Peter Tatchell yesterday launched an attack on the Commonwealth for its homophobia and hypocrisy over human rights. Choosing IDAHO as a day to launch his attack, Tatchell noted that the Commonwealth Secretariat’s recent video preaching the virtues of respecting human rights was rather different from the reality as practised in most Commonwealth nations:
The Commonwealth is a bastion of global homophobia, often bucking the worldwide trend towards sexual orientation equality, with increased state-sanctioned threats and repression in Malawi, Uganda, The Gambia, Malaysia, Cameroon and Nigeria.
The 54 Commonwealth member states comprise one quarter of the UN membership and one third of all humanity. Forty-six of these Commonwealth countries still criminalise same-sex relations in all circumstances, with penalties including 25 years jail in Trinidad and Tobago and 20 years plus flogging in Malaysia. Several countries stipulate life imprisonment: Sierra Leone, Pakistan, Uganda, Tanzania and Bangladesh.
These 46 homophobic Commonwealth countries account for more than half of the 76 countries in the world that still have a total prohibition on homosexuality. http://tiny.cc/f2ixy
Nearly all the Commonwealth’s anti-gay laws are the poisonous legacy of British colonialism. They were originally imposed by the British government in the nineteenth century, during the period of colonial rule – and never repealed when the former colonies won their freedom. The post-independence leaders retained the homophobic mindset of their colonial masters. Nowadays, many of their countrymen and women absurdly proclaim that the legal proscription of homosexuality is an authentic expression of indigenous national culture and tradition.