End Sexual Apartheid: Justice Michael Kirby

Justice Michael Kirby, one of the most outspoken voices against criminalization of LGBT people worldwide, has an excellent op-ed in the Sydney Morning Herald (Oct 25, 2011). He points out that 41 of the 54 Commonwealth countries continue to criminalize adult consensual same-sex behavior, and exhorts the Commonwealth of Nations to take a proactive role in addressing this at the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM 2011) meeting to be held in Perth from Oct 28-30, 2011.

“[Sexual orientation] forces a kind of sexual apartheid. It divides people into strict categories. It ignores their basic natures (sexuality not racial). It imposes harsh legal restrictions. It makes them second-class citizens. It denies them full entitlement as human beings in fundamental matters such as love, sex and identity.”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/ending-sexual-apartheid-20111024-1mg9e.html

Justice Kirby observes that the so-called sodomy laws, which fail to distinguish between consensual and non-consensual sexual behavior, are a problematic legacy unique to the former British empire; and that the French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and Belgian empires and their colonies did not have such laws.

Here in India, as we anxiously await the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Delhi High Court’s historic Naz Foundation ruling on Section 377, we also hope our Vice President Hamid Ansari, who represents India at CHOGM 2011,will raise a strong voice in favour of getting rid of these criminal laws in the Commonwealth nations.