fbpx
Wikipedia

Criminalization of homosexuality

May 19, 2023

Some or all sexual acts between men, and less frequently between women, have been classified as a criminal offense in various regions. Most of the time, such laws are unenforced with regard to consensual same-sex conduct, but they nevertheless contribute to police harassment, stigmatization, and violence against homosexual and bisexual people. Other effects include exacerbation of the HIV epidemic due to the criminalization of men who have sex with men, discouraging them from seeking preventative care or treatment for HIV infection.

"Love is not a crime" signs at Paris Pride 2019

The criminalization of homosexuality is often justified by the scientifically discredited idea that homosexuality can be acquired or by public revulsion towards homosexuality, in many cases founded on the condemnation of homosexuality by the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Arguments against the criminalization of homosexuality began to be expressed during the Enlightenment. Initial objections included the practical difficulty of enforcement, excessive state intrusion into private life, and the belief that criminalization was not an effective way of reducing the incidence of homosexuality. Later objections included the argument that homosexuality should be considered a disease rather than a crime, that criminalization violates the human rights of homosexuals, and that homosexuality is not morally wrong.

In many countries, criminalization of homosexuality is based on legal codes inherited from the British Empire. The French colonial empire did not lead to criminalization of homosexuality, as this was abolished in France during the French Revolution in order to remove religious influence from the criminal law. In other countries, the criminalization of homosexuality is based on sharia law. In the Western world, a major wave of decriminalization started after World War II. It diffused globally and peaked in the 1990s. In recent years, many African countries have increased enforcement of anti-homosexual laws due to politicization and a mistaken belief that homosexuality is a Western import. As of 2023, homosexuality is criminalized de jure in 62 UN member states and de facto in two others; at least six of these have a death penalty for homosexuality.

History

Ancient through early modern world

 
The burning of the knight Richard Puller von Hohenburg with his servant before the walls of Zürich, for sodomy, 1482.

The Assyrian Laws contain a passage punishing homosexual relations, but it is disputed if this refers to consensual relations or only non-consensual ones.[1] The first known Roman law to mention same-sex relations was the Lex Scantinia. Although the actual text of this law is lost, it likely prohibited free Roman citizens from taking the passive role in same-sex acts. The Christianization of the Roman Empire made social attitudes increasingly disapproving of homosexuality. In the sixth century, Byzantine emperor Justinian introduced other laws against same-sex sexuality, referring to such acts as "contrary to nature".[2] The Syro-Roman law book, which was influential in the Middle Eastern legal tradition and especially in Lebanon, prescribed the death penalty for homosexuality.[3] Some Ottoman criminal codes called for fines for sodomy (liwat), but others did not mention the offense.[4] In 15th-century central Mexico, homosexual acts between men could be punished by disembowelment and smothering in hot ashes.[5]

During the late Middle Ages, many jurisdictions in Europe began to add prohibitions of sodomy to secular law. They also toughened enforcement, with vice squads appearing in some European cities.[6] In some cases, sodomy was punished by investigation and denunciation, in others by fines, and in some cases by the burning of the participants or the location where the act had taken place. The death penalty for sodomy was common in early modern Europe.[7][8] It is unclear how strictly sodomy laws were enforced; one theory is that enforcement was related to moral panics in which homosexuals were a scapegoat.[9] English monarch Henry VIII codified the prohibition of homosexuality in England into secular law with the Buggery Act 1533,[10] an attempt to gain the high ground in the religious struggle of the English Reformation. This law, based on the religious prohibition in Leviticus, prescribed the death penalty for buggery (anal sex).[11][12]

Impact of colonialism and imperialism

 
Participant carrying a poster against Section 377 during Bhubaneswar Pride Parade, India

Many present-day jurisdictions criminalize homosexuality based on colonial criminal codes they adopted under British rule.[13] The Indian Penal Code and its Section 377 criminalizing homosexuality were applied to several British colonies in Asia, Africa, and Oceania.[14][15] The Wright Penal Code was drafted for Jamaica and ultimately adopted in Honduras, Tobago, St. Lucia, and the Gold Coast.[16][17] The Stephen Code was adopted in Canada (and in a modified form in New Zealand), expanding the criminalization of homosexuality to cover any same-sex activity.[18][19] The Griffith Code was adopted in Australia and several other Commonwealth countries including Nauru, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Zanzibar and Uganda, and in Israel.[20][21] Once established, laws against homosexuality are often maintained by inertia and inclusion in postcolonial criminal codes.[22] Some states adopted British-inspired laws criminalizing homosexuality on the basis of informal influence,[23] while other former British colonies criminalize homosexuality under the influence of sharia law.[24] Both China and Japan, which had not historically prosecuted homosexuality,[6] criminalized it based on Western models in the nineteenth century.[25]

During the French Revolution in 1791, the National Constituent Assembly abolished the law against homosexuality as part of its adoption of a new legal code without the influence of Christianity. Although the assembly never discussed homosexuality, it has been legal in France since then.[26][27] Previously it could be punished by burning to death, although this was infrequently enforced.[28][29] The abolition of criminality for sodomy was codified in the 1810 penal code.[30] Napoleon's conquests and the adoption of civil law and penal codes on the French model led to abolition of criminality in many jurisdictions and replacement of death with imprisonment in others.[31][32] Via military occupation or emulation of the French criminal code, the Scandinavian countries, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Japan, and their colonies and territories—including much of Latin America—decriminalized homosexuality.[33] Former French colonies are less likely than British ones to criminalize homosexuality.[34][35] The Ottoman Empire is often considered to have decriminalized homosexuality in 1858, when it adopted a French-inspired criminal code,[36] but Elif Ceylan Özsoy argues that homosexuality had already been decriminalized.[37] However, some Ottoman men were executed for sodomy including two boys in Damascus in 1807.[38]

The unification of Germany reversed some of the gains of the Napoleonic conquests as the unified country adopted the Prussian penal code in 1871, re-criminalizing homosexuality in some areas.[31] In Germany, the prohibition of homosexuality was not frequently enforced until 1933.[39] In Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, an estimated 57,000 men were convicted of violating Paragraph 175.[40] Never before or since have so many homosexuals been convicted in such a short period of time.[41] Thousands of men were imprisoned and killed in Nazi concentration camps.[42] West Germany convicted about the same number of men under the same law until 1969, when homosexuality was partially decriminalized.[43]

In the Russian Empire, homosexuality was criminalized in 1835 and decriminalized in 1917 as a result of the Russian Revolution.[44][45] The criminalization was reinstated in 1934, with a harsher penalty than before, for unknown reasons.[46]

Post-World War II decriminalization trend

 
Proportion of the world population living in a country where homosexual acts are not criminalized, 1760–2020

In the decades after World War II, anti-homosexuality laws saw increased enforcement in Western Europe and the United States.[47][48][49] During the 1950s and 1960s, there was a tendency to legalize homosexuality with a higher age of consent than for heterosexual relationships; this model was recommended by various international organizations to prevent young men from becoming homosexual.[50] Convergence occurred both through the partial decriminalization of homosexuality, as in the United Kingdom (1967), Canada (1969), and West Germany (1969), or through the partial criminalization of homosexuality, such as in Belgium, where the first law against same-sex activity came into effect in 1965.[50][51]

There was a wave of decriminalization in the late twentieth century; ninety percent of changes to these laws between 1945 and 2005 involved liberalization or abolition.[47] Eighty percent of repeals between 1972 and 2002 were done by a legislature, and the remainder by the laws being ruled unconstitutional by a court.[52] Decriminalization began in Europe and the Americas and spread globally in the 1980s.[53] The pace of decriminalization reached a peak in the 1990s. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many former Soviet republics decriminalized homosexuality,[54] but others in Central Asia retained these laws.[55] China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997.[56] Following a protracted legal battle, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the criminalization of homosexuality violated the Constitution of India in the 2018 Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India judgement.[57][58]

One explanation for these legal changes is increased regard for human rights and autonomy of the individual[59] and the effects of the 1960s sexual revolution.[51] The trend in increased attention to individual rights in laws around sexuality has been observed around the world, but progresses more slowly in some regions, such as the Middle East.[60] Studies have found that modernization, as measured by the Human Development Index or GDP per capita,[61] and globalization (KOF Index of Globalization) was negatively correlated with the criminalization of homosexuality.[62]

Resistance to decriminalization

Further information: LGBT rights in Africa

Africa is the only continent where decriminalization of homosexuality has not been widespread since the mid-twentieth century.[63] In Africa, one of the primary narratives cited in favor of the criminalization of homosexuality is "defending ordre public, morality, culture, religion, and children from the assumed imperial gay agenda" associated with the Global North.[64][65][66] Such claims ignore the fact that many indigenous African cultures tolerated homosexuality, and historically the criminalization of homosexuality derives from British colonialism.[67][12][65] In the Middle East, homosexuality has been seen as a tool of Western domination for the same reason.[68]

The application of international pressure to decriminalize homosexuality has had mixed results in Africa. While it led to liberalization in some countries, it also prompted public opinion to be skeptical of these demands and encouraging countries to pass even more restrictive laws in resistance to what is seen as neocolonial pressure.[69][70][71] Politicians may also target homosexuality to distract from other issues.[59][66] Following decolonization, several former British colonies expanded laws that had only targeted men in order to include same-sex behavior by women.[72] Others, especially Muslim-majority countries in Africa, passed new laws to criminalize homosexual behavior.[73] In many African countries, anti-homosexuality laws were little-enforced for decades only to see increasing enforcement, politicization, and calls for harsher penalties beginning in the mid-1990s.[74][75] Such calls often come from domestic religious institutions. The rise of Evangelical Christianity and especially Pentecostalism has increased the politicization of homosexuality as these churches have been engaged in anti-homosexual mobilizations as a form of nation building.[76]

