76 countries with anti-homosexuality laws (or 72 or 78) This week’s decision by the Belize Supreme Court to overturn that nation’s anti-sodomy law has shrunk the list of nations with anti-LGBT laws once again. By this blog’s tally, the total is now 76 countries with criminal laws against sexual activity. Or the total is 72 … Continue reading
Category Archives: Oceania
Is the world now a better place for LGBTI people?
Q. A journalist asked, “In the years that Erasing 76 Crimes has covered criminalization of queerness around the world, has the situation improved, stayed stagnant or gotten worse?” Here’s a quick, non-definitive answer: A. During my time publishing Erasing 76 Crimes, from 2012 to the present, the situation has been fluid — possibly improving, with … Continue reading
Nauru: Another country repeals anti-homosexuality law
The tiny Pacific island country of Nauru has repealed its law against same-sex intimacy, reducing the total number of countries with anti-homosexuality laws to 77 worldwide, by this blog’s count. By another count, the total is now 73 countries, according to an adjusted version of a list from ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans … Continue reading
92 nations formerly had anti-LGBT laws; now it’s 75 (or 79)
The number of countries with laws against same-sex sexual activity has dropped from 92 a decade ago to 75 today, according to tallies kept by ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. ILGA’s 2016 edition of its State-Sponsored Homophobia report, by Aengus Carroll, is being published today. The latest countries to repeal … Continue reading
Conservative Indonesians vs. LGBTI rights
LGBTI Indonesians often are at odds with conservative Muslims in their quest for recognition of their human rights. Those confrontations pose particular difficulties, because Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim population — more than 200 million, an estimated 95 percent of the total population. But many disputes beyond just faith-based ones are highlighted … Continue reading
Human rights in Oceania — lots of work to do
Much remains to be done to improve the human rights records of seven Pacific Ocean countries that still have laws against same-sex intimacy. In particular, LGBTI rights in those seven countries in Oceania are the focus of the following excerpts from the 2015 edition of the U.S. Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights … Continue reading
News in brief: Some bright spots, some trouble ahead
News items in this recap mostly were excerpted with slight modifications from two published round-ups of the world’s LGBTI-related news– UNAIDS’s Equal Eyes and ILGA’s LGBulleTIn. Trouble ahead: Brunei, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia Human rights activists in Brunei have expressed their concern over reports that the government is committed to implementing the second phase of the … Continue reading
20 LGBTI-related arrests in Egypt, Indonesia
EGYPT The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) reports that police in Egypt are continuing their anti-LGBTI crackdown, which has been under way since 2013. More than 100 allegedly LGBTI people are victims of this police harassment, which is part of a larger pattern of human rights abuses in Egypt: Egypt: Police … Continue reading
LGBTI news worldwide: From hope to troubles
News briefs about countries with anti-gay laws, excerpted with slight modifications from UNAIDS’s Equal Eyes recap of the world’s LGBTI-related news. Glimmers of hope In Russia, Dmitry Kiselyov, the head of state-controlled media, unexpectedly came out in favor of same-sex civil unions, despite previously expressing extreme anti-gay sentiments. Also in Russia, senator Konstantin Dobrynin suggests … Continue reading
Focus on anti-LGBTI stance of Kuwait, Kiribati
During the past year, Kuwait and tiny Kiribati were urged to improve their treatment of LGBTI citizens. That advice came when each of those countries’ human rights records came in for review by other United Nations members. Such reviews focus on dozens of countries each year as part of the U.N.’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) … Continue reading
