A report on Emirates 24/7 this morning says the The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has been called on to ensure implementation of new orders on homosexuality and girls who adopt masculine appearances.

The newspaper quotes the ‘Sharq’ Arabic language paper on the announcement: “Instructions have been issued to all public schools and universities to ban the entry of gays and tom boys and to intensify their efforts to fight this phenomenon, which has been promoted by some websites.”

Neither paper states who issued the instruction but Emirates 24/7 said the students would be able to attend school only if they “stopped such practices”.

Saudi Arabia operates a system of Shari’ah law and punishes homosexuality with sentences of corporal and capital punishment.

In 2010, Saudi prince Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud was sentenced to at least 20 years in prison for murdering his assistant, Bandar Abdulaziz, in a luxury London hotel. The court heard the attack had a “sexual” element and that the prince had used male escorts in the past.

In early 2011, Stephen Comiskey, a 36-year-old British man, was arrested and beaten in Saudi Arabia by religious police when they discovered he was gay.

Threatened with beheading, he spent six months under a media blackout uncertain whether he would face the death penalty. He says he was tricked by religious police who sent him a text message pretending to be a friend. It was later suggested that Mr Comiskey had been targeted as revenge for the case of the gay prince convicted in the UK the previous year.

Source: Pink News

Males who appear to be gay, transsexual or effeminate will no longer be allowed on Malaysian television or radio.

In a Facebook message the Department of Information said such ‘characters’ went against social and religious norms, and were contributing to the rising support for the LGBT movement.

The message, posted today (6 April), said: ‘Effective immediately, radio and television stations have been asked to stop programmes that broadcast characters [depicting] ‘pondans’ (transsexuals), effeminate men as well as characters that are in conflict with social and religious norms because they can be said to be in support of and contributing to the increase of the LGBT social problem.’

The decision comes after the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia told a national conference two days ago (4 April) that LGBT people needed counselling.

'The symptoms of sexual orientation disorder like LGBT, which was previously faced by the Western society are now faced in our society also,' said Deputy PM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at the opening speech of the four-day conference. 'I believe that through an effective counselling approach, we will be able to curb this negative phenomenon from spreading in our community.'

According to progressive action site Free Malaysia Today, the Facebook message has already gained a fair amount of support.

Facebook user Afzal Mohamad said: ‘The government should have banned programmes like this from before. They don’t bring any benefit at all. They’re shameful and enliven these groups.’

It is not clear whether the message was commissioned by a department official or from Minister for Information, Communications and Culture Rais Yatim.

The decision from the Department of Information and the Deputy PM's speech is the latest in a series of state-sanctioned homophobic initiatives. Two weeks ago an MP called for gay 'rehab' centres to be set up to 'combat' homosexuality.

Source: Gay Star News

Gay plight

The plight of Ugandan homosexuals has been grabbing international headlines for years. In 2009 the country’s parliament introduced a bill that would make some homosexual acts punishable by death, and would make it a crime not to report gays and lesbians to the police. Last year, gay activist David Kato was murdered in his home.

But despite everything, gay activists say that living openly in Uganda is actually these days than it was before. They are ferociously fighting the controversial bill, from which the death penalty clause has reportedly been removed. And in terms of public opinion, they say, things are looking up.

Change

Lesbian rights activist Joanitah Abang says the debate surrounding homosexuality in Uganda has made people more open-minded. Even some politicians are starting to support their cause, she says, although most will not yet say so publicly.

“Even some people in the mainstream, in government, are beginning to understand," said Abang. "Of course, those in government will tell you, ‘I will talk to you, I will support you, but don’t mention me anywhere.’ People are willing to know, and people are beginning to accept.”

Bishop Christopher Senyonjo agrees. He is one of the only religious leaders in this conservatively Christian country to publicly support homosexual rights, and has been counseling gay and lesbian youth for over 10 years. 

