India to repeal gay sex ban, but legalize gay rape?
Crackdowns on gay sex and expression continue in Algeria, Ethiopia, and Malaysia
Several countries introduced bills in the last few days that would expand LGBT rights.
India’s government has introduced a series of bills to replace and update its colonial-era Penal Code. The proposed new code removes the provision against gay sex that was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2018, but also apparently leaves no provisions to criminalize same-sex rape. The new code also will include a provision against hate-motivated mob violence, although hatred against LGBT people is not specifically mentioned as a defining cause.
A legislator in Mexico’s Oaxaca state has introduced a bill to legalize same-sex couple adoption. Oaxaca is one of the ten Mexican states that has not yet updated its laws/regulations/processes to permit same-sex couples to adopt, even though the Supreme Court has ruled that barring couples from adopting is unconstitutional. The left-wing MORENA party has an absolute majority of the state congress (although the bill has been introduced by the PT) and together they ought to have the votes to pass the bill.
Meanwhile, anti-LGBT groups in Mexico are protesting school text books that they claim are inappropriate because they mention families headed by same-sex couples (in Spanish, they have the word “homoparental” for this).
The government of Australia’s New South Wales state has pledged to introduce legislation to ban anti-LGBT “conversion therapy” later this month. It would be the fourth of Australia’s eight states and territories to ban the practice.
We’re in a bit of a season of crackdowns on gay sex and gay expression around the world right now.
Ethiopia’s authorities have begun a crackdown on same-sex relations in hotels.
Algeria’s government censors have temporarily suspended all programming from the local Salam TV channel after it broadcast a scene from a same-sex marriage, which the government labelled “inconsistent with the Islamic religion and the morals of Algerian society.”
Meanwhile, British rock band The 1975 is being sued by a music festival in Malaysia which was forced to be cancelled by government authorities after 1975 lead singer Matty Healy kissed a man on stage to protest the country’s anti-LGBT laws during the July 21 concert in Kuala Lumpur. The Good Vibes Festival is seeking $2 million in damages, alleging that the band breached its contractual obligation to ‘adhere to local guidelines and regulations.’ The Malaysian government has also escalated its fight with Swiss watchmaker Swatch, saying that anyone owning or selling the brand’s Pride flag-themed watches could be punished with up to three years in prison.
Malaysia’s current Prime Minister has twice been convicted on sodomy charges, and sees no irony in his government’s ongoing crackdown on gay rights advocacy.
As a reminder, I’m on vacation with spotty internet access this week, but will try to get out at least one more update. But if I don’t get back before next week, it’s also worth watching out for national elections happening on Sunday in Ecuador and Guatemala. Guatemala’s presidential election is already being pitched as a battle over same-sex marriage between an anti-LGBT conservative and a softer liberal, although both candidates have said they oppose same-sex marriage and the president wouldn’t have the power to enact it anyway. But it may be an interesting barometer of the salience of the issue to Guatemalan voters.