Current status

Further information: LGBT rights by country or territory

As of 2020, 21 percent of the world population lives in countries where homosexuality is criminalized.[77] In its 2023 Database, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) found that homosexuality is criminalized in 62 of 193 UN member states, while two UN member states, Iraq and Egypt, criminalize it de facto but not in legislation. In at least six UN member states—Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria (only northern Nigeria), Saudi Arabia, and Yemen—it is punishable by death.[78] All of the countries that use the death penalty base it directly or indirectly on sharia law.[79] Two-thirds of countries that criminalize sexual activity between men also criminalize it between women.[77] In 2007, five countries conducted executions as a penalty for homosexual acts.[80] In 2020, the ILGA named Iran and Saudi Arabia as the only countries in which executions for same-sex activity have reportedly taken place.[81] In other countries, such as Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, and Libya, extrajudicial executions are carried out by militias such as Al-Shabaab, the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda.[82] In 2021, Téa Braun of the Human Dignity Trust estimated that more than 71 million LGBT people live in countries where homosexuality is criminalized.[83]

 
  Criminalized
  Decriminalized 1791–1850
  Decriminalized 1850–1945
  Decriminalized 1946–1989
  Decriminalized 1990–present
  Unknown date of legalization
  Always legal

Scope of laws

Laws against homosexuality make some or all sex acts between people of the same sex a crime.[84] While some laws are specific about which acts are illegal, others use vague terminology such as "crimes against nature", "unnatural offenses", "indecency", or "immoral acts".[84][85] Some laws exclusively criminalize anal sex while others include oral sex or mutual masturbation. Some sodomy laws explicitly target same-sex couples, while others apply to sexual acts that might be performed by heterosexual couples but are usually enforced against same-sex couples only.[84] It is more common for men who have sex with men to be criminalized than women who have sex with women,[86] and there are no countries that only criminalize female same-sex activity.[84][77] This has been due to a belief that eroticism between women is not really sex and that it will not tempt women away from heterosexuality.[87][88] Unlike other laws, which criminalized specific sexual acts, the British Labouchère Amendment in 1885[89] and the 1935 revision of Germany's Paragraph 175 simply criminalized any sexual act between two men.[90] Both laws made it much easier to convict men for homosexuality, leading to an increase in convictions.[91][89]

Penalties vary widely, from fines or short terms of imprisonment to the death penalty.[92] Some laws target both partners in the sex act equally, while in other cases the punishment is unequal.[93][94] While homosexuality is criminalized country-wide in many cases, in other countries, specific jurisdictions pass their own criminal laws against homosexuality, such as in Aceh province.[95] Most laws criminalizing homosexuality are codified in statutory law,[96] but in some countries such as Saudi Arabia they are based on the direct application of Islamic criminal jurisprudence.[97]

Even in countries where there are no specific laws against homosexuality, homosexuals may be disproportionately criminalized under other laws, such as those targeting indecency, debauchery, prostitution, pornography,[98] homelessness,[99] or HIV exposure.[100] In some countries such as (historically) China and (currently) Egypt and Indonesia, such laws serve as de facto criminalization of homosexuality.[98] One analysis of the United States found that, instead of being directly arrested under sodomy laws, "most arrests of homosexuals came from solicitation, disorderly conduct, and loitering laws, which were based on the assumption that homosexuals (unlike heterosexuals), by definition, were people who engaged in illicit activity".[47] In 2014, Nigeria passed the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2013, criminalizing people who have a same-sex marriage ceremony with five years' imprisonment. Although homosexuality was already illegal, the law led to increasing persecution of Nigerian homosexuals.[101] The 2023 Ugandan anti-homosexuality law is the first to make it illegal to simply identify as LGBT.[102]

Enforcement

Laws criminalizing homosexuality are inherently difficult to enforce, because they concern acts done by consenting individuals in private.[103][104] Enforcement varies from active persecution to non-enforcement;[105][92] more often than not, laws are nearly unenforced for private, consensual sex.[47] In some countries, there are no prosecutions for decades or there is a formal moratorium.[106]

In Nazi Germany, the site of the most severe persecution of homosexual men in history, only about 10 percent of the homosexual male population was ever convicted and imprisoned.[107] In Iran, the 2013 penal code forbids authorities from proactively investigating same-sex acts unless kidnapping or assault are suspected.[108] In some countries such as India[109] and Guyana, the laws are not commonly enforced but are used to harass LGBT people.[110] Indian police have used the threat of prosecution to extort money or sexual favors.[111] Arrests, even without conviction, can often lead to publicity causing the accused to lose their job.[47] Those prosecuted under such laws tend to be disproportionately from working-class backgrounds, unmarried, and between twenty and forty years old.[112]

States including Nazi Germany and Egypt commonly use torture to extract confessions from men suspected of being homosexual.[113][114] In Egypt, possession of condoms or sexual lubricant or stereotypically feminine characteristics are cited as circumstantial evidence that the suspect has committed sodomy.[114] Online dating apps have also been used to identify and target men for prosecution.[115]

Physical examinations purporting to detect evidence of homosexual practices have been employed since at least 1857, when the French physician Auguste Ambroise Tardieu published a book claiming to identify several signs that a person had participated in receptive anal intercourse.[116][117] As of 2018, at least nine states, including Tanzania, Egypt, and Tunisia, use medically discredited anal examinations in an effort to detect same-sex acts between men or transgender women.[118][117] There is no evidence that such tests are effective at detecting whether the victim has taken part in homosexual activity.[119][117] This practice is considered to constitute acts of torture under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.[117]

Effects

The criminalization of homosexuality is often seen as defining all gays and lesbians as criminals or outlaws.[120][121] Even when not enforced, such laws express a symbolic threat of state violence[121] and reinforce stigma and discrimination.[105][47] Homosexuals may fear prosecution[122] and are put at risk of blackmail,[123][124] arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, police beatings, and involuntary medical interventions.[125] The criminalization of homosexuality in some cases pushes LGBT culture and socialization to the margins of society, exposing LGBT people to crimes such as assault, robbery, rape, or murder from other citizens. They may be afraid to report these crimes or may be ignored by the authorities.[126][127][128] Such issues lead to severe psychological harm.[129] The laws also justify discrimination against homosexuals[130]—being cited to deny child custody, registration of associations, and other civil rights[120]—and prevent LGBT people from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association.[131][124]

Reactions of homosexuals to the laws range from internalizing stigma to losing respect for the laws and civic community in general.[132] Historian Robert Beachy argues that a confluence of factors including the criminalization of homosexuality meant that a sense of homosexual identity was first developed in Germany around 1900, ultimately catalyzing the first homosexual movement.[133][134] LGBT movements often developed after the repeal of criminal laws, but in some cases they contributed to repeal efforts.[135] LGBT activism against criminalization can take multiple forms, including directly advocating the repeal of the laws, strategic litigation in the judicial system in order to reduce enforceability, seeking external allies from outside the country, and capacity building within the community.[136] A 1986 study found that the decriminalization of homosexuality in South Australia did not lead to an increase in undesirable effects (such as child abuse, public solicitation, or disease transmission) as claimed in parliamentary debates.[137]

The criminalization of homosexuality has been identified as an exacerbating feature of the HIV epidemic in Africa[138][139] and Central Asia,[140] because it dissuades many people at risk of HIV infection from disclosing their sexual behavior to healthcare providers or seeking preventative care, testing, or treatment. Criminalization both reinforces societal disapproval of homosexuality, which is another factor in decreasing the effectiveness of anti-HIV efforts, and is independently associated with less access to HIV services.[138][139]

Support and opposition

Religions

The Abrahamic religions all have traditionally held negative attitudes towards homosexuality. The Hebrew Bible prescribes the death penalty for "lying with another man as with a woman" (Leviticus 20:13) but does not directly address lesbianism. It is disputed if the biblical prohibition was originally intended to prohibit temple prostitution or particular sexual acts between multiple men, particularly those that are seen as compromising a man's masculinity. The total prohibition of homosexual behavior is considered to have evolved relatively late in the Jewish tradition.[141] Some Christians cite various Bible passages in order to justify the criminalization of homosexuality.[142] Although the Holy See officially opposes the criminalization of homosexuality, in 2014 Roman Catholic bishops from Malawi, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Eritrea, Zambia, Uganda, and Ethiopia united to demand criminal punishment of homosexuals, calling homosexuality unnatural and un-African.[143]

According to sharia law, liwat (anal intercourse) and sihaq or musahiqa (tribadism) are considered sins or criminal offenses.[35] The Sunni Hanafi school, unlike other Islamic schools and branches, rejects analogy as a principle of jurisprudence. Since there is no explicit call for the punishment of homosexuals in the accepted statements of Muhammed, Hanafi jurists classified homosexuality as a sin rather than a crime according to religious law and a tazir offense, meaning the punishment is left to the discretion of secular rulers.[144][145] According to the Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali (Sunni), and Ja'afari (Shia) schools, any penetrative sex outside of marriage or between a man and his female slave is zina, a more serious crime.[146] Zina is punishable by lashes or death by stoning; whether the death penalty is allowed depends on the school, whether the man has been married, and whether he is the active or passive partner. However, the death penalty can only be applied upon a confession repeated four times by the accused or testimony by four witnesses.[35][147] All Sunni schools, but not the Shia Ja'afari, consider non-anal sex between men to be a tazir offense.[148] In recent times, some progressive Muslims have argued for a new interpretation of liwat (which is never defined in the Quran) to mean something other than consensual homosexual acts.[149]

Adherence to Islam is a major predictor of maintaining laws criminalizing homosexuality and the death penalty for it. The majority of studies have found no association for Christianity.[150][151][152] State interference in religious matters, for example religious courts having jurisdiction beyond family law or bans on interfaith marriage, is strongly correlated with maintaining the criminalization of homosexuality.[153]