Senyonjo was rejected by his Anglican church for refusing to condemn homosexuality. But, he says, some of his colleagues have been inspired by his example, even if - like politicians - they will not say so in public.

“Some religious people who are my friends, they say, ‘Christopher, we know what you are doing. We support you.’  And that’s why I’m trying to have more dialogue, even with those religious leaders,” he said.

Sexual Minorities Uganda

Frank Mugisha, head of a Kampala-based NGO called Sexual Minorities Uganda, attributes some of this progress to continuing international pressure to recognize homosexual rights.  Over the past few years, he says, this pressure has changed the language used by Ugandan politicians.

“For example, the president of Uganda has shifted from the notion where he would say that there are no homosexuals in Uganda, to kill them if you see them, to now saying that homosexuals were here and they were not being persecuted," said Mugisha. "And I see that as an effect of the international pressure, having to talk to them or to bring up the issue every time they meet with our politicians.”

As a result, says Abang, it has become easier for the homosexual community to participate in public events, such as a march several weeks ago in which several dozen gay activists walked the streets brandishing posters.  She says that under the watchful eye of the international community, police are no longer likely to arrest them at public demonstrations.

“Because you can imagine a number of people walking on the road and you come and arrest them - definitely it’s homophobia," said Abang. "So I think that as much as they want to do more in order to stop us, they are also scared of what the repercussions would be.”

Western pressure

But, she adds, not all forms of Western pressure have been helpful.  British Prime Minister David Cameron declared last year that he would cut aid to countries that did not respect gay rights, a statement that was intensely criticized by many Africans who saw it as an attempt to impose European cultural values on them. According to Abang, this type of statement from a Western leader actually hurts Uganda’s homosexual community.

“I think that was very wrong, because there will be a lot of backlash," said Abang. "And for me it was also wrong because I belong to the wider community. That money that reconstructs the roads, helps build hospitals - I also use those hospitals. I use those roads.”

In terms of public opinion, more gains have been made by Ugandan activists themselves, says Mugisha. If homophobia is on the decline, it is thanks to local civil society organizations like his.

“The advocacy work is effective, because when Ugandans hear other Ugandans speaking out, it is very, very much more effective," said Mugisha. "So that has worked.”

As a result, Ugandan gay activists are becoming bolder. Last month, Sexual Minorities Uganda filed a lawsuit against American evangelical pastor Scott Lively in a U.S. federal court, accusing Lively of whipping up anti-gay hysteria in Uganda that inspired the anti-homosexuality bill. 

Such acts, says Mugisha, are a violation of international law. He hopes that if Lively is convicted, it will send a message both at home and abroad that exporting homophobia is unacceptable.

But even if Kampala is becoming an easier place for homosexuals to live, things outside the capital and other major cities are just as bad as before, says Mugisha.

“It is very difficult for people up-country, because now that is where there is a deep-rooted religion. People get arrested and harassed a lot more," said Mugisha. "When I talk to people in the rural areas, they are like, ‘How do you do it?  Aren’t you scared that they would kill you or beat you?’ Because I think that’s their fear. They think that could happen to them if they are out.”

Long way to go

Despite their optimism, gay and lesbian activists agree that there is still a long way to go before homosexuals will be officially tolerated in Uganda. But as for Bishop Senyonjo, he says he is gratified to see that at least some of his work has been paying off.

“I know some of these young people who say to me, ‘If you didn’t help us, we were contemplating committing suicide.’ I am happy to see them alive. I’m really happy.”

Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill is still before parliament. Although it enjoys strong support from legislators, President Yoweri Museveni has distanced himself from the bill, saying it hurts Uganda’s image abroad.

Source: VOA News

There are no specific laws against homosexuality in Turkey, but out gay men are unwelcome in Turkey’s armed forces, giving them little incentive to fulfil the role their country requires of them.

Armagan Kuloglu, a retired Turkish army general, told the BBC that openly gay men in the army would cause “disciplinary problems” and create a disruptive and expensive need for “separate facilities, separate dormitories, showers, training areas”.

