The International Right to Love
LGBT rights in other nations
LGBT people around the world have been fighting for equality, not just in America. Europe and North America have been the most progressive in the rights granted to LGBT people. There are still some countries where just being homosexual is punishable by law and even death, and that isn’t even with marriage in the spectrum. Eighteen countries currently allow gay marriage, and two allow it in some areas.
The Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2000, and the bill passed three to one without much opposition. LGBT couples were given the rights to marry, divorce and adopt children. According to the Pew Forum, all the Dutch Parliament did to make this possible was make the language in the marriage statute more inclusive by adding a sentence, “A marriage can be contracted by two people of different or the same-sex.”
Earlier than that though, Norway, Belgium, and Canada began making moves toward marriage equality as early as 1993. Norway offered civil unions as early as 1993, making gay marriage legal in 2009. Belgium first began issuing and recognizing same-sex couples as registered partnerships that shared a household in 1998, and later in 2003 began same-sex marriages for couples that had at least lived in Belgium for three months. Canada included LGBT couples in common law marriages in 1999 and extended those to full rights to gay marriage and in 2006.
South Africa and Spain both allow gay marriage, but that wasn’t without some push-back. Spain legalized same-sex marriage in 2005 despite the opposition of the Catholic Church. South Africa legalized gay marriage in 2006; however, it still allows for religious institutions and civil officers to refuse to do same-sex marriage ceremonies, and the country’s leader still believes homosexuality is morally wrong.
Argentina was the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage in 2010. Same-sex couples share the same rights as heterosexual couples in Argentina. Gay marriage has also been allowed in Brazil; however, the future of gay marriage is in the air pending an appeal from the Christian Social Party that may be taken up in the legislature. In Mexico gay marriage is only legal in certain jurisdictions.
Marriage Rights in Other Nations
Currently there are eighty-two nations where homosexuality is illegal. Gay marriage is not even an option nor a question up for vote. In thirty-eight countries in Africa gay marriage is criminal and even punishable by death. Kenya is calling for stricter enforcement of the laws against homosexuality in place. The punishment for homosexuality is up to fourteen years in prison. Nigeria has even harsher laws surrounding homosexuality and gay marriage. Nigerians that are speculated to have attended a gay meeting or organized activity even about HIV prevention, or enters a same-sex marriage or even attends one are threatened up to fourteen years in prison. In 2009, Uganda tried to introduce the death penalty, but the bill was removed.
Twenty Asian countries outlaw homosexuality. India reinstated an anti-sodomy law that went into effect in December 2014 after striking it down in 2009. The law criminalizes against “any sex outside the laws of nature,” and strictly includes same-sex intercourse. Before it’s reinstatement many Indian LGBT people came out, but their safety and rights have been put back in jeopardy. Malaysia has dealt with opposing leaders views on whether to even include LGBT rights in human rights, citing that the two are separate.
During the 2014 Winter Olympics, Russia was in the media for its anti-gay propaganda law, which even stretched online and in the presence of minors. In 2012 Saudi Arabia denied education to homosexuals and tomboys according to Emirates 24/7 a news source of Dubai. Married men engaging in homosexual activity or sodomy can be sentenced to death by stoning. Around the world, there are many bigger issues surrounding homosexuality than gay marriage as a whole. Marriage equality may sound futile in comparison to simply being who you are. It remains a constant battle, in some places a daily struggle; yet people keep fighting.
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“The International Right to Love” is an excerpt from The Right to Love: Making Sense of the Marriage Equality Struggle, a Snippet by Ciera Mckissick. Ciera is a non-profit worker by day and an avid art enthusiast living and playing in Milwaukee. An artist in the non-traditional sense, Ciera enjoys writing about the arts, supporting the arts and planning and attending events showcasing the arts. Click here for the full version of The Right to Love: Making Sense of the Marriage Equality Struggle, which includes engaging audio and video content that will shed light into the origins of the LGBT movement, answer common questions, and shed light on the future.
