Support LGBTQ

Countries and different communities have come across various stereotypical thoughts and practices and have developed tremendously in the 21st century, a relatively new group has arisen and is seeking equal rights for themselves, i.e., LGBTQ+ but even in the 21st century, they are finding it hard to find a place in the social ladder.

Is society able to recognize them and their rights? Are people ready to accept them? These questions are asked frequently but still, there is no satisfactory answer.

Fatpos Global analysts tried to answer these questions after a lot of research and surveys.

In many spheres, the LGBT community has always been faced with prejudice. In India, for instance, in 1994, voting rights were caught in the male or female question.

In many countries, LGBTQ+ can't marry according to their preference as matrimonial ties between the same sexes are considered unnatural. Even the inheritance rights are seized from them as the property of the parents goes to the son or daughter according to the law in many countries.

Lesbian, gay, and transgender people are experiencing violence at disproportionately high rates compared to straight cisgender people. It was reported by The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs that while transgender survivors and victims’ accounted for just 19% percent of the anti-LGBT crime, transgender women of color accounted for 50% of murder victims.

Social and systemic prejudice, as well as insufficient access to health services, contribute to health inequalities for the LGBT group. LGBT people are more likely than straight individuals to record unmet healthcare needs and have trouble accessing treatment and insurance, leading to higher rates of diabetes, chronic disease, alcohol use, mental illness and obesity in the population.

Adoption of the kids for these LGBT couples is challenging even in developed countries, such as America. They are not allowed to adopt children even when they have financial stability and steady and secure background.

They are viewed in regular life as outcasts and queers like they do not belong and relate in human society. LGBT, particularly transgenders, face working abuse in most countries because of their appearance or preference. They continue to face discrimination, discomfort, harassment and even danger to their lives.

Criminal and personal laws currently in force in many countries recognize only "man" and "woman" genders. How such legislation will extend to transgender people who may not identify with either of the two genders is ambiguous.

Acceptance in many Developed Countries: Laws regarding same-sex partnerships in Europe

14 out of the 25 countries that have legalized same-sex marriage worldwide are situated in Europe.

72 countries where homosexuality is illegal. Most of them are in APAC and MENA.

Status(LGBT)  -  Legal in all 51 states Legal in all 6 dependencies and other Territories

Gender  -  Legal in 39 out of 51 states

Identity  -  Legal in 3 out of 6 dependencies and other

Military  -  Allowed to serve openly in 39 out of 47 states Allowed in all 6 dependencies and other

Discrimination protections  -  Protected in 43 out of 51 states Protected in all 6 dependencies and other territories

Recognition of relationships  -  Recognized in 30 out of 51 states Recognized in all 6 dependencies and other territories

Restrictions  -  Same-sex marriage constitutionally banned in 13 out of 51 states

Adoption  -  Legal in 22 out of 51 states Legal in 5 out of 6 dependencies and other territories

Euro barometer 2015: % of people in each country who "totally agree" or "tend to agree" with the statement that "LGB people should have the same rights as heterosexual people."

The top three European countries in terms of LGBT equality according to the research are Malta, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

Developed Countries Coming Forth to protect all Its Citizens

Since 2011 civil partnerships have been legal in Ireland. The government held a constitutional convention in 2013 which overwhelmingly voted to amend the constitution to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. On 22 May 2015, Irish people voted whether to add the following amendment to the constitution: "Two persons can contract marriage without distinction as to their sex following the legislation. The Ireland population in a countrywide plebiscite voted in favor of the amendment making Ireland the globe’s first nation to decriminalize same-sex marriage. In November 2015, Ireland held its first same-sex marriage ceremony.

The U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas struck down the "homosexual conduct" law, which criminalized same-sex sexual behaviour. The decision also reverses Bowers v. Hardwick, a decision by the US Supreme Court in 1986 that enforced Georgia's sodomy laws in June 2003.

The Supreme Court rules that LGBTQ workers are protected from discrimination by federal law. The historic decision extends rights to millions of employees nationally and is a setback for the Trump administration’s arguing that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits gender-based discrimination does not apply to gender identity claims and sexual orientation claims on June 15, 2020.

French President François Hollande signed a law legalizing marriage and adoption by gay couples in May 2013.

In 2012, the United Kingdom Government launched a public consultation on same-sex marriage to amend the laws applicable to England and Wales. On 17 July 2013, the marriage bill was signed as law. A similar consultation was launched by the Scottish Government to legalize same-sex marriage by 2015. On 4 February 2014, the Scottish Parliament passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriages in Scotland as well as putting an end to the 'spousal veto' which would allow spouses to refuse transgender partners the right to change their legal sex. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that does not permit marriage of the same sex.

The Canadian Government amended the Human Rights Act in June 2017 to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and speech in jobs.

Countries developed and Developing That Criminalized LGBTQ+ activities

According to Fatpos Global analyst “The changes made in certain parts of the world are causing a retaliation in other parts of the world. The struggle for even fundamental human rights for LGBT people – freedom of association, freedom from discrimination and violence – becomes more difficult to achieve when opponents can point to something like gay marriage, which is not even in the books for most of the nations, and argue that if we give these people even the most rudimentary human rights, then they will ask to get married next”.