Under Buddhist religious law, there is no punishment for homosexuality among laypeople. Although harsh penalties are prescribed for penetrative sexual activity by male monks, novitiates suffer less punishment than for heterosexual activity.[6]

Arguments for

A prominent reason cited for criminalizing homosexuality is the claim, made without evidence and also without explaining the resulting negative results if it occurred, that it could be spread, and that laws against it would prevent homosexuals from recruiting children.[154][155][156][157] This rationale was later proved wrong by scientific research showing that sexual orientation was fixed by a young age.[158] Both Philo of Alexandria[159] and Heinrich Himmler believed that if allowed to spread unchecked, homosexuality would lead to depopulation; therefore they advocated harsh punishments.[160][161] The belief that the West is conspiring to depopulate Africa using homosexuality is also a common argument for retaining the criminalization of homosexuality in Africa.[162]

Supporters of paternalism argues that the state can interfere in citizens' private lives to secure a vision of the common good.[150] A common argument is that criminalization of homosexuality is necessary to maintain public morality,[163][111][164] traditional values, and cultural or social norms.[165] Anxieties around public morality gained prominence in nineteenth-century Western Europe and North America.[163] Before the medicalization of homosexuality in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was commonly seen as a vice, similar to drunkenness, that occurred as a result of moral degradation rather than being an innate predisposition.[166] Soviet officials argued that homosexuality was a social danger that contravened socialist morality, and that criminalization was an essential tool to lower its prevalence.[167] Some countries have cited the perception that the criminalization of homosexuality would prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, in particular HIV/AIDS, as a reason to keep their laws.[168][169]

Another reason cited in favor of criminalizing homosexuality is public opinion.[170][171] The rarity of prosecutions is also cited as a reason not to repeal the laws.[131][172]

Arguments against

Criticism of the criminalization of homosexuality began to be expressed by Enlightenment thinkers such as legal philosopher Cesare Beccaria in his 1764 treatise On Crimes and Punishments.[31][173] Early opponents argued that the laws were impractical to enforce,[103][174][175] ineffective at deterring homosexuality,[176][103] and overly intrusive into private life.[103][174][31] For example, Napoleon believed that "The scandal of legal proceedings would only tend to multiply" homosexual acts.[177] In 1898, socialist politician August Bebel highlighted the disproportionate enforcement of Paragraph 175 against working-class German men as a reason for repeal.[178] One argument leading to the decriminalization of homosexuality in countries such as Canada, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Bulgaria was that homosexuality was a pathological disease and therefore inappropriate as an object of criminal sanctions.[179][180][181]

Another argument cited for the decriminalization of homosexuality is that morality is distinct from law, which should concern itself only with the public good. Based on the work of John Stuart Mill, the harm principle posits that conduct should only be considered criminal if it harms people other than those performing the action. According to this principle, homosexuality should not be criminalized.[182][183] The 1957 Wolfenden Report, which proposed the decriminalization of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, sparked a famous debate between Lord Devlin, H. L. A. Hart, and others about whether the law was a suitable instrument for the enforcement of morality when the interests of non-consenting parties are not affected.[184][185] Many of these justifications are consistent with a strong moral condemnation of homosexuality[174] and are disputes over how best to handle the perceived social problem of homosexuality, rather than being based on the inalienable rights of LGBT people.[181]

Another line of reasoning argues that homosexuality is not morally wrong. Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham wrote the first systematic defense of sexual freedom, arguing that homosexuality and other forms of consensual sex were morally acceptable as they were pleasurable to their participants and forbidding these acts destroyed a great deal of human happiness.[186] In the 1860s and 1870s, German Karl Heinrich Ulrichs was the most prominent critic of the criminalization of homosexuality.[187] His demand for equality before the law and in religion on the basis of an innate, biologically based sexual drive—beginning with the decriminalization of homosexuality and ending with same-sex marriage—are similar to those sought by LGBT rights organizations in the twenty-first century.[188] As a result of social changes, in the twenty-first century, the majority of people in many Western countries view homosexuality as morally acceptable or not a moral issue.[189][190]

Human rights

See also: Right to sexuality

The criminalization of homosexuality is a violation of international human rights law.[131] The European Court of Human Rights found that laws criminalizing homosexuality violated the right to private life guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in Dudgeon v. United Kingdom (1981), Norris v. Ireland (1988), and Modinos v. Cyprus (1993).[191] In the 1994 case Toonen v. Australia, the Human Rights Committee ruled that the criminalization of homosexuality in Tasmania violated the right to privacy and non-discrimination guaranteed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, even though the applicant was never arrested or charged with violating the law. While Tasmania argued that the law was necessary to protect traditional morals and prevent the transmission of HIV, the Human Rights Committee found that arguments about morals are not insulated from international human rights norms.[192]

In 2014, the African Union's Commission on Human and People's Rights issued a landmark resolution calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality.[193] In 2020, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights found in Gareth Henry and Simone Carline Edwards v. Jamaica that Jamaica's laws criminalizing same-sex activities violated the applicants' right to privacy, right to humane treatment, freedom of movement, and principle of legality guaranteed by the American Convention on Human Rights. The commission recommended that Jamaica repeal the laws against same-sex activity in order to guarantee the non-repetition of similar human rights abuses in the future.[194] Persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation is a reason to seek asylum in some countries, including Canada, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, although depending on the case the mere existence of criminal sanctions may not be sufficient for an applicant to be granted asylum.[131][195]

Public opinion

See also: Societal attitudes toward homosexuality

According to a 2017 worldwide survey by ILGA, the criminalization of homosexuality is correlated with more negative opinions on LGBT people and LGBT rights. Overall, 28.5 percent of those surveyed supported the criminalization of homosexuality, while 49 percent disagreed. In states that criminalize homosexuality, 42 percent agree and 36 percent disagree, compared with non-criminalizing states where 22 percent agree and 55 percent disagree. Knowing someone who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual is correlated with less support for criminalization.[196] The number of Americans who agree that homosexuality should be a criminal offense has dropped from 56 percent in 1986 to 18 percent in 2021.[197] Public opinion surveys show that while 78 percent of Africans disapprove of homosexuality, only 45 percent support it being criminalized.[198]