He added: “When someone comes out and says he is gay, then the army needs to make sure that he is truly gay, and not simply lying to evade his mandatory duty to serve in the military.”

To this end, gay men hoping for an exemption certificate on the grounds of homosexuality (a “pink certificate”) claim they have been forced to submit such things to their commanders as explicit photographs of themselves engaging in sex with another man. One ex-conscript handed over such pictures and received his exemption, but said the experience was humiliating and potentially left him open to blackmail: ” . . . somebody holds those photographs. They can show them at my village, to my parents, my relatives.”

The exemption certificate reads: “psychosexual disorder”, and next to that, in brackets, “homosexuality”.

Turkey’s military hospitals still define homosexuality as an illness, as defined in a 1968 version of a document by the American Psychiatric Association.

Source: Pink News

The Petoskey News-Review and WPBN-TV report the American Indian tribe would be the first in Michigan and among a few nationwide to legalize gay marriages if the amendment is adopted.

Most of the about 4,000 people in the tribe live in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula. If the measure is approved, at least one of partner would have to be a member of the tribe. The idea was initially encouraged by two tribal citizens in a letter to the tribal council urging consideration of an amendment.

The proposal currently is in a public comment period. The current tribal constitution defines marriage as between “one man and one woman.”

Source: CBS News

Students in Western Australia have responded in a national survey to say that teachers often ignore cases of homophobic bullying as they do not have the support needed for this specific form of bullying.

Equal Opportunity Commissioner Yvonne Henderson said research showed a bullying policy for homophobic behaviour is required to deal with the issue rather than a general policy.

“The survey shows students feel safer in schools with specific sexuality and gender-based bullying policies in place. However, few schools in WA have a specific policy,” Henderson said.

“Anecdotally, these students said many teachers chose to ignore this specific type of bullying because they didn't know how to handle it.”

The national survey by the La Trobe University’s researchers in sexual health and society found that 80 per cent of homophobic bullying occurred in schools.

Meanwhile in Western Australia the Barnett Government is preparing the first guidelines in Australia to assist mining and resource companies reduce the possible impacts from risk taking behaviour amongst miners.

The state’s AIDS Council has expressed an increasing concern to the behaviours of fly-in, fly-out miners and is requesting all companies have condom vending machines available at all camps.

Western Australia AIDS Council executive director, Trish Langdon, said sexual activity between members of the same-sex still occurred despite those involved not identifying as gay.

“There is the sex between men and women and there is also what I call the Brokeback moment,” Langdon said.

“We know a lot of companies do not necessarily want to address this. They say ‘this is their private time and we don't tell our employees what to do’.

“But there are responsibilities when you put people into situations far from home ... People can live without sex but it is unsustainable, I think, for employers to think that if you want these young, strong, virile, risk-taking employees ... that they’re not going to say ‘Well actually, sex is part of our life and we want it’.”

Langdon said the companies have introduced advanced sexual health policies for Australians working overseas but have yet to introduce similar policies for those working in Australia.

A set of voluntary guidelines are soon to be released by the state’s health department which recognises the increased risk of sexually transmitted infections particularly with regular flights to South East Asia from the Australian camps.

Source: Gay News Network

The lawyer for the two men, identified as Jonas and Franky, called for their release.

"They will present guarantees to assure you that they will respond regularly to summons from the court," Michel Togue said at the appeals court in Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital.

The two men, jeered by a crowd outside, were driven back to prison.

"There is prejudice here," the lawyer said.

The judge adjourned the case to April 20 to consider the call for their release.

The pair and another man were sentenced to five years in jail in November and ordered to pay a 300-euro ($395) fine. The third man was not present during the trial in November and did not figure in the appeal hearing on Friday.

Two women on trial for having intercourse with a person of the same sex pleaded not guilty Thursday as their lawyers sought an annulment over alleged rights abuses.