There are currently more than 80 countries with prohibitions on sodomy, and punishment may include flogging, incarceration, and the death penalty in around a dozen jurisdictions. Many accused of being LGBT are also the perpetrators of abuse, bullying, and violence regularly. Some of those who speak up for LGBT rights -irrespective of their sexual inclination or gender identity - are abused with impunity themselves.

Nigeria's Senate passed a bill that would place citizens at risk of criminal sanctions, including human rights activists and everyone – friends, families, and colleagues – who stand up for LGBT people's rights in Nigeria.

In Cameroon, under Section 347a of the Cameroonian Penal Code, homosexuality is criminalized.

The Ugandan parliament recently reintroduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which would be one of the most serious LGBT human rights abuses if enacted. For anyone who does not report homosexuals, the bill proposes a 3-year term; a life sentence for anyone engaging in "homosexual activity;" and the death sentence for "aggravated homosexuality."

Russia recently introduced a punitive anti-gay bill that legally bars LGBT individuals and groups from public events under the premise of protecting minors.

In the southern Mexican city of Mérida, police officers arrested and abused lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights activist José Ricardo Maldonado Arroyo last December to gain information from him. They unfairly arrested him for about four hours, and if he spoke about the incident they threatened him with reprisal attacks.

Saudi Arabia has indicted people convicted of homosexuality and sodomy to a range of punishments including corporal punishment and even capital punishment.

In Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, the official of the country working on human rights described homosexuality as "a disease that needs to be cured." Gay rights are of course no better in many other countries in the Middle East.

The Former Colonies still Facing Challenges Due to the Britain Legacy

The Former British Prime Minister, Theresa May, encouraged the Commonwealth nations to amend outdated anti-gay laws retained over British colonial rule, at the latest Commonwealth Heads of Governance conference in London. And while stopping short of a formal apology, she used her speech to openly acknowledge Britain’s moral obligation: "As prime minister of the United Kingdom, I deeply regret both the introduction of such laws and the legacy of discrimination, violence, and death that persists today."

The colonies under Britain had the law Based on the Buggery Act 1533 that was enacted under King Henry VIII. It was drafted by Thomas Macaulay around 1838 but was only brought into effect in 1860

The law described buggery as an immoral sexual act against God and Man's will. The section came into force in India and other countries in 1861, during British rule. Criminalized sexual acts include homosexual activities "against the order of nature." Punished with life imprisonment or imprisonment for a term of up to 10 years for either description and also liable to pay a fine. Nonetheless, the former colonies adopted the same rules even though Britain itself changed the legislation in 2012 granting its LGBT people rights. India also has come forward to give rights and equality to LGBT citizens, in September 2018, the Supreme Court of India overturned section 377 of India's penal code, a colonial-era law penalizing consensual same-sex relations. The Indian Supreme Court eventually ruled the law unconstitutional on Sept. 06, after decades of agitation and protest, following the footsteps of two other former colonies, Trinidad & Tobago and Belize.

For the 72 countries that had such a law on the books in 2018, at least 38 of them once were subject to some sort of British colonial rule.

Many traditional societies accepted various sexualities and relations between the sexes in pre-colonial Africa. For example, in the tribe, the Ganda or Baganda, (the largest ethnic group in Uganda), royal tribe women are addressed with male titles and may or may not be required to perform duties that are expected of women. More generally, there is ethnographic evidence of the same-sex relationships in pre-colonial Africa from the Azande of the Congo to the Beti of Cameroon, and from the Pangwe of Gabon to the Nama of Namibia. However, by preying upon African ideals of racial distinction, the colonizers of Africa rewrote their past, the consequences of which haunt Africa to this day. For a European Penal Code system which included the criminalization of homosexuality, tribal chiefs and village courts of law that were traditionally the hallmark of conflict resolution were traded. Christianity was used to tarnish African culture and to demonize traditional African intimacy conceptions. The bible became the credo of African morality, disordering African sexuality to heteronormative missionary roles (that is, the belief that heterosexuality is the only 'normal' sexual orientation).

Although these laws in British rule are superficially identical, they were written somewhat differently, and penalties of varying severity were defined. Currently, Ghana's criminal code classifies "unnatural carnal experience" as an offense, with a potential jail term of up to three years. In comparison, Kenya, Nigeria, and Gambia view gay sex as a crime, with a sentence of up to 14 years in jail. And the ultimate punishment, in Uganda and Zambia, is life. Further stringent anti-gay laws are being passed in many African countries where homosexuality is still illegal and violence against LGBT people is on the rise.

But after agitations, peaceful marches, human rights organizations and worldwide attempts many countries are recognizing the LGBTQ+ rights as well as developed countries are widening the area of rights and awareness for these communities, even in the former colonies like India, many other countries are taking a positive step forward.

There is legislation to support these communities depressed for so long, people need to be more considerate of the downtrodden. Discrimination starts at the ground level if people become more aware and supportive, it will help the LGBTQ+ community in any country to gain rights sooner than later. People and governments must remember whatever the sexual orientation of the people is they are the country's citizens and should have the same rights.