References

  1. ^ Strenski 2020, pp. 393–394.
  2. ^ Haskins 2014, Roman origins of the laws on same-sex acts.
  3. ^ Strenski 2020, p. 394.
  4. ^ Ozsoy 2021, pp. 8–9.
  5. ^ Claassen & Ammon 2022, p. 292.
  6. ^ a b c Dynes & Donaldson 1992, p. ix.
  7. ^ Ozsoy 2021, p. 9.
  8. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 38.
  9. ^ Whisnant 2016, pp. 18–19.
  10. ^ Haskins 2014, Roman laws in Africa.
  11. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, pp. 12, 39, 41.
  12. ^ a b Kaoma 2018, p. 21.
  13. ^ Arimoro 2021, pp. 379–380.
  14. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 47.
  15. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, pp. 11–14.
  16. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 52.
  17. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, pp. 15–17.
  18. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, pp. 50–51.
  19. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, pp. 17–19.
  20. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, pp. 51–52.
  21. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, pp. 20–24.
  22. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, pp. 18, 54.
  23. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, pp. 10, 31.
  24. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, pp. 26–28.
  25. ^ Hildebrandt 2014, pp. 236–237.
  26. ^ Sibalis 1996, pp. 81, 83.
  27. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 61.
  28. ^ Sibalis 1996, pp. 81, 96.
  29. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 55.
  30. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, pp. 19, 55.
  31. ^ a b c d Whisnant 2016, p. 19.
  32. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 19.
  33. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, pp. 19, 56.
  34. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 16.
  35. ^ a b c Tolino 2020, Criminalization of Same-Sex Relations: An Overview.
  36. ^ Ozsoy 2021, p. 1.
  37. ^ Ozsoy 2021, pp. 19–20.
  38. ^ El-Rouayheb 2009, p. 151.
  39. ^ Marhoefer 2015, p. 121.
  40. ^ Schwartz 2021, p. 383.
  41. ^ Zinn 2020, p. 13.
  42. ^ Zinn 2020, p. 12.
  43. ^ Schwartz 2021, p. 379.
  44. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 86.
  45. ^ Mignot 2022, p. 120.
  46. ^ Alexander 2018, pp. 31–32.
  47. ^ a b c d e f Kane 2015, p. 277.
  48. ^ Dupont 2019, The post-war crunch.
  49. ^ Hildebrandt 2014, p. 239.
  50. ^ a b Dupont 2019, Franco-Danish, but made in Holland, Conclusion.
  51. ^ a b Hildebrandt 2014, pp. 239, 241.
  52. ^ Kane 2015, p. 279.
  53. ^ Hildebrandt 2014, p. 230.
  54. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, pp. 24, 26.
  55. ^ Wirtz et al. 2013, p. S22.
  56. ^ Rich et al. 2020, State Policies.
  57. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, p. 2.
  58. ^ Rich et al. 2020, What Gets Represented.
  59. ^ a b Kane 2015, p. 280.
  60. ^ Karimi & Bayatrizi 2019, pp. 424–425.
  61. ^ Hildebrandt et al. 2019, p. 2.
  62. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, pp. 85, 89.
  63. ^ Mignot 2022, p. 121.
  64. ^ Kaoma 2018, p. 124.
  65. ^ a b Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 13.
  66. ^ a b Gloppen & Rakner 2020, pp. 200–201.
  67. ^ Gloppen & Rakner 2020, p. 200.
  68. ^ Karimi & Bayatrizi 2019, p. 429.
  69. ^ Seckinelgin 2018, p. 3.
  70. ^ Kaoma 2018, pp. 125–126, 144.
  71. ^ Gloppen & Rakner 2020, p. 209.
  72. ^ Human Dignity Trust 2016, p. 10.
  73. ^ Mignot 2022, p. 122.
  74. ^ Gloppen & Rakner 2020, pp. 195, 198–199.
  75. ^ Hildebrandt 2014, pp. 245–246.
  76. ^ Gloppen & Rakner 2020, pp. 199–200.
  77. ^ a b c Mignot 2022, p. 115.
  78. ^ "Legal Frameworks: Criminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual acts". ILGA World Database. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  79. ^ ILGA 2020, pp. 25, 31.
  80. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 65.
  81. ^ ILGA 2020, p. 38.
  82. ^ ILGA 2020, pp. 76, 85, 115, 131.
  83. ^ Braun 2020, p. 138.
  84. ^ a b c d Kane 2015, p. 276.
  85. ^ ILGA 2020, p. 113.
  86. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, p. 41.
  87. ^ Marhoefer 2015, pp. 72–73, 75.
  88. ^ Hildebrandt 2014, p. 232.
  89. ^ a b Fize 2020, An Exceptionally Broad Phrasing.
  90. ^ Zinn 2020, p. 7.
  91. ^ Beachy 2010, p. 837.
  92. ^ a b Gloppen & Rakner 2020, p. 195.
  93. ^ Giles 2010, p. 388.
  94. ^ Karimi & Bayatrizi 2019, p. 417.
  95. ^ Rich et al. 2020, State and Local LGBT Efforts.
  96. ^ ILGA 2020, pp. 114–141.
  97. ^ ILGA 2020, pp. 31, 38.
  98. ^ a b Mignot 2022, p. 117.
  99. ^ Goldberg et al. 2019, pp. 377–378.
  100. ^ Goldberg et al. 2019, p. 379.
  101. ^ Schwartz 2015, p. e299.
  102. ^ "Uganda passes a law making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ". NBC News. 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  103. ^ a b c d Dupont 2019, The French connection.
  104. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, pp. 59–60.
  105. ^ a b Han & O'Mahoney 2018, p. 5.
  106. ^ Goodman 2001, pp. 679–680.
  107. ^ Zinn 2020, pp. 10, 13.
  108. ^ Karimi & Bayatrizi 2019, p. 424.
  109. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 49.
  110. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, pp. 65–66.
  111. ^ a b Han & O'Mahoney 2018, p. 60.
  112. ^ Kurimay 2020, p. 175.
  113. ^ Zinn 2020, p. 11.
  114. ^ a b Virgili 2021, p. 141.
  115. ^ Lemke 2020.
  116. ^ Tolino 2020, Egypt: Law 10/1961.
  117. ^ a b c d Cichowitz et al. 2018.
  118. ^ Virgili 2021, pp. 140–141.
  119. ^ Virgili 2021, pp. 130, 133.
  120. ^ a b Kane 2015, p. 278.
  121. ^ a b Goodman 2001, p. 733.
  122. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, p. 62.
  123. ^ Marhoefer 2015, pp. 123–124.
  124. ^ a b Khan 2019, p. 320.
  125. ^ Khan 2019, pp. 316, 321.
  126. ^ Goodman 2001, pp. 705, 732–733.
  127. ^ Khan 2019, pp. 317, 320.
  128. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, p. 68.
  129. ^ Khan 2019, pp. 321–322.
  130. ^ Mignot 2022, p. 114.
  131. ^ a b c d Gupta 2012, p. 614.
  132. ^ Goodman 2001, p. 732.
  133. ^ Whisnant 2016, p. 180.
  134. ^ Beachy 2010, pp. 804–805.
  135. ^ Kane 2015, pp. 283–284.
  136. ^ Anabtawi 2022, p. 388.
  137. ^ Sinclair & Ross 1986, pp. 119, 127.
  138. ^ a b Arreola et al. 2015, p. 232.
  139. ^ a b Hagopian et al. 2017.
  140. ^ Wirtz et al. 2013, pp. S21–S22.
  141. ^ Theobald 2021, pp. 46–47.
  142. ^ Arimoro 2021, p. 386.
  143. ^ Kaoma 2018, p. 53.
  144. ^ Strenski 2020, pp. 385–386, 394.
  145. ^ Ozsoy 2021, p. 7.
  146. ^ Zollner 2010, pp. 211–212.
  147. ^ Zollner 2010, pp. 212–213.
  148. ^ El-Rouayheb 2009, pp. 121–122.
  149. ^ Zollner 2010, pp. 194–195.
  150. ^ a b Arimoro 2021, p. 379.
  151. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, pp. 11–12.
  152. ^ Kane 2015, pp. 281–282.
  153. ^ Asal & Sommer 2016, p. 87.
  154. ^ Seo 2017, p. 46.
  155. ^ Giles 2010, pp. 390–391.
  156. ^ Tobin 2015, p. 24.
  157. ^ Kaoma 2018, p. 177.
  158. ^ Linhart 2005, p. 252.
  159. ^ Theobald 2021, p. 47.
  160. ^ Giles 2010, pp. 389–390.
  161. ^ Whisnant 2016, p. 226.
  162. ^ McEwen 2019, p. 9.
  163. ^ a b Dupont 2019, Social pacification and sexual conformity.
  164. ^ Vleugel 2020, p. 326.
  165. ^ Vleugel 2020, pp. 299–301, 326.
  166. ^ Dupont 2019, Keeping the genie in the bottle.
  167. ^ Alexander 2018, The MVD's Objections to Decriminalization.
  168. ^ Tahmindjis 2005, p. 13.
  169. ^ Vleugel 2020, p. 301.
  170. ^ Goodman 2001, p. 678.
  171. ^ Han & O'Mahoney 2018, pp. 64, 83.
  172. ^ Vleugel 2020, p. 300.
  173. ^ Tobin 2015, p. 7.
  174. ^ a b c Sibalis 1996, p. 85.
  175. ^ Leckey 2020, p. 227.
  176. ^ Marhoefer 2015, p. 127.
  177. ^ Sibalis 1996, pp. 91–92.
  178. ^ Whisnant 2016, p. 32.
  179. ^ Leckey 2020, pp. 227–228.
  180. ^ a b Hildebrandt 2014, p. 241.
  181. ^ Arimoro 2021, pp. 382–383.
  182. ^ Fize 2020, Protecting Britishness?.
  183. ^ George 1995, pp. 48–49, 51–52.
  184. ^ Arimoro 2021, pp. 384–385.
  185. ^ Schofield, Philip (19 March 2014). "Gloomy terrors or the most intense pleasure?". OUPblog. from the original on 2014-04-05. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  186. ^ Whisnant 2016, p. 20.
  187. ^ Tobin 2015, pp. 13–14.
  188. ^ Linhart 2005, p. 251.
  189. ^ "Compare Global Views of Moral Issues". Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project. Archived from the original on 2022-02-05. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  190. ^ Tahmindjis 2005, p. 14.
  191. ^ Tahmindjis 2005, pp. 12–13.
  192. ^ Kaoma 2018, p. 117.
  193. ^ "Jamaica: Case Decided by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights". Human Dignity Trust. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  194. ^ Khan 2019, pp. 314–316.
  195. ^ ILGA 2017, p. 7.
  196. ^ Gallup (14 September 2007). "LGBT Rights". Archived from the original on 2022-02-05. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  197. ^ Kaoma 2018, pp. 7–8.

Sources

Books

  • Asal, Victor; Sommer, Udi (2016). Legal Path Dependence and the Long Arm of the Religious State: Sodomy Provisions and Gay Rights across Nations and over Time. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-6325-4.
  • Braun, Téa (2020). "Dignity in Diversity: Dismantling the Criminalisation of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Using the Right to Dignity". Human Dignity and International Law. Brill. pp. 138–153. ISBN 9789004435650.
  • Claassen, Cheryl; Ammon, Laura (2022). Religion in Sixteenth-Century Mexico: A Guide to Aztec and Catholic Beliefs and Practices. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-51838-0.
  • Dynes, Wayne R.; Donaldson, Stephen (1992). Homosexuality: Discrimination, Criminology, and the Law. Garland Pub. ISBN 978-0-8153-0551-4.
  • El-Rouayheb, Khaled (2009). Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500-1800. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-72990-9.
  • George, Robert P. (1995). "Social Cohesion and the Legal Enforcement of Morals: A Reconsideration of the Hart—Devlin Debate". Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-826024-0.
  • Giles, Geoffrey J. (2010). "The Persecution of Gay Men and Lesbians During the Third Reich". The Routledge History of the Holocaust. Routledge. pp. 385–396. ISBN 978-0-203-83744-3.
  • Goldberg, Naomi G.; Mallory, Christy; Hasenbush, Amira; Stemple, Lara; Meyer, Ilan H. (2019). "Police and the Criminalization of LGBT People". The Cambridge Handbook of Policing in the United States. Cambridge University Press. pp. 374–391. ISBN 978-1-108-42055-6.
  • Gloppen, Siri; Rakner, Lise (2020). "LGBT rights in Africa". Research Handbook on Gender, Sexuality and the Law. ISBN 9781788111157.
  • Han, Enze; O'Mahoney, Joseph (2018). British Colonialism and the Criminalization of Homosexuality: Queens, Crime and Empire. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-25618-6.
  • Kane, Melinda D. (2015). "Decriminalizing Homosexuality: Gaining Rights through Sodomy Law Reform". The Ashgate Research Companion to Lesbian and Gay Activism. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-61314-7.
  • Kaoma, Kapya (2018). Christianity, Globalization, and Protective Homophobia: Democratic Contestation of Sexuality in Sub-Saharan Africa. Springer International Publishing. ISBN 978-3-319-66341-8.
  • Khan, Tawseef (2019). "Sexual orientation and refugee law: how do legal sanctions criminalizing homosexuality engage the definition of persecution?". Research Handbook on International Refugee Law. Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 310–323. ISBN 978-0-85793-281-5.
  • Kurimay, Anita (2020). Queer Budapest, 1873-1961. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-70579-8.
  • Marhoefer, Laurie (2015). Sex and the Weimar Republic: German Homosexual Emancipation and the Rise of the Nazis. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-1957-9.
  • Rich, Timothy; Dahmer, Andi; Eliassen, Isabel (2020). "Historical Views of Homosexuality: Asia". The Oxford Encyclopedia of LGBT Politics and Policy. Oxford University Press.
  • Sibalis, Michael David (1996). "The Regulation of Male Homosexuality in Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, 1789–1815". Homosexuality in Modern France. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509303-2.
  • Theobald, Michael (2021). "Paul and Same-Sex Sexuality". "Who Am I to Judge?": Homosexuality and the Catholic Church. De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-070518-8.
  • Tobin, Robert Deam (2015). Peripheral Desires: The German Discovery of Sex. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4742-8.
  • Tolino, Serena (2020). "LGBTQI Rights in the Middle East and North Africa". The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-008748-7.
  • Virgili, Tommaso (2021). Islam, Constitutional Law and Human Rights: Sexual Minorities And Freethinkers In Egypt And Tunisia. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-53509-3.
  • Vleugel, Vincent (2020). Culture in the State Reporting Procedure of the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies: How the HRC, the CESCR and the CEDAWCee Use Human Rights as a Sword to Protect and Promote Culture, and as a Shield to Protect Against Harmful Culture (PDF). Intersentia. ISBN 978-1-83970-006-4.
  • Whisnant, Clayton J. (2016). Queer Identities and Politics in Germany: A History, 1880–1945. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-1-939594-10-5.
  • Zollner, Barbara (2010). "Mithliyyun or Lutiyyun? Neo-orthodoxy and the debate on the unlawfulness of same-sex relations in Islam". Islam and Homosexuality. ABC-CLIO. pp. 193–222. ISBN 978-0-313-37903-1.