Source: Pretoria News

On March 8, 2012, the Interior Ministry, in an official statement, dismissed reports by local activists and media of a campaign against those seen as emo. The ministry said the reports were “fabricated” and “groundless,” and that it would take action against people who were trying “to highlight this issue and build it out of proportion.” An official ministry statement, on February 13, that characterized emo culture as “Satanist” cast doubt on the government’s willingness to protect vulnerable youth, the international rights groups said.

“The government has contributed to an atmosphere of fear and panic fostered by acts of violence against emos,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of claiming that the accounts are fabricated, Iraqi authorities need to set up a transparent and independent inquiry to address the crisis.”

The campaign’s victims appear to represent a cross-section of people seen locally as non-conformists. They include people suspected of homosexual conduct, but also people with distinctive hairstyles, clothes, or musical taste. In English, “emo” is short for “emotional,” referring to self-identified teens and young adults who listen to alternative rock music, often dress in black, close-fitting clothes, and cut their hair in unconventional ways. People perceived to be gay, lesbian, transgender, or effeminate are particularly vulnerable.

Iraqi human rights activists told the three organizations that in early February, signs and fliers appeared in the Baghdad neighborhoods of Sadr City, al-Hababiya, and Hay al-‘Amal that threatened people by name with “the wrath of god” unless they cropped their hair short, gave up wearing so-called “satanic clothing” – styles critics associate with emos, metal music, and rap – hide their tattoos, and “maintain complete manhood.” Other names appeared on similar posters in different neighborhoods.

One such sign, seen by the international rights groups, was posted on a wall in Sadr City, and read, “In the name of God the compassionate, the merciful, we warn every male and female in the strongest terms to stop their dirty deeds in four days before the wrath of God strikes them through the hands of mujahedin.” This poster listed 33 names and was decorated with images of two handguns.

Since February the three international rights groups have received information from local human rights groups, community activists, and media about numerous deaths of youth. Some local media reports have put the death toll as high as several dozen. The international rights groups have not been able to confirm that people have been killed as part of an organized campaign.

A 26-year old man from Mosul told the rights groups that unknown assailants killed two members of his heavy metal band on March 8 because of their appearance. He said, “We don’t know who is behind this now, but for a long time, people have been accusing us of being Satanists. So this is not new, but now it has become murderous.”

While it is unclear who is behind the attacks and intimidation, Iraqi media reports have fueled the campaign by characterizing what they call the “emerging emo phenomenon,” as Satanists, vampires, immoral, and un-Islamic, the groups said. Some clerics and politicians have also contributed to the demonization of emo youth. On March 10 the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called emos “crazy fools” and a “lesion on the Muslim community” in an online statement, but also maintained that they should be dealt with “within the law.”

Documents received by the international rights groups indicate that the Education Ministry in August 2011 circulated a memo that recommended schools curb the spread of emo culture, which it called “an infiltrated phenomenon in our society.”

The Interior Ministry’s February 13 statement on its website characterized emos as “Satanists” who constitute a danger to Iraqi society. The statement also indicated that the ministry was seeking approval from the Education Ministry for “an integrated plan that would let them [police] enter all the schools in the capital.” On February 29 the Interior Ministry released another statement in which it announced a campaign against emo culture in Baghdad, particularly in the Khadimiya neighborhood, where they identified one shop that sold “emo clothing and accessories.”

After widespread media coverage of the violence and intimidation against emos, the Interior Ministry toned down its language in the March 8 statement, warning “radical and extremist groups attempting to stand as protectors for morals and religious traditions from any conduct against people based on a fashion, dress or haircut.” The ministry denied that any emos had been killed and threatened “necessary legal actions against those who try to highlight this issue and build it out of proportion.”

On March 14 security forces in Baghdad detained for three hours the film crew of Russia Today’s Arabic TV channel, Rusiya al-Yaum, as they tried to film a segment related to the attacks on emos. Security forces confiscated their footage even though the channel had a permit to film in downtown Baghdad.

