We Are Not Safe

The world is very much not a safe place for GBLT people. And while there is good news with some countries moving forwards, like Albania has enacted a non-discrimination law protecting gay people – but stopped short at marriage equality and Nepal making incredible strides to be inclusive in a way I never imagined.

But sadly, there are many tragic stories of the most brutal kind of homophobic oppression imaginable.

In Malawi a gay couple was arrested for holding an engagement ceremony.

As if that wasn’t bad enough they were mocked and humiliated in a gross paraody of any kind of justice before trial.  The government is will not bend or relax their stance despite international pressure.  I despair of the inhumanity, when one of the couple collapsed in court they were ridiculed. Has all pretence of humanity left this farce?!

When Peter Sawahli campaigned against this cruelty - he was arrested.  With his arrest the police are hunting activists who were campaigning with him and calling for anonymous activists to reveal themselves (how about…umm… NO?)

In Dubai, police waste resources going undercover in gay chat rooms looking for men trying to hook up and  and 2 young men have been arrested. They could face 15 years in prison

In Malaysia the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, a former Deputy Prime Minister in Malaysia, is on trial for ‘sodomy’.  He could face 20 years in prison.

While many reacted to the gross Ugandan law with horror – South Africa looked at a new Ugandan diplomat.  And chose a homophobe

Looking on Uganda we see many are still dealing with this in a grossly unacceptable manner. While the Archbishop of Canterbury is using non-pologies to try and make up lost ground, the Anglican Church of Uganda are still very gung ho about killing us I’m curious – since the church was apparently so shocked to its core about a gay bishop that they considered a schism – I wonder if the massacring of a marginalised group would be on par?

These are sobering reminders that the world is often very unsafe for us. There are many nations out there that outright have laws that would criminalise us – many that would execute us or imprison us for life for who we love – for the crime of existing. There were 85 nations that made homosexual sex illegal in 2007.  85. Even where outright law doesn’t kill us there are many more nations where our lives are worth so very little, where attacks and persecutions are the norm and being uncloseted is an act of heroism or foolhardiness.

We need to remember this. We need to remember that our work isn’t done on our own shores alone. We need to remember that people are still dying and we have a hell of a lot to do. We need to remember that it won’t be other until it’s over everywhere – especially since homophobia crosses borders. We have huge organisations and churches pushing for homophobia across the globe – and supporting homophobia to avoid “offending” the most virulent hate mongers amongst them. We have homophobic advocates crossing borders and spreading their hate freely. Homophobia doesn’t stay isolated – not in today’s world.

And we also have to remember, we’re not safe.

We’re not, not really. We have seen rights taken away as well as given. We can see people who are still vehemently pressing for homophobia. In the US we can see some of the more extreme examples from the religious right trying to overturn the hate crimes law to a surprising number openly advocating a reinstatment of sodomy laws: Bryan Fischer and Gary Glenn of the American Family Association. Which, as Pam says, puts the AFA in the same league as the Family Research Council

And it’s by no means limited to the US. In the UK religious groups backed by the Tories still fight viciously against our hate crime law. The Arcbishop of Canterbury ran in silence from the Ugandan law, pretending it wasn’t happening for as long as physically possible and some Anglicans even supported the vile law

We need to remember this. There are countries where our lives can literally be taken LEGALLY. There are countries where we can be thrown in prison for years for who we love and who we are. And we need to remember that these same laws were in place in our own nation WITHIN LIVING MEMORY. And there are still a horrendous number of people who WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT.

We are not safe. The rights CAN be taken back. Our ground CAN be lost.  We have to remember that – because the cost of forgetting is too high – and we owe too much to our brothers and sisters around the world who need help so very badly

I am wearing my suspicious face

So I go down to check, expecting to find a sopping wet carpet spotted with shards of broken glass, a ton of little pebbles and maybe the odd rotting fish and find...

Nothing.

OH there's a tank missing. The tank he assured me he wasn't going to install until he mastered one tank. But that's it. No wet carpet, no dead fishies. No razor glass shards.

*eyes narrow*

Soooooooo what happened, and when is it going to come lurking out of hiding to bite me in the arse? Are there hidden shards of glass somewhere? Has some sopping wet cloths been hidden to grow all mildewy and nasty? Are these swimmy fish undead? Are they floating backwards and forwards eager for the chance to eat my brains? Are we looking at the beginning of a zombie apocalypse? This could be the beginning of the end! If so I'm totally ready.

The zombie fish are watching me, but I am ready...