Britain’s House of Lords have heard the need for 78 countries to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide, just after voting for gay marriage
The criminalization of homosexuality is ‘abhorrent’ and needs to be scrapped on human rights and HIV-prevention grounds, the House of Lords has heard.
The comment was made by senior Conservative Lord Norman Fowler as Britain’s upper chamber of parliament was debating the UK’s contribution Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria.
It came within a few hours of the Lords voting, by a landslide majority, to support the passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales through parliament yesterday (4 June).
Fowler warned the house that homophobia stood in the way of fighting AIDS.
He said: ‘What stands in the way of so much progress in these areas is stigma and discrimination. A further effort is most certainly required there. Stigma infects gay and lesbian people, those with HIV and those with TB.’
He wants Britain to commit to finding a vaccine for HIV as he believes it would ‘cut through’ that stigma.
He then referred to the historic marriage vote.
Fowler said: ‘If I may say so, tonight there has been a historic vote in this house. We have sent out a clear message we in this country believe in equality of treatment for all. That was a massive message, which was underlined by the majority.
‘I believe also we are united, irrespective of which way we voted on that debate, on the criminalization of homosexuality being abhorrent. I hope that message goes out equally strongly.
‘But I put it to the minister it would be even better if tonight she could set out the British government’s plans to help the global fund fight one of the most important health battles that the world now faces. That is a historic battle and this country could make an important and valuable contribution to it.’
Later in the debate, another Conservative, Lord Alistair Cooke, Baron Lexden, said the criminalization of gay sex was a ‘formidable handicap’ for the HIV fund – however much money it is given.
He said: ‘However successful the fund and the efforts of the vast numbers of people working to end the pandemics may be, they will not be able to reach and relieve all the suffering with which they contend.
‘That is because homosexuality is a criminal offence in some 78 countries. Where homosexuals are criminals, HIV cannot be fully relieved or curtailed.
‘The statistics are stark. In Caribbean countries where homosexuality is not against the law, of every 15 men who have sex with other men, one is infected with HIV. In Caribbean countries where homosexuality is criminalized, the rate of infection is one in four.
‘So we come back to the deep-seated problem of criminalization, which is and always should be a prominent feature of our debates on these issues.’
As Britain is at the heart of the Commonwealth, headed by Queen Elizabeth, Cooke said his fellow peers should focus there.
He told them: ‘In 42 of the Commonwealth’s 54 member states, homosexuality is a criminal offence. The Commonwealth’s collective institutions produced clear evidence in 2011 that where homosexuality had been decriminalized, HIV infection had fallen.
‘To the infinite sadness of us all, that has not led to a widespread acceptance of the case for decriminalization. In some countries the situation has got worse. Last week the Nigerian Parliament passed a harsh anti-LGBT bill that is bound to fuel prejudice and hatred in other countries.’
And he slammed the Christian churches for their part in stirring up LGBT hate.
He said: ‘On moral as well as on health grounds, the Christian churches in Commonwealth countries ought to be at the forefront of efforts to stem the tide of oppression and extend basic human rights to all LGBT people. In fact, as we know well, all too often the churches are to be found in the forefront of militant anti-gay activity. The Church of England, which is my church, has great influence in many Commonwealth countries.
‘I end with a fervent plea that it should consider issuing a strong public statement utterly condemning the criminalization of homosexuality. If it did that, it would confer an inestimable boon on those working, through the Global Fund and other remarkable, selfless organisations, to end the pandemics that so disfigure the world today.’
Fowler has long been a campaigner on HIV and AIDS. As Margaret Thatcher’s health secretary in the 1980s, he launched the UK’s first ever government education campaign on HIV.
During the debate, Fowler went on to say the fund has estimated that over the next three years, 2014 to 2016, it will need $15billion (€11.5billion), a large increase on what is currently available, if it is to be as effective as possible.
Responding for the government, Baroness Lindsay Northover stressed the UK goverment’s commitment to fighting this disease, pointing out that we are the third largest contributor, having given a total to the fund of £1billion ($1.5billion €1.2billion) from 2008 to 2015.
And she pledged Britain intends to remain at the forefront of HIV and AIDS prevention.
Commenting for LGBTory, the Conservative Party’s affiliated LGBT group, chairman Matthew Sephton said: ‘I am delighted to hear, as important as yesterday’s vote on equal marriage was, that parliamentarians are remembering there continue to be many issues of concern for LGBT people.’
by Tris Reid-Smith
Source – Gay Star News
