gay men - The African Mirror

Jan

2022

Britain extends pardons to all men convicted under scrapped gay sex laws

RACHEL SAVAGE GAY and bisexual British men convicted over any consensual same-sex relations under now-abolished laws will be able to have their convictions removed from the public record, the government said on Tuesday. The announcement extends a programme launched a decade ago that granted pardons to gay men convicted of "buggery", "gross indecency" and "sodomy". It will now cover all other convictions related to consensual same-sex sexual activity. Home Secretary Priti Patel said the move was aimed at "righting the wrongs of the past". "It is only right that where offences have been abolished, convictions for consensual activity between same-sex…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

LGBT+ Afghans left behind say world turned its back on them

LGBT+

HUGO GREENHALGH LGBT+ Afghans said on Friday they felt abandoned by the international community as the closure of Kabul airport to passengers this week shattered their hopes of fleeing Taliban rule. Many LGBT+ people have gone into hiding since the Islamist militia seized power last month, fearing a return to the group's harsh 1996-2001 rule when it enforced a radical form of sharia or Islamic law. "(Foreign governments) should have helped us to get out of here," one gay student said by phone from Kabul, after trying unsuccessfully to board one of the last evacuation flights out of the country last week.…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Ugandan court frees dozens of gay men

NEWS

A court in Uganda has granted bail to 39 people, most of them gay men, held for days after what police said was a raid on a same-sex wedding that violated coronavirus rules, but which a rights group described as a round-up at an LGBT shelter. Frank Mugisha, Executive Director of rights group Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMU), told Reuters 17 of the men had been subjected to rectal examinations in police custody, in what he called a "witch hunt against the LGBT community". Police spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire denied that the arrests were linked to the sexuality of the people who…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly canes two gay men

WORLD

AUTHORITIES in Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly caned six people accused of breaching Islamic law, including two men who received 77 lashes for having a same-sex relationship, in a punishment Human Rights Watch called “public torture”. Aceh is the only province in majority-Muslim Indonesia to follow Islamic law, and this was the third such caning since Aceh outlawed homosexuality in 2014. The province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, also imposes caning for crimes such as theft, gambling and adultery. A hooded religious police officer carried out Thursday’s floggings, watched by a crowd wearing face masks. One of the men…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

New Zealand, Britain ease rules on blood donations by gay men

LGBT+

RACHEL SAVAGE NEW Zealand and Britain have become the latest countries to ease rules on blood donations by gay and bisexual men, as supply concerns caused by COVID-19 increase scrutiny of AIDS pandemic-era restrictions that LGBT+ rights advocates say are homophobic. New Zealand's government cut the celibacy period for gay and bisexual men to give blood from a year to three months, regardless of whether or not they had used condoms, the New Zealand Blood Service said on its website on Monday. In Britain, which previously had a three-month deferral period, a behaviour-based policy will be used from mid-2021, meaning…