Journal articles

  • Alexander, Rustam (2018). "Soviet Legal and Criminological Debates on the Decriminalization of Homosexuality (1965–75)". Slavic Review. 77 (1): 30–52. doi:10.1017/slr.2018.9. ISSN 0037-6779.
  • Anabtawi, Samer (2022). "Snatching Legal Victory: LGBTQ Rights Activism and Contestation in the Arab World". Arab Law Quarterly. 36 (4–5): 383–421. doi:10.1163/15730255-bja10112. ISSN 1573-0255.
  • Arimoro, Augustine Edobor (2021). "Interrogating the Criminalisation of Same-Sex Sexual Activity: A Study of Commonwealth Africa". Liverpool Law Review. 42 (3): 379–399. doi:10.1007/s10991-021-09280-5. ISSN 1572-8625.
  • Arreola, Sonya; Santos, Glenn-Milo; Beck, Jack; Sundararaj, Mohan; Wilson, Patrick A.; Hebert, Pato; Makofane, Keletso; Do, Tri D.; Ayala, George (2015). "Sexual Stigma, Criminalization, Investment, and Access to HIV Services Among Men Who Have Sex with Men Worldwide". AIDS and Behavior. 19 (2): 227–234. doi:10.1007/s10461-014-0869-x. ISSN 1573-3254. PMID 25086670.
  • Awondo, Patrick (2016). "Religious Leadership and the Re-Politicisation of Gender and Sexuality in Cameroon". Journal of Theology for Southern Africa.
  • Beachy, Robert (2010). "The German Invention of Homosexuality". The Journal of Modern History. 82 (4): 801–838. doi:10.1086/656077.
  • Cichowitz, Cody; Rubenstein, Leonard; Beyrer, Chris (2018). "Forced anal examinations to ascertain sexual orientation and sexual behavior: An abusive and medically unsound practice". PLOS Medicine. 15 (3): e1002536. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002536. ISSN 1549-1676. PMC 5856262. PMID 29547659.
  • Dupont, Wannes (2019). "Pas de deux, out of step: Diverging chronologies of homosexuality's (de)criminalisation in the Low Countries". Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies. 22 (4): 321–338. doi:10.5117/TVGN2019.4.001.DUPO.
  • Fize, William (2020). "The Homosexual Exception? The Case of the Labouchère Amendment". Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens (91 Printemps). doi:10.4000/cve.7597. ISSN 0220-5610.
  • Goodman, Ryan (2001). "Beyond the Enforcement Principle: Sodomy Laws, Social Norms, and Social Panoptics". California Law Review. 89 (3): 643–740. doi:10.2307/3481180. JSTOR 3481180.
  • Gupta, Kamil (2012). "The Global Decriminalization of Homosexuality". Criminal Law & Justice Weekly. 176 (43): 614. ISSN 1741-4555.
  • Hagopian, Amy; Rao, Deepa; Katz, Aaron; Sanford, Sallie; Barnhart, Scott (2017). "Anti-homosexual legislation and HIV-related stigma in African nations: what has been the role of PEPFAR?". Global Health Action. 10 (1): 1306391. doi:10.1080/16549716.2017.1306391. PMC 5496073. PMID 28580879.
  • Haskins, Susan (2014). "The influence of Roman laws regarding same-sex acts on homophobia in Africa". African Human Rights Law Journal. 14 (2): 393–411. hdl:10520/EJC165015.
  • Hildebrandt, Achim (2014). "Routes to decriminalization: A comparative analysis of the legalization of same-sex sexual acts". Sexualities. 17 (1–2): 230–253. doi:10.1177/1363460713511105.
  • Hildebrandt, Achim; Trüdinger, Eva-Maria; Wyss, Dominik (2019). "The Missing Link? Modernization, Tolerance, and Legislation on Homosexuality". Political Research Quarterly. 72 (3): 539–553. doi:10.1177/1065912918797464.
  • Karimi, Ahmad; Bayatrizi, Zohreh (2019). "Dangerous positions: Male homosexuality in the new penal code of Iran". Punishment & Society. 21 (4): 417–434. doi:10.1177/1462474518787465.
  • Leckey, Robert (2020). "'Repugnant': Homosexuality and Criminal Family Law". University of Toronto Law Journal. 70 (3): 225–244. doi:10.3138/utlj.2019-0051.
  • Lemke, Richard (2020). "The association of the availability of offline gay scenes and national tolerance of homosexuality with gay and bisexual men's sexual online dating behavior". Computers in Human Behavior. 104: 106172. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2019.106172. S2CID 210443272.
  • Linhart, Karin M. (2005). "Decriminalization of Homosexuality and Its Effects on Family Rights: A German-US-American Comparison". German Law Journal. 6 (6): 943–965. doi:10.1017/S2071832200014048.
  • McEwen, Haley (2019). "Suspect sexualities: contextualizing rumours of homosexuality within colonial histories of population control". Critical African Studies. 11 (3): 266–284. doi:10.1080/21681392.2019.1670701.
  • Mignot, Jean-François (2022). "Decriminalizing homosexuality: A global overview since the 18th century". Annales de démographie historique (143): 115–133. doi:10.3917/adh.143.0115. ISSN 0066-2062.
  • Ozsoy, Elif Ceylan (2021). "Decolonizing Decriminalization Analyses: Did the Ottomans Decriminalize Homosexuality in 1858?". Journal of Homosexuality. 68 (12): 1979–2002. doi:10.1080/00918369.2020.1715142. hdl:10871/120331. PMID 32069182.
  • Schwartz, Sheree R, et al. (2015). "The immediate effect of the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act on stigma, discrimination, and engagement on HIV prevention and treatment services in men who have sex with men in Nigeria: analysis of prospective data from the TRUST cohort". The Lancet HIV. 2 (7): e299–e306. doi:10.1016/S2352-3018(15)00078-8. PMC 4481876. PMID 26125047.
  • Schwartz, Michael (2021). "Homosexuelle im modernen Deutschland: Eine Langzeitperspektive auf historische Transformationen" [Homosexuals in Modern Germany: A Long-Term Perspective on Historical Transformations]. Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 69 (3): 377–414. doi:10.1515/vfzg-2021-0028.
  • Seckinelgin, Hakan (2018). "Same-sex lives between the language of international LGBT rights, international aid, and anti-homosexuality" (PDF). Global Social Policy. 18 (3): 284–303. doi:10.1177/1468018118795989.
  • Seo, Hyeon-Jae (2017). "Origins and Consequences of Uganda's Brutal Homophobia". Harvard International Review. 38 (3): 44–47. ISSN 0739-1854.
  • Sinclair, Ken; Ross, Michael W. (1986). "Consequences of Decriminalization of Homosexuality: A Study of Two Australian States". Journal of Homosexuality. 12 (1): 119–127. doi:10.1300/J082v12n01_07. PMID 3841666.
  • Strenski, Ivan (2020). "On the Jesuit-Maronite Provenance of Lebanon's Criminalization of Homosexuality". Journal of Law and Religion. 35 (3): 380–406. doi:10.1017/jlr.2019.42.
  • Tahmindjis, Phillip (2005). "Sexuality and International Human Rights Law". Journal of Homosexuality. 48 (3–4): 9–29. doi:10.1300/J082v48n03_03. PMID 15814499.
  • Torra, Michael Jose (1998). "Gay Rights After the Iron Curtain". The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs. 22 (2): 73–88. ISSN 1046-1868. JSTOR 45289040.
  • Wirtz, Andrea L.; Kirey, Anna; Peryskina, Alena; Houdart, Fabrice; Beyrer, Chris (2013). "Uncovering the epidemic of HIV among men who have sex with men in Central Asia". Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 132: S17–S24. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.06.031. PMID 23906993.
  • Zinn, Alexander (2020). "»Das sind Staatsfeinde« Die NS-Homosexuellenverfolgung 1933–1945" ["They are enemies of the state": The Nazi persecution of homosexuals 1933–1945] (PDF). Bulletin des Fritz Bauer Instituts: 6–13. ISSN 1868-4211.

