnesses.
Please sign the appeal.

Petition PM to stop deporting gays

2009-02-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

A petition set up by Reverend Walter Attwood urges the Prime Minister 'to stop deporting gays and lesbians to countries where they may be imprisoned, tortured or executed because of their sexuality'.

Last Spring Home Secretary Jaqui Smith was booed at London Gay Pride due to the Government's position on LGBT asylum seekers and specifically for stating that failed gay asylum seekers could safely return to their home countries as long as they were 'discreet'. Only last week a gay Iraqi asylum seeker was to be deported to Iraq because his original application back in 2001 did not state that he was gay. The UK Border Agency claimed that even if it was the case that the asylum seeker was indeed gay, it would be possible for him to be safe in his country as long as he was 'private' about his sexuality.

The Government policy towards gay asylum seekers flies in the face of authoritative reports by the UN and Human Rights Watch which detail the harrowing conditions experienced by gay people in countries like Iran and Iraq (please see the Country Focus section for more details).

Being 'descreet' is a tall order in countries where gays are persecuted like criminals for their sexual orientation - hunted down through internet entrapment and raids into private houses/parties, and delated to the authorities by fellow gay people forced to confess the names of their aquaintances under torture. In every country that criminalizes homosexuality, blackmail is also an easy enough weapon in the hands of corrupt officials or unscrupulous citizens looking for a bribe. Being 'discreet' also seem to reinforce, albeit indirectly, an idea prevalent in homophobic countries - but in this case oddily perpetuated by a 'champion of civil liberties' such as the UK - that gay people are indeed a menace to the moral order of a nation and should be thus persecuted like criminals. Like criminals, they will only be safe as long as they remain underground.

On a positive note, the European Commission has just last week made clear that persecution on account of sexual orientation is a legitimate ground for an asylum claim. We heartily hope that this may have an impact on European states' future asylum policy. There's light at the end of the tunnel.

The deadline for signing up to the petition is 7th of March 2009, please hurry up. Thanks.

Safe Houses

2009-02-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

Iraqi LGBT is a UK-based group which supports the rights of gay Iraqis. They are currently running a Safe Houses campaign in order to raise funds to help maintain houses in Iraq where gay people who are being exterminated by the current government can seek refuge. They also help gay people to flee the country and get protection from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Check their website for more info www.iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com. Also find out more on the dire situation faced by gay Iraqis under the Country Focus section of this blog.

Please help them carry out their 'vital' (never word was more appropriate) work. Thanks.

Evil Lies

2009-02-04T09:27:00.000-08:00

Click on the picture to enlarge it

Evil lies (dedicated to Mahmoud and Ayaz).

In fields of gold you’re walking hand in hand,
god lovingly follows you with his eyes,
dry your tears, it was pure evil lies.

PS I do not necessarily think there is a god, this is a poetic licence as it were lol, I'm just trying to make a point that if there is one, I'm sure it doesn't discriminate against people of any kind and loves everyone equally.

Magic Oprah's spiritual take on gay rights

2009-01-25T13:13:00.000-08:00

At the end of a programme presumably entirely dedicated to the condition of gays around the world, Oprah Winfrey gives her personal take on gay rights, or just simply human rights, or even more simply still, human beings. For the sake of clarity we may be talking of gay rights, but it is a distinction which is fictitious and artificial to some extent, in that we are one, as Oprah points out. There's one human being, whatever the religion, the colour of the skin, the political opinion, the national origin, the sexual orientation and sexual identity or gender. If I interpret Oprah's words correctly, these distinctions and manifestations of diversity are all delusions of the self, the ego, which sets artificial boundaries between himself/herself and the others. But the truth is we're all one. I just thought Oprah's novel new-agey way of looking at gay/human rights was quite cool. You go girl! Check out what Oprah has to say on human beings here: Oprah on gay rights and human beings and do check out the very nice specimen of human being sitting next to her, Mr. John Amaechi, the first NBA player to come out.