Former British Colonies To Consider Legalizing Homosexuality

CANBERRA, Australia -- An official says leaders of former British Empire countries will be asked to legalize homosexuality next week.

Leaders of 53 countries meet in the Australian city of Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Australian delegate Michael Kirby told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Tuesday that the agenda includes a recommendation to legalize homosexuality.

Kirby says countries have a difficult time educating populations about safe sex while also banning gay sex. The countries represented at the summit account for 30 percent of world's population but 60 percent of AIDS cases.

Australian activist Rob Lake says most Commonwealth countries outlaw homosexuality and the response to the recommendation would test their human rights commitment.

Comments

[lambdin1]

10:32 AM on 10/18/2011

It is indeed about time! The world is changing!

[truth be told again]

10:00 AM on 10/18/2011

One of the OTHER articles (why does HuffPo have to have a half-dozen pieces on the same subject so often?) on this topic i headlined: "Former British colonies to consider axing gay laws", which is clearly a misnomer. It should read, 'Former British colonies to consider axing ANTI-gay laws".

Better 'axed' laws than axed gay people. (Which is the agenda of the 'religious' frightwing in America, who sponsored the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda.

[LoyalBob]

08:27 AM on 10/18/2011

Encouraging news.

[Valksy]

06:39 AM on 10/18/2011

About time. And those who fail to act should be booted out of the Commonwealth.

[GingerlyColors]

01:58 AM on 10/18/2011

Sadly the call to legalize homosexuality will not go down too well in some of the African countries and Jamaica where just the mention of it can lead to aggro. But this is the only way that progress can be made.

[truth be told again]

10:01 AM on 10/18/2011

It can - and often DOES - lead to MURDER, nevermind "aggro".

[mlkx]

12:27 AM on 10/18/2011

Most of the laws that criminalized homosexuality in these countries were put in place during colonial times by the British . . . it is only right and just that they now be taken out of the legal codes.

Good to see this move, hope it is carried through.

[angelcakesinc]

12:41 AM on 10/18/2011

Not necessarily, age of consent laws can get tricky and uneven if left unchecked. Hell, even in England the age of consent for gay sex was higher than for straight sex. I'd like to hear the explanation of THAT. I think it's been taken care of by now, though I'm not positive. Really equal is equal, and there's no rational reason why gay people should be treated differently than straight people! I wish some of these countries would realize this. But how can we expect backwater countries like that to come into the 21st century when America's fighting progress tooth and nail too? Sigh. When will we live in an age of logic and rationality, when major legal decisions are based on evidence and not mystical thinking and mythology?

[mlkx]

01:25 AM on 10/18/2011

These so called "backward countries" you speak of FOR THE MOST PART did not have laws making homosexuality criminal until British colonial times, when British laws were imposed on them and became part and parcel of future legal codes. (Age of consent is just one small aspect of such codes.) That is what this move is trying to deal with getting rid of.

I think if you read the histories and anthropologies of these former colonies, in pre-colonial periods many (not all) had very enlightened ways of thinking about gender and sexuality - which were completely disregarded when they were colonised.

[Asmodean1]

11:06 AM on 10/18/2011

I think I can explain the difference in age. A 13 or 14 yo boy is quite randy - at the drop of a hat. Ready and willing almost anywhere you can get 10 min of privacy. Ya can't do that with a girl - 90% of the time that is. Before you pounce, not all boys will do it, but with the right timing it can and does happen. Older teens and especially men understand. They were that age once too. These laws were wisely put into place for that reason. A 13yo can be fooled far easier than a 16. That three year difference is needed.

[Hans Struhar]

10:04 PM on 10/17/2011

it is 2012, and I believe more then 2000 years ago homosexuality was legal, did not Alexander the Great have a male lover, and in what century was homosexuality outlawed and why. It is here to stay so get over it. I do however believe that the law for consensual sex between persons of the same sex should be by each country as to what age.

[r henry]

10:21 AM on 10/18/2011

Yes, each country should be able to determine it's own consensual sex law but they should be the same as for heterosexuals.

[rsheeran]

09:44 PM on 10/17/2011

Legalize homosexuality? So now people can start being gay?

[Ioan Lightoller]

10:30 PM on 10/17/2011

There have always been gay people. This means that there will not be legal repercussions for being gay. Much healthier when people can be out of the closet.

[mlkx]

12:29 AM on 10/18/2011

Hey I like your new avatar. . . very regal!!!

[rsheeran]

06:00 AM on 10/18/2011

Laws have not made more or less gay people in the world. It was a rhetorical question. But thanks for playing.

[jmoser1973]

07:35 AM on 10/18/2011

it some countries you can face legal trouble if they are gay.

[truth be told again]

10:05 AM on 10/18/2011

Yes, like America. And Canada.

Sadly.