Reports

  • Human Dignity Trust (May 2016). "Breaking the Silence: Criminalisation of Lesbians and Bisexual Women and its Impacts" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2019-06-03. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  • ILGA (28 September 2017). "ILGA-RIWI Global attitudes survey" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2018-01-13. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  • ILGA (14 December 2020). "State-Sponsored Homophobia report - 2020 global legislation overview update" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2020-12-15. Retrieved 10 January 2022.

May 19, 2023
criminalization, homosexuality, some, sexual, acts, between, less, frequently, between, women, have, been, classified, criminal, offense, various, regions, most, time, such, laws, unenforced, with, regard, consensual, same, conduct, they, nevertheless, contrib. Some or all sexual acts between men and less frequently between women have been classified as a criminal offense in various regions Most of the time such laws are unenforced with regard to consensual same sex conduct but they nevertheless contribute to police harassment stigmatization and violence against homosexual and bisexual people Other effects include exacerbation of the HIV epidemic due to the criminalization of men who have sex with men discouraging them from seeking preventative care or treatment for HIV infection Love is not a crime signs at Paris Pride 2019 The criminalization of homosexuality is often justified by the scientifically discredited idea that homosexuality can be acquired or by public revulsion towards homosexuality in many cases founded on the condemnation of homosexuality by the Abrahamic religions Judaism Christianity and Islam Arguments against the criminalization of homosexuality began to be expressed during the Enlightenment Initial objections included the practical difficulty of enforcement excessive state intrusion into private life and the belief that criminalization was not an effective way of reducing the incidence of homosexuality Later objections included the argument that homosexuality should be considered a disease rather than a crime that criminalization violates the human rights of homosexuals and that homosexuality is not morally wrong In many countries criminalization of homosexuality is based on legal codes inherited from the British Empire The French colonial empire did not lead to criminalization of homosexuality as this was abolished in France during the French Revolution in order to remove religious influence from the criminal law In other countries the criminalization of homosexuality is based on sharia law In the Western world a major wave of decriminalization started after World War II It diffused globally and peaked in the 1990s In recent years many African countries have increased enforcement of anti homosexual laws due to politicization and a mistaken belief that homosexuality is a Western import As of 2023 update homosexuality is criminalized de jure in 62 UN member states and de facto in two others at least six of these have a death penalty for homosexuality Contents 1 History 1 1 Ancient through early modern world 1 2 Impact of colonialism and imperialism 1 3 Post World War II decriminalization trend 1 4 Resistance to decriminalization 1 5 Current status 2 Scope of laws 3 Enforcement 4 Effects 5 Support and opposition 5 1 Religions 5 2 Arguments for 5 3 Arguments against 5 4 Human rights 5 5 Public opinion 6 References 6 1 Sources 6 1 1 Books 6 1 2 Journal articles 6 1 3 ReportsHistory EditAncient through early modern world Edit The burning of the knight Richard Puller von Hohenburg with his servant before the walls of Zurich for sodomy 1482 The Assyrian Laws contain a passage punishing homosexual relations but it is disputed if this refers to consensual relations or only non consensual ones 1 The first known Roman law to mention same sex relations was the Lex Scantinia Although the actual text of this law is lost it likely prohibited free Roman citizens from taking the passive role in same sex acts The Christianization of the Roman Empire made social attitudes increasingly disapproving of homosexuality In the sixth century Byzantine emperor Justinian introduced other laws against same sex sexuality referring to such acts as contrary to nature 2 The Syro Roman law book which was influential in the Middle Eastern legal tradition and especially in Lebanon prescribed the death penalty for homosexuality 3 Some Ottoman criminal codes called for fines for sodomy liwat but others did not mention the offense 4 In 15th century central Mexico homosexual acts between men could be punished by disembowelment and smothering in hot ashes 5 During the late Middle Ages many jurisdictions in Europe began to add prohibitions of sodomy to secular law They also toughened enforcement with vice squads appearing in some European cities 6 In some cases sodomy was punished by investigation and denunciation in others by fines and in some cases by the burning of the participants or the location where the act had taken place The death penalty for sodomy was common in early modern Europe 7 8 It is unclear how strictly sodomy laws were enforced one theory is that enforcement was related to moral panics in which homosexuals were a scapegoat 9 English monarch Henry VIII codified the prohibition of homosexuality in England into secular law with the Buggery Act 1533 10 an attempt to gain the high ground in the religious struggle of the English Reformation This law based on the religious prohibition in Leviticus prescribed the death penalty for buggery anal sex 11 12 Impact of colonialism and imperialism Edit Participant carrying a poster against Section 377 during Bhubaneswar Pride Parade India Many present day jurisdictions criminalize homosexuality based on colonial criminal codes they adopted under British rule 13 The Indian Penal Code and its Section 377 criminalizing homosexuality were applied to several British colonies in Asia Africa and Oceania 14 15 The Wright Penal Code was drafted for Jamaica and ultimately adopted in Honduras Tobago St Lucia and the Gold Coast 16 17 The Stephen Code was adopted in Canada and in a modified form in New Zealand expanding the criminalization of homosexuality to cover any same sex activity 18 19 The Griffith Code was adopted in Australia and several other Commonwealth countries including Nauru Nigeria Kenya Tanzania Papua New Guinea Zanzibar and Uganda and in Israel 20 21 Once established laws against homosexuality are often maintained by inertia and inclusion in postcolonial criminal codes 22 Some states adopted British inspired laws criminalizing homosexuality on the basis of informal influence 23 while other former British colonies criminalize homosexuality under the influence of sharia law 24 Both China and Japan which had not historically prosecuted homosexuality 6 criminalized it based on Western models in the nineteenth century 25 During the French Revolution in 1791 the National Constituent Assembly abolished the law against homosexuality as part of its adoption of a new legal code without the influence of Christianity Although the assembly never discussed homosexuality it has been legal in France since then 26 27 Previously it could be punished by burning to death although this was infrequently enforced 28 29 The abolition of criminality for sodomy was codified in the 1810 penal code 30 Napoleon s conquests and the adoption of civil law and penal codes on the French model led to abolition of criminality in many jurisdictions and replacement of death with imprisonment in others 31 32 Via military occupation or emulation of the French criminal code the Scandinavian countries Spain the Netherlands Portugal Belgium Japan and their colonies and territories including much of Latin America decriminalized homosexuality 33 Former French colonies are less likely than British ones to criminalize homosexuality 34 35 The Ottoman Empire is often considered to have decriminalized homosexuality in 1858 when it adopted a French inspired criminal code 36 but Elif Ceylan Ozsoy argues that homosexuality had already been decriminalized 37 However some Ottoman men were executed for sodomy including two boys in Damascus in 1807 38 The unification of Germany reversed some of the gains of the Napoleonic conquests as the unified country adopted the Prussian penal code in 1871 re criminalizing homosexuality in some areas 31 In Germany the prohibition of homosexuality was not frequently enforced until 1933 39 In Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 an estimated 57 000 men were convicted of violating Paragraph 175 40 Never before or since have so many homosexuals been convicted in such a short period of time 41 Thousands of men were imprisoned and killed in Nazi concentration camps 42 West Germany convicted about the same number of men under the same law until 1969 when homosexuality was partially decriminalized 43 In the Russian Empire homosexuality was criminalized in 1835 and decriminalized in 1917 as a result of the Russian Revolution 44 45 The criminalization was reinstated in 1934 with a harsher penalty than before for unknown reasons 46 Post World War II decriminalization trend Edit Proportion of the world population living in a country where homosexual acts are not criminalized 1760 2020 In the decades after World War II anti homosexuality laws saw increased enforcement in Western Europe and the United States 47 48 49 During the 1950s and 1960s there was a tendency to legalize homosexuality with a higher age of consent than for heterosexual relationships this model was recommended by various international organizations to prevent young men from becoming homosexual 50 Convergence occurred both through the partial decriminalization of homosexuality as in the United Kingdom 1967 Canada 1969 and West Germany 1969 or through the partial criminalization of homosexuality such as in Belgium where the first law against same sex activity came into effect in 1965 50 51 There was a wave of decriminalization in the late twentieth century ninety percent of changes to these laws between 1945 and 2005 involved liberalization or abolition 47 Eighty percent of repeals between 1972 and 2002 were done by a legislature and the remainder by the laws being ruled unconstitutional by a court 52 Decriminalization began in Europe and the Americas and spread globally in the 1980s 53 The pace of decriminalization reached a peak in the 1990s Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union many former Soviet republics decriminalized homosexuality 54 but others in Central Asia retained these laws 55 China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 56 Following a protracted legal battle the Supreme Court of India ruled that the criminalization of homosexuality violated the Constitution of India in the 2018 Navtej Singh Johar v Union of India judgement 57 58 One explanation for these legal changes is increased regard for human rights and autonomy of the individual 59 and the effects of the 1960s sexual revolution 51 The trend in increased attention to individual rights in laws around sexuality has been observed around the world but progresses more slowly in some regions such as the Middle East 60 Studies have found that modernization as measured by the Human Development Index or GDP per capita 61 and globalization KOF Index of Globalization was negatively correlated with the criminalization of homosexuality 62 Resistance to decriminalization Edit Further information LGBT rights in Africa Africa is the only continent where decriminalization of homosexuality has not been widespread since the mid twentieth century 63 In Africa one of the primary narratives cited in favor of the criminalization of homosexuality is defending ordre public morality culture religion and children from the assumed imperial gay agenda associated with the Global North 64 65 66 Such claims ignore the fact that many indigenous African cultures tolerated homosexuality and historically the criminalization of homosexuality