A report by Al-Sharqiya TV on March 7 said that men in civilian clothes brutally beat two young women in public in al-Mansour district because of their “fashionable clothing.”

People perceived to be gay, lesbian, transgender, and effeminate men told the rights groups that they feel particularly vulnerable. In 2009 Human Rights Watch, IGLHRC, and Amnesty Internationaldocumented a pattern of torture and murder by Iraqi militias against men suspected of same-sex conduct or of not being "manly" enough. Iraqi authorities did nothing to stop those killings. Iraqis perceived to be gay, lesbian, or transgender live in fear because of the atrocities committed as part of the 2009 campaign. Many members of the community have gone underground.

A 22-year-old gay man in Baghdad told the international rights groups that anonymous callers made death threats on his phone on March 11. The callers described a friend of his whom they had kidnapped and brutally beaten days earlier, saying that was how they got his number. They told him that he would be next. He has since cut his hair and does not leave his house for fear of being targeted.

“When the news started spreading about emos, the threats and violence against gays increased,” he said. “They are grouping us all together, anyone who is different in any way, and we are very easy targets.”

On March 15 the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project, a non-profit organization that provides legal assistance and safe passage to Iraqis facing severe persecution, told the international rights groups that in the past week it had conducted interviews with 23 young Iraqis, most of whom had cut their hair short and were in hiding after receiving death threats and harassment because they were perceived to belong to the emo or LGBT communities. The interviewees also reported that 10 others perceived to be in those communities had been killed since mid-February.

“The Iraqi Ministry of Interior’s inaction and denial of the ongoing campaign to punish people seen as non-conformists threatens everyone who is different, including those who defy traditional notions of gender and sexuality,” said Jessica Stern, director of programs at IGLHRC. "The government needs to ensure the safety of all Iraqis, not amplify the threats against those already being targeted." 

Unlike the 2009 killings, the recent campaign has generated strong condemnation within Iraq. A statement by Ayatollah Ali Sistani, a leading Shia spiritual leader, who referred to the targeted killings of emo youth in Iraq as a threat to the nation’s peace and order, was a positive development, the groups said. According to Ayatollah Sistani's representative in Baghdad, Shaikh Abd al-Rahim al-Rikabi, "those targeted killings are terrorist acts."

On March 8 several members of the Iraqi parliament demanded a police investigation into the killings and unequivocally condemned the violence. The parliament speaker, Usama Najaifi, said in March 13 statement that the “phenomena of assassinating some young people – those who are described as Emo – by some groups in the name of reforming society, entrenches a culture of violence and terror … and [is] a violation of law and a crime.”

“At best the response of the Iraqi Interior Ministry is completely inadequate, at worst it condones the violence against emo youth,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Amnesty International. “Iraqi authorities should unequivocally condemn the attacks, investigate any killings, and protect anyone in danger.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

Earlier this month the court had asked for the numbers during a hearing on the decriminalisation of gay sex in India.

A 2009 Delhi High Court ruling that decriminalised same-sex relationships is being challenged.

Many political, social and religious groups want the 19th Century colonial-era law reinstated.

The figures filed by the Ministry of Health were compiled by India's National Aids Control Programme.

The Aids programme has already reached 200,000 men in same-sex relationships and the hope is to raise that number to 400,000.

The prevalence of HIV in the group is 6.54%-7.23%.

But overall, the number of HIV-infected people in India is just 0.2% of the population as the country's Aids control programme has been successful in reducing the number of new infections.

'Homework'

Last month, the Supreme Court criticised the government for its shifting stand on the issue of decriminalising gay sex.

This was after a senior government lawyer, PP Malhotra, told the court that homosexuality was unnatural and immoral.

Within hours, the home ministry disowned the lawyer's statement and said he had read from an out-of-date file.

The health ministry then stated that it supported the 2009 Delhi High Court order decriminalising gay sex.

Judges GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhyaya criticised the government for not doing its "homework" on the case and ordered the government to provide a count of the country's homosexual population for the next hearing.

