John Bercow: there is a 'duty to campaign' for gay rights

{jcomments off}John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, has talked about his “duty to campaign” for gay and lesbian rights abroad.

The issue of LGBT rights in other countries has come to the forefront of the political agenda this year for a number of different reasons; most recently because of Hilary Clinton’s speech to a UN summit in Geneva on gay rights issues around the world. (See more here >>). The UK’s government announcement that it would cut funding to countries that had or enacted homophobic laws is another reason why gay rights in other countries has been placed on the political agenda like never before.

John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, has given a New Year message to the newly launched Kaleidoscope Trust in which he discussed, what he called, the “duty to campaign” for gay rights abroad; Bercow is the president of the Kaleidoscope Trust. In his message Bercow said ‘In places there have been arrests and convictions for being gay, with prison sentences of many years being meted out for these so called “crimes. In other parts the clock has actually been turned back and homosexuality has been made a criminal offence for the first time…Most appalling of all there have even been reports of executions of men accused of homosexual offences.”

This past year has been a mixed bag in terms of gay rights issues across the world. Same-sex marriages has become an issue that won’t go away for opponents with campaigns for legalisation of gay marriages taking place in countries across the world. Denmark announced this year that it intends to legalise gay marriages next year while the Scottish and UK governments separately announced they would hold public consultations on the issue.

However, while some countries discuss moving forward towards gay marriages other countries have stepped back further into open homophobia; most notably African countries. Nigeria, which has criminalised homosexuality already, outlawed gay marriage and imposed harsh penalties for conducting/taking part in one.  Nigeria is one of several African countries, such as Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ghana, which are openly homophobic.

Despite Hilary Clinton’s speech to the UN on gay rights America remains deeply divided over gay rights issues. While New York legalised gay marriage this year other states are preparing to ban them outright and many of the Republican presidential candidates are openly hostile to gay marriage and gay rights.

(Via Pink News)