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Anti-Gay Violence Rages in Gambia; Conservative ‘Complementarity’ Confab; Coming Out in Iraq Can Be Death Sentence; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…s Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa. Earlier this year, Gambia’s vehemently anti-gay President Yahya Jammeh, threatened to kill Gambians who seek asylum in Europe to avoid anti-gay persecution at home. Uganda: President Tells Church to Support Government’s Anti-Gay Efforts As we have reported, politicians in Uganda are working behind the scenes on a bill to replace the notorious Anti-Homsexuality Act, which was thrown out by the…

The Politics of Anti-Gay Persecution: Gambia, Egypt, Jamaica, Russia, with a Helping Hand from US Religious Conservatives; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…p within the overall provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia 1997. This, in clear terms and provisions has stipulated that The Gambia is an independent sovereign state on equal status with all other nations irrespective of geographic size, economic or political might or wherewithal. It is on the basis of principles of the equality, self-determination, and mutual co-existence that our foreign policies, which are but extensions…

Gambian Prez Rails Against Gay ‘Evil Empire’; Irish Priest Comes Out During Mass; Trans Talk on Tunisian TV Sparks Debate; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ter to Islam and the Bible. The Washington Blade’s Michael Lavers reports: Gambia Affairs, a Gambian news website that operates independently from the country’s government, reported that Jammeh told soldiers in the country’s capital of Banjul that “the Bible that came first condemns homosexuality and the Bible is the book of the Almighty Allah and the Quran.” The Gambian president also appeared to sharply criticize the U.S. and other countries tha…

Gambian Leaders Portray Anti-Gay Law as Defense of Islam, Ugandan Politicians as ‘Christmas Gift’; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…with the West because they want [me] to promote homosexuality,’” she said. Gambia’s Foreign Minister Bala Garba Jahumpa went on television last week in a prime-time address to say the country would refuse to negotiate with the European Union over its anti-gay laws, regardless of how much foreign aid might be in question. According to Pink News, he “attacked homosexuality as ‘Satanic’ ungodly behaviour, which is ‘detrimental to human existence.’” “…

Marriage Vote ‘Transforms’ Not-So-Catholic Ireland; Activist to Malaysian PM – ‘Love Is Not Terrorism’; LGBTs Find Growing Acceptance in Colombia, Not At World Meeting of Families; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…curry favor internally by burnishing his Muslim bonafides and justify the Gambia’s increasing status as an international pariah. Just weeks after Uganda’s Constitutional Court struck down the newly adopted Anti-Homosexuality Act in August 2014, the Gambia adopted a law closely modeled on Uganda’s which included a life sentence for “aggravated homosexuality,” defined as including cases like when someone repeatedly has same-sex intercourse, when th…

Mexico moves toward national marriage equality; Greek govt announces civil partnership legislation; Pope warns against ‘secularism and relativism’; Global LGBT recap

By Peter Montgomery

…activities of the gay and lesbian community,” reads the statement from the Gambian government. “No amount of lies, pressure or threats will make us relent on our rejection of homosexuality.” “The government of the Gambia will always adhere to our sacred religious values and will not be dictated by decadent and ungodly societies, nations or institutions,” it says. The statement also reiterated the Gambian government’s opposition to marriage rights…

Trump Order A ‘Death Sentence’ For Some LGBT Refugees? Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…combat extortion, assaults and other forms of discrimination. In Jammeh’s Gambia, however, such work was all but impossible, and many would-be activists made the painful decision to leave. No African leader deployed anti-gay rhetoric with as much relish as Jammeh, who has denounced homosexuality as “anti-god, anti-human and anti-civilization” as well as “an evil and strange social cancer.” In 2008, he said gay people had 24 hours to leave the cou…

International ‘Pro-Family’ Summit Calls for New Anti-Gay Laws: Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…esident Yahya Jammeh has called gay people “vermin” and threatened to kill Gambians who seek asylum in Europe. The Washington Blade and Associated Press reported this week that Gambia’s National Assembly has passed an anti-gay bill that includes life sentences for “aggravated homosexuality.”From the Blade: Amnesty International said in a press release that lawmakers in the West African country passed the bill on Aug. 25. The Associated Press said…

LGBTs in Philippines Reflect on Papal Visit; Francis Meets Trans Man Shunned by Parish; French Group Turns ‘Bar of Sodom’ into ‘Pub of Mercy’; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…one participant said the gathering was a celebration of his 18th birthday. Gambia: Man accused of being gay tortured in police custody We have reported frequently on Gambia, whose anti-gay president uses intense hostility to homosexuality as a way of portraying himself as a defender of Islam and African independence. According to news reports this week, one of three men arrested in December on suspicion of homosexuality was hospitalized and fears…

Marriage equality and ‘the end of Catholic Ireland’; Gambian Prez vows to slit gays’ throats; Colombian govt affirms support for marriage and adoption; global LGBT recap

By Peter Montgomery

…osture. Another example was reported last week by Kayla Ruble at Vice: The Gambia’s notorious dictator Yahya Jammeh recently intensified his anti-homosexual rhetoric, threatening to slit the throats of gay men living in the small West African nation while seeming to claim that the West could do nothing to stop him, according to a translation provided to VICE News of a speech he made last week on a nationwide agricultural tour. The 49-year-old pres…