derives from British colonialism 67 12 65 In the Middle East homosexuality has been seen as a tool of Western domination for the same reason 68 The application of international pressure to decriminalize homosexuality has had mixed results in Africa While it led to liberalization in some countries it also prompted public opinion to be skeptical of these demands and encouraging countries to pass even more restrictive laws in resistance to what is seen as neocolonial pressure 69 70 71 Politicians may also target homosexuality to distract from other issues 59 66 Following decolonization several former British colonies expanded laws that had only targeted men in order to include same sex behavior by women 72 Others especially Muslim majority countries in Africa passed new laws to criminalize homosexual behavior 73 In many African countries anti homosexuality laws were little enforced for decades only to see increasing enforcement politicization and calls for harsher penalties beginning in the mid 1990s 74 75 Such calls often come from domestic religious institutions The rise of Evangelical Christianity and especially Pentecostalism has increased the politicization of homosexuality as these churches have been engaged in anti homosexual mobilizations as a form of nation building 76 Current status Edit Further information LGBT rights by country or territory As of 2020 21 percent of the world population lives in countries where homosexuality is criminalized 77 In its 2023 update Database the International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association ILGA found that homosexuality is criminalized in 62 of 193 UN member states while two UN member states Iraq and Egypt criminalize it de facto but not in legislation In at least six UN member states Brunei Iran Mauritania Nigeria only northern Nigeria Saudi Arabia and Yemen it is punishable by death 78 All of the countries that use the death penalty base it directly or indirectly on sharia law 79 Two thirds of countries that criminalize sexual activity between men also criminalize it between women 77 In 2007 five countries conducted executions as a penalty for homosexual acts 80 In 2020 the ILGA named Iran and Saudi Arabia as the only countries in which executions for same sex activity have reportedly taken place 81 In other countries such as Yemen Somalia Iraq and Libya extrajudicial executions are carried out by militias such as Al Shabaab the Islamic State or Al Qaeda 82 In 2021 Tea Braun of the Human Dignity Trust estimated that more than 71 million LGBT people live in countries where homosexuality is criminalized 83 Criminalized Decriminalized 1791 1850 Decriminalized 1850 1945 Decriminalized 1946 1989 Decriminalized 1990 present Unknown date of legalization Always legalScope of laws EditLaws against homosexuality make some or all sex acts between people of the same sex a crime 84 While some laws are specific about which acts are illegal others use vague terminology such as crimes against nature unnatural offenses indecency or immoral acts 84 85 Some laws exclusively criminalize anal sex while others include oral sex or mutual masturbation Some sodomy laws explicitly target same sex couples while others apply to sexual acts that might be performed by heterosexual couples but are usually enforced against same sex couples only 84 It is more common for men who have sex with men to be criminalized than women who have sex with women 86 and there are no countries that only criminalize female same sex activity 84 77 This has been due to a belief that eroticism between women is not really sex and that it will not tempt women away from heterosexuality 87 88 Unlike other laws which criminalized specific sexual acts the British Labouchere Amendment in 1885 89 and the 1935 revision of Germany s Paragraph 175 simply criminalized any sexual act between two men 90 Both laws made it much easier to convict men for homosexuality leading to an increase in convictions 91 89 Penalties vary widely from fines or short terms of imprisonment to the death penalty 92 Some laws target both partners in the sex act equally while in other cases the punishment is unequal 93 94 While homosexuality is criminalized country wide in many cases in other countries specific jurisdictions pass their own criminal laws against homosexuality such as in Aceh province 95 Most laws criminalizing homosexuality are codified in statutory law 96 but in some countries such as Saudi Arabia they are based on the direct application of Islamic criminal jurisprudence 97 Even in countries where there are no specific laws against homosexuality homosexuals may be disproportionately criminalized under other laws such as those targeting indecency debauchery prostitution pornography 98 homelessness 99 or HIV exposure 100 In some countries such as historically China and currently Egypt and Indonesia such laws serve as de facto criminalization of homosexuality 98 One analysis of the United States found that instead of being directly arrested under sodomy laws most arrests of homosexuals came from solicitation disorderly conduct and loitering laws which were based on the assumption that homosexuals unlike heterosexuals by definition were people who engaged in illicit activity 47 In 2014 Nigeria passed the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act 2013 criminalizing people who have a same sex marriage ceremony with five years imprisonment Although homosexuality was already illegal the law led to increasing persecution of Nigerian homosexuals 101 The 2023 Ugandan anti homosexuality law is the first to make it illegal to simply identify as LGBT 102 Enforcement EditLaws criminalizing homosexuality are inherently difficult to enforce because they concern acts done by consenting individuals in private 103 104 Enforcement varies from active persecution to non enforcement 105 92 more often than not laws are nearly unenforced for private consensual sex 47 In some countries there are no prosecutions for decades or there is a formal moratorium 106 In Nazi Germany the site of the most severe persecution of homosexual men in history only about 10 percent of the homosexual male population was ever convicted and imprisoned 107 In Iran the 2013 penal code forbids authorities from proactively investigating same sex acts unless kidnapping or assault are suspected 108 In some countries such as India 109 and Guyana the laws are not commonly enforced but are used to harass LGBT people 110 Indian police have used the threat of prosecution to extort money or sexual favors 111 Arrests even without conviction can often lead to publicity causing the accused to lose their job 47 Those prosecuted under such laws tend to be disproportionately from working class backgrounds unmarried and between twenty and forty years old 112 States including Nazi Germany and Egypt commonly use torture to extract confessions from men suspected of being homosexual 113 114 In Egypt possession of condoms or sexual lubricant or stereotypically feminine characteristics are cited as circumstantial evidence that the suspect has committed sodomy 114 Online dating apps have also been used to identify and target men for prosecution 115 Physical examinations purporting to detect evidence of homosexual practices have been employed since at least 1857 when the French physician Auguste Ambroise Tardieu published a book claiming to identify several signs that a person had participated in receptive anal intercourse 116 117 As of 2018 update at least nine states including Tanzania Egypt and Tunisia use medically discredited anal examinations in an effort to detect same sex acts between men or transgender women 118 117 There is no evidence that such tests are effective at detecting whether the victim has taken part in homosexual activity 119 117 This practice is considered to constitute acts of torture under the United Nations Convention Against Torture 117 Effects EditThe criminalization of homosexuality is often seen as defining all gays and lesbians as criminals or outlaws 120 121 Even when not enforced such laws express a symbolic threat of state violence 121 and reinforce stigma and discrimination 105 47 Homosexuals may fear prosecution 122 and are put at risk of blackmail 123 124 arbitrary arrest and imprisonment police beatings and involuntary medical interventions 125 The criminalization of homosexuality in some cases pushes LGBT culture and socialization to the margins of society exposing LGBT people to crimes such as assault robbery rape or murder from other citizens They may be afraid to report these crimes or may be ignored by the authorities 126 127 128 Such issues lead to severe psychological harm 129 The laws also justify discrimination against homosexuals 130 being cited to deny child custody registration of associations and other civil rights 120 and prevent LGBT people from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association 131 124 Reactions of homosexuals to the laws range from internalizing stigma to losing respect for the laws and civic community in general 132 Historian Robert Beachy argues that a confluence of factors including the criminalization of homosexuality meant that a sense of homosexual identity was first developed in Germany around 1900 ultimately catalyzing the first homosexual movement 133 134 LGBT movements often developed after the repeal of criminal laws but in some cases they contributed to repeal efforts 135 LGBT activism against criminalization can take multiple forms including directly advocating the repeal of the laws strategic litigation in the judicial system in order to reduce enforceability seeking external allies from outside the country and capacity building within the community 136 A 1986 study found that the decriminalization of homosexuality in South Australia did not lead to an increase in undesirable effects such as child abuse public solicitation or disease transmission as claimed in parliamentary debates 137 The criminalization of homosexuality has been identified as an exacerbating feature of the HIV epidemic in Africa 138 139 and Central Asia 140 because it dissuades many people at risk of HIV infection from disclosing their sexual behavior to healthcare providers or seeking preventative care testing or treatment Criminalization both reinforces societal disapproval of homosexuality which is another factor in decreasing the effectiveness of anti HIV efforts and is independently associated with less access to HIV services 138 139 Support and opposition EditReligions Edit The Abrahamic religions all have traditionally held negative attitudes towards homosexuality The Hebrew Bible prescribes the death penalty for lying with another man as with a woman Leviticus 20 13 but does not directly address lesbianism It is disputed if the biblical prohibition was originally intended to prohibit temple prostitution or particular sexual acts between multiple men particularly those that are seen as compromising a man s masculinity The total prohibition of homosexual behavior is considered to have evolved relatively late in the Jewish tradition 141 Some Christians cite various Bible passages in order to justify the criminalization of homosexuality 142 Although the Holy See officially opposes the criminalization of homosexuality in 2014 Roman Catholic bishops from Malawi Kenya Sudan Tanzania Eritrea Zambia Uganda and Ethiopia united to demand criminal punishment of homosexuals calling homosexuality unnatural and un African 143 According to sharia law liwat anal intercourse and sihaq or musahiqa tribadism are considered sins or criminal offenses 35 The Sunni Hanafi school unlike other Islamic schools and branches rejects analogy as a principle of jurisprudence Since there is no explicit call for the punishment of homosexuals in the accepted statements of Muhammed Hanafi jurists classified homosexuality as a sin rather than a crime according to religious law and a tazir offense meaning the punishment is left to the discretion of secular rulers 144 145 According to the Maliki Shafi i Hanbali Sunni and Ja afari Shia schools any