"You should have done your homework before coming to the court," they told an official.

The 2009 ruling decriminalising gay sex was welcomed by India's gay community, which said the judgement would help protect them from harassment and persecution.

Many people in India still regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate, but rights groups have long argued that the law contravened human rights.

Section 377 of the colonial Indian Penal Code defined homosexual acts as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and made them illegal.

But the Delhi High Court said the law was discriminatory and gay sex between consenting adults should not be treated as a crime. Until the high court ruling, homosexual acts were punishable by a 10-year prison term.

Source: BBC News

The lawsuit alleges that beginning in 2002, Mr. Lively conspired with religious and political leaders in Uganda to whip up anti-gay hysteria with warnings that homosexuals would sodomize African children and corrupt their culture.

The Ugandan legislature considered a bill in 2009, proposed by one of Mr. Lively’s Ugandan contacts, that would have imposed the death sentence for homosexual behavior. That bill was at first withdrawn after an outcry from the United States and European nations that are among major aid donors to Uganda, but a revised bill was reintroduced last month.

Mr. Lively is being sued by the organization Sexual Minorities Uganda under the alien tort statute, which allows foreigners to sue in American courts in situations alleging the violation of international law. The suit claims that Mr. Lively’s actions resulted in the persecution, arrest, torture and murder of homosexuals in Uganda.

Reached by telephone in Springfield, Mass., where he now runs “Holy Grounds Coffee House,” a storefront mission and coffee shop, Mr. Lively said he had not been served and did not know about the lawsuit. However, he said: “That’s about as ridiculous as it gets. I’ve never done anything in Uganda except preach the Gospel and speak my opinion about the homosexual issue. There’s actually no grounds for litigation on this.”

Mr. Lively is the founder and president of “Abiding Truth Ministries.” He is also the author of “The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party,” which claims that Nazism was a movement inspired by homosexuals, and “Seven Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child,” a guide to prevent what he calls indoctrination by homosexuals.

He has traveled to Uganda, Latvia and Moldova to warn Christian clergy there to defend their countries against what he says is an onslaught by gay rights advocates based in the West.

Pamela C. Spees, a lawyer for the Ugandan group, works with the Center for Constitutional Rights, a liberal legal advocacy group based in New York City. Ms. Spees said that since homosexuals in Uganda have little support, the lawsuit “brings the fight” to those in the United States who she says fomented the anti-gay legislation in Uganda. She says that the lawsuit is targeted at Mr. Lively’s actions, not his religious speech or beliefs.

“This is not just based on his speech. It’s based on his conduct” she said. “Belief is one thing, but actively trying to harm and deprive other people of their rights is the definition of persecution.”

Mr. Lively is one of many conservative American evangelicals who were active in Uganda and who decried the legislation when it included the death penalty. Ms. Spees said the lawsuit singles him out because “his role was critical.”

Mr. Lively posted a report after his visit to Uganda in 2009 describing how he addressed groups of lawyers, members of Parliament, universities, secondary schools and Christian leaders about “the ‘gay’ agenda,” and spoke at a three-day conference.

Frank Mugisha, of Sexual Minorities Uganda, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, said on a conference call on Wednesday that before these events in 2009, homosexuals were “looked at as different,” but that “no one bothered them.”

But after Mr. Lively’s speeches, said Mr. Mugisha, “People were being reported to the police as homosexuals, were thrown out by their families or thrown out by the church.”

The lawsuit names four Ugandan co-conspirators: Stephen Langa and Martin Ssempa, evangelists active in the anti-gay movement; David Bahati, the legislator who sponsored the anti-homosexual bill; and James Buturo, the former minister of ethics and a proponent of the legislation.

Informed of the lawsuit against Mr. Lively, Mr. Buturo said in an interview on Wednesday, “I don’t know that person at all.” However, Mr. Lively said in his report that he had a half-hour meeting with Mr. Buturo in 2009.

Source: New York Times