Tag Archives: homosexuality

Reuters reports: Iraq’s official media regulator on Tuesday ordered all media and social media companies operating in the Arab state not to use the term “homosexuality” and instead to say “sexual deviance,” the regulator said. The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) said in a statement that the use of the term “gender” was also banned. It prohibited all phone …

The Texas Tribune reports: A promising Democratic push to repeal Texas’ defunct ban on gay sex has fizzled after the lower chamber ran out of time to consider House Bill 2055 on Thursday. In June 2003, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas struck down the state’s criminalization of gay sex. Sessions after sessions since then, Texas …

Forbes reports: Over the past thirty years, 49 UN member States have decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual acts, according to a new database by ILGA World. However, laws criminalizing being gay remain a reality for one-third of countries worldwide. It’s still illegal to be LGBTQ in 64 UN member States. In Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, the death …

Human Rights Watch reports: A bill introduced in Uganda’s Parliament criminalizing same-sex conduct and sexual and gender identity, if adopted, would violate multiple fundamental rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Among others, such a law would violate the rights to freedom of expression and association privacy, equality, and nondiscrimination. On March 9, 2023, Asuman Basalirwa, a member of parliament, introduced …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church. “Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis said during an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in …

Pink News reports: On Monday, 12 December, the High Court of Barbados further undid its colonial-era homosexuality laws by scrapping Sections 9 and 12 of the Barbados Sexual Offences Act. Also known as “buggery” and “serious indecency” laws, which criminalised consensual same-sex intimacy, punishment ranged from life imprisonment under Section 9, and up to 10 years in jail under Section …

Human Rights Watch reports: Vietnam’s Health Ministry officially confirmed that same-sex attraction and being transgender are not mental health conditions, Human Rights Watch said today. The decision brings Vietnam’s health policy in line with global health and human rights standards. Vietnam’s new directive states that “the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization (WHO) have confirmed that homosexuality is …

ABC News reports: Singapore announced Sunday it will decriminalize sex between men by repealing a colonial-era law while protecting the city-state’s traditional norms and its definition of marriage. During his speech at the annual National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he believed it is the “right thing to do now” as most Singaporeans will now accept it. …

Reuters reports: Namibia could soon scrap a colonial-era law that criminalises gay sex between men, the justice minister said on Friday, calling the legislation “outdated and discriminatory”. The law is rarely enforced in the Southern African country and is among several dozen laws that the government will consider abolishing following recommendations by a reform commission. “The LGBTQI community are human …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is considering cutting back on sharing intelligence with partner countries that criminalize homosexuality as part of a push by the acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, to prod those nations to change their laws. The intelligence community should be pushing American values with the countries it works with, Mr. Grenell said …

Coconuts Singapore reports: Members of Singapore’s LGBT community reacted with dismay today to word that gay sex remains a criminal offense after the high court dismissed three challenges to the antiquated law. The court’s reported ruling comes four months after the court heard arguments from attorneys representing three men: DJ Johnson Ong; a retired doctor named Roy Tan; and Bryan …

The Catholic News Service reports: Following consultations in Berlin last week, the chairman of the Marriage and Family Commission of the German bishops’ conference declared that the bishops agreed that homosexuality is a “normal form” of human sexual identity. “The sexual preference of man expresses itself in puberty and assumes a hetero or homosexual orientation,” Berlin’s Archbishop Heiner Koch [photo] …

ABC News reports: Authorities in Mauritania have arrested 10 men after a video appeared on social media of a gay couple appearing to take part in a traditional wedding ceremony, human rights groups said. Police later determined the gathering was a birthday party but the men remain in custody with no trial date set yet. Mauritania practices strict Islamic law …

Reuters reports: Gabon has passed a law against gay sex, becoming the 70th country to ban the practice, an official confirmed, as the global pace of reform falters. The central African country banned “sexual relations between people of the same sex” in a new penal code earlier this year, according to copies of the law online. A government official who …

Bloomberg News reports: The U.S. ambassador to Zambia said a high court ruling sentencing two men to 15 years in prison for homosexuality was horrifying. Ambassador Daniel Foote [photo] urged the government to reconsider laws that punish minority groups. “I was personally horrified to read yesterday about the sentencing of two men, who had a consensual relationship, which hurt absolutely …

CNN reports: Vice President Mike Pence once argued that homosexuality was a choice during his fight in the early 1990s against local efforts in Indiana to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. Pence’s opposition to LGBT equality has long drawn the scorn of gay rights activists and made him a champion of the Religious Right. But scrutiny of Pence’s record …

The New York Times reports: How do genes influence our sexuality? The question has long been fraught with controversy. An ambitious new study — the largest ever to analyze the genetics of same-sex sexual behavior — found that genetics does play a role, responsible for perhaps a third of the influence on whether someone has same-sex sex. The influence comes …

The Hill reports: The American Psychoanalytic Association apologized on Friday for previously labeling homosexuality a mental illness. “It is long past time to recognize and apologize for our role in the discrimination and trauma caused by our profession,” Lee Jaffe, the group’s president, said in a statement. “We all know that hearing the words ‘we are sorry’ is important to …

The Independent reports: Botswana has decriminalised homosexuality. The southern African nation’s High Court rejected sections of the penal code that criminalise same-sex relations and impose up to seven years in prison .Activists and rights groups cheered the unanimous ruling, which called the sections unconstitutional. High Court said in its ruling that penalising people for who they are is disrespectful, and …

Newsweek reports: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has claimed he was once gay but “cured” himself of homosexuality in controversial remarks made during a trip to Japan. According to Rappler, a Filipino news publication, Duterte mocked his political opponent Senator Antonio Trillanes IV by saying his movements show he is homosexual. Duterte also reportedly “confessed” that he was gay before he …