While
gay
activists
in
the
United
States
fight
for
the
right
to
marry,
one
global
gay
rights
group
issued
a
reminder
this
week
that
in
many
countries,
gay
people
are
fighting
just
to
be
treated
humanely.
There
has
been
a
recent
rash
of
international
anti-gay
violence
including
incidents
in
Jamaica,
India
and
Nepal,
according
to
the
International
Gay
&
Lesbian
Human
Rights
Commission.
Officials
from
the
group
say
the
violence
has
increased
as
a
result
of
more
individuals
and
organizations
lobbying
for
gay
rights.
“Increasingly,
gay
people
are
unwilling
to
be
the
subject
of
abuse,”
said
IGLHRC
Executive
Director
Paula
Ettelbrick,
adding
that
the
violence
in
recent
months
is
most
likely
a
“backlash”
resulting
from
gays
becoming
more
vocal.
The
organization
cited
a
number
of
such
incidents
that
have
occurred
in
just
the
last
two
months.
-
In
June,
a
21-year-old
male-to-female
transsexual
in
India
was
arrested
and
reportedly
tortured
by
police
officers
after
reporting
to
police
that
she
had
been
raped
by
several
men.
That
same
month,
protesters
broke
windows
and
ripped
down
posters
at
several
Indian
movie
theaters
showing
a
lesbian-themed
film.
-
Also
in
June,
one
of
Jamaica’s
most
prominent
gay
rights
activists,
Brian
Williamson,
was
found
stabbed
to
death
in
his
home.
While
the
police
declared
that
robbery
was
the
official
motive,
many
gay
rights
groups
insist
the
killing
was
“hate-related”
and
are
demanding
that
Prime
Minister
P.J.
Patterson
immediately
repeal
the
island’s
anti-gay
laws.
- Earlier
this
month,
a
number
of
gay
men
and
cross
dressers
reported
being
harassed
and
beaten
by
police
officers
in
the
streets
of
Nepal.
When
a
local
gay
rights
organization
staged
a
peaceful
demonstration
to
protest
the
abuse,
police
officers
reportedly
began
beating
protesters
to
disperse
the
crowd.
Worldwide
violence
against
gays
is
the
subject
of
a
new
book,
“Sex,
Love
&
Homophobia,”
released
earlier
this
month
by
the
human
rights
group
Amnesty
International.
“Lesbian
and
gay
people
who
form
or
join
organizations,
be
they
political
or
social,
are
being
violently
persecuted
in
many
parts
of
the
world
where
before
they
might
have
been
unnoticed,”
Vanessa
Baird,
the
book’s
author,
told
Reuters
earlier
this
month,
calling
the
recent
rise
in
anti-gay
violence
an
“epidemic.”
Repeated
calls
to
Amnesty
International,
as
well
as
to
Human
Rights
Watch,
were
not
returned
by
press
time.
More
than
70
countries
currently
have
laws
that
criminalize
sex
between
members
of
the
same
gender,
including
some
who
are
close
allies
of
the
United
States,
according
to
the
IGLHRC.
In
several
countries
—
including
Iran,
Saudi
Arabia,
Afghanistan,
Mauritania,
Sudan,
Pakistan,
the
United
Arab
Emirates,
Yemen
and
parts
of
Nigeria
—
homosexuality
is
punishable
by
death.
In
many
others,
sodomy
can
result
in
prison
sentences.
But
Ettelbrick
said
that
an
entire
country
cannot
be
labeled
“homophobic”
because
it
has
anti-sodomy
laws,
which
were
still
on
the
books
in
some
U.S.
states
until
the
Supreme
Court
struck
them
down
last
year.
Ettelbrick
also
noted
that
some
countries
without
specific
anti-sodomy
laws
still
target
gay
sex.
In
Egypt,
a
group
of
gay
men
who
became
known
as
the
“Cairo
52”
were
arrested
in
2001
during
a
police
raid
on
a
party
boat
in
Cairo.
They
were
not
charged
with
sodomy,
but
instead
were
charged
with
“debauchery.”
“I
think
what
drives
the
harassment
isn’t
just
a
specific
law,”
Ettelbrick
said,
“It’s
that
the
law
in
general
can
be
used
and
manipulated
so
easily
to
target
gay
and
lesbian
people.”
Despite
the
setbacks,
the
push
for
global
gay
rights
is
an
important
endeavor
that
is
seeing
slow
but
significant
progress,
Ettelbrick
said.
“Right
now,
I
think
it’s
a
mixed
bag,”
Ettelbrick
said.
“The
other
side
to
all
of
this
is
that
there’s
actually
a
growing
movement
and
a
growing
reality
of
successful
policy
results.