penetrative sex outside of marriage or between a man and his female slave is zina a more serious crime 146 Zina is punishable by lashes or death by stoning whether the death penalty is allowed depends on the school whether the man has been married and whether he is the active or passive partner However the death penalty can only be applied upon a confession repeated four times by the accused or testimony by four witnesses 35 147 All Sunni schools but not the Shia Ja afari consider non anal sex between men to be a tazir offense 148 In recent times some progressive Muslims have argued for a new interpretation of liwat which is never defined in the Quran to mean something other than consensual homosexual acts 149 Adherence to Islam is a major predictor of maintaining laws criminalizing homosexuality and the death penalty for it The majority of studies have found no association for Christianity 150 151 152 State interference in religious matters for example religious courts having jurisdiction beyond family law or bans on interfaith marriage is strongly correlated with maintaining the criminalization of homosexuality 153 Under Buddhist religious law there is no punishment for homosexuality among laypeople Although harsh penalties are prescribed for penetrative sexual activity by male monks novitiates suffer less punishment than for heterosexual activity 6 Arguments for Edit A prominent reason cited for criminalizing homosexuality is the claim made without evidence and also without explaining the resulting negative results if it occurred that it could be spread and that laws against it would prevent homosexuals from recruiting children 154 155 156 157 This rationale was later proved wrong by scientific research showing that sexual orientation was fixed by a young age 158 Both Philo of Alexandria 159 and Heinrich Himmler believed that if allowed to spread unchecked homosexuality would lead to depopulation therefore they advocated harsh punishments 160 161 The belief that the West is conspiring to depopulate Africa using homosexuality is also a common argument for retaining the criminalization of homosexuality in Africa 162 Supporters of paternalism argues that the state can interfere in citizens private lives to secure a vision of the common good 150 A common argument is that criminalization of homosexuality is necessary to maintain public morality 163 111 164 traditional values and cultural or social norms 165 Anxieties around public morality gained prominence in nineteenth century Western Europe and North America 163 Before the medicalization of homosexuality in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it was commonly seen as a vice similar to drunkenness that occurred as a result of moral degradation rather than being an innate predisposition 166 Soviet officials argued that homosexuality was a social danger that contravened socialist morality and that criminalization was an essential tool to lower its prevalence 167 Some countries have cited the perception that the criminalization of homosexuality would prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted infections in particular HIV AIDS as a reason to keep their laws 168 169 Another reason cited in favor of criminalizing homosexuality is public opinion 170 171 The rarity of prosecutions is also cited as a reason not to repeal the laws 131 172 Arguments against Edit Criticism of the criminalization of homosexuality began to be expressed by Enlightenment thinkers such as legal philosopher Cesare Beccaria in his 1764 treatise On Crimes and Punishments 31 173 Early opponents argued that the laws were impractical to enforce 103 174 175 ineffective at deterring homosexuality 176 103 and overly intrusive into private life 103 174 31 For example Napoleon believed that The scandal of legal proceedings would only tend to multiply homosexual acts 177 In 1898 socialist politician August Bebel highlighted the disproportionate enforcement of Paragraph 175 against working class German men as a reason for repeal 178 One argument leading to the decriminalization of homosexuality in countries such as Canada Czechoslovakia East Germany and Bulgaria was that homosexuality was a pathological disease and therefore inappropriate as an object of criminal sanctions 179 180 181 Another argument cited for the decriminalization of homosexuality is that morality is distinct from law which should concern itself only with the public good Based on the work of John Stuart Mill the harm principle posits that conduct should only be considered criminal if it harms people other than those performing the action According to this principle homosexuality should not be criminalized 182 183 The 1957 Wolfenden Report which proposed the decriminalization of homosexuality in the United Kingdom sparked a famous debate between Lord Devlin H L A Hart and others about whether the law was a suitable instrument for the enforcement of morality when the interests of non consenting parties are not affected 184 185 Many of these justifications are consistent with a strong moral condemnation of homosexuality 174 and are disputes over how best to handle the perceived social problem of homosexuality rather than being based on the inalienable rights of LGBT people 181 Another line of reasoning argues that homosexuality is not morally wrong Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham wrote the first systematic defense of sexual freedom arguing that homosexuality and other forms of consensual sex were morally acceptable as they were pleasurable to their participants and forbidding these acts destroyed a great deal of human happiness 186 In the 1860s and 1870s German Karl Heinrich Ulrichs was the most prominent critic of the criminalization of homosexuality 187 His demand for equality before the law and in religion on the basis of an innate biologically based sexual drive beginning with the decriminalization of homosexuality and ending with same sex marriage are similar to those sought by LGBT rights organizations in the twenty first century 188 As a result of social changes in the twenty first century the majority of people in many Western countries view homosexuality as morally acceptable or not a moral issue 189 190 Human rights Edit See also Right to sexuality The criminalization of homosexuality is a violation of international human rights law 131 The European Court of Human Rights found that laws criminalizing homosexuality violated the right to private life guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in Dudgeon v United Kingdom 1981 Norris v Ireland 1988 and Modinos v Cyprus 1993 191 In the 1994 case Toonen v Australia the Human Rights Committee ruled that the criminalization of homosexuality in Tasmania violated the right to privacy and non discrimination guaranteed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights even though the applicant was never arrested or charged with violating the law While Tasmania argued that the law was necessary to protect traditional morals and prevent the transmission of HIV the Human Rights Committee found that arguments about morals are not insulated from international human rights norms 192 In 2014 the African Union s Commission on Human and People s Rights issued a landmark resolution calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality 193 In 2020 the Inter American Commission on Human Rights found in Gareth Henry and Simone Carline Edwards v Jamaica that Jamaica s laws criminalizing same sex activities violated the applicants right to privacy right to humane treatment freedom of movement and principle of legality guaranteed by the American Convention on Human Rights The commission recommended that Jamaica repeal the laws against same sex activity in order to guarantee the non repetition of similar human rights abuses in the future 194 Persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation is a reason to seek asylum in some countries including Canada the European Union and the United Kingdom although depending on the case the mere existence of criminal sanctions may not be sufficient for an applicant to be granted asylum 131 195 Public opinion Edit See also Societal attitudes toward homosexuality According to a 2017 worldwide survey by ILGA the criminalization of homosexuality is correlated with more negative opinions on LGBT people and LGBT rights Overall 28 5 percent of those surveyed supported the criminalization of homosexuality while 49 percent disagreed In states that criminalize homosexuality 42 percent agree and 36 percent disagree compared with non criminalizing states where 22 percent agree and 55 percent disagree Knowing someone who is gay lesbian or bisexual is correlated with less support for criminalization 196 The number of Americans who agree that homosexuality should be a criminal offense has dropped from 56 percent in 1986 to 18 percent in 2021 197 Public opinion surveys show that while 78 percent of Africans disapprove of homosexuality only 45 percent support it being criminalized 198 References Edit Strenski 2020 pp 393 394 Haskins 2014 Roman origins of the laws on same sex acts Strenski 2020 p 394 Ozsoy 2021 pp 8 9 Claassen amp Ammon 2022 p 292 a b c Dynes amp Donaldson 1992 p ix Ozsoy 2021 p 9 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 38 Whisnant 2016 pp 18 19 Haskins 2014 Roman laws in Africa Asal amp Sommer 2016 pp 12 39 41 a b Kaoma 2018 p 21 Arimoro 2021 pp 379 380 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 47 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 pp 11 14 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 52 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 pp 15 17 Asal amp Sommer 2016 pp 50 51 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 pp 17 19 Asal amp Sommer 2016 pp 51 52 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 pp 20 24 Asal amp Sommer 2016 pp 18 54 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 pp 10 31 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 pp 26 28 Hildebrandt 2014 pp 236 237 Sibalis 1996 pp 81 83 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 61 Sibalis 1996 pp 81 96 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 55 Asal amp Sommer 2016 pp 19 55 a b c d Whisnant 2016 p 19 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 19 Asal amp Sommer 2016 pp 19 56 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 16 a b c Tolino 2020 Criminalization of Same Sex Relations An Overview Ozsoy 2021 p 1 Ozsoy 2021 pp 19 20 El Rouayheb 2009 p 151 Marhoefer 2015 p 121 Schwartz 2021 p 383 Zinn 2020 p 13 Zinn 2020 p 12 Schwartz 2021 p 379 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 86 Mignot 2022 p 120 Alexander 2018 pp 31 32 a b c d e f Kane 2015 p 277 Dupont 2019 The post war crunch Hildebrandt 2014 p 239 a b Dupont 2019 Franco Danish but made in Holland Conclusion a b Hildebrandt 2014 pp 239 241 Kane 2015 p 279 Hildebrandt 2014 p 230 Asal amp Sommer 2016 pp 24 26 Wirtz et al 2013 p S22 Rich et al 2020 State Policies Han amp O Mahoney 2018 p 2 Rich et al 2020 What Gets Represented a b Kane 2015 p 280 Karimi amp Bayatrizi 2019 pp 424 425 Hildebrandt et al 2019 p 2 Asal amp Sommer 2016 pp 85 89 Mignot 2022 p 121 Kaoma 2018 p 124 a b Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 13 a b Gloppen amp Rakner 2020 pp 200 201 Gloppen amp Rakner 2020 p 200 Karimi amp Bayatrizi 2019 p 429 Seckinelgin 2018 p 3 Kaoma 2018 pp 125 126 144 Gloppen amp Rakner 2020 p 209 Human Dignity Trust 2016 p 10 Mignot 2022 p 122 Gloppen amp Rakner 2020 pp 195 198 199 Hildebrandt 2014 pp 245 246 Gloppen amp Rakner 2020 pp 199 200 a b c Mignot 2022 p 115 Legal Frameworks Criminalisation of consensual same sex sexual acts ILGA World Database Retrieved 2023 05 07 ILGA 2020 pp 25 31 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 65 ILGA 2020 p 38 ILGA 2020 pp 76 85 115 131 Braun 2020 p 138 a b c d Kane 2015 p 276 ILGA 2020 p 113 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 p 41 Marhoefer 2015 pp 72 73 75 Hildebrandt 2014 p 232 a b Fize 2020 An Exceptionally Broad Phrasing Zinn 2020 p 7 Beachy 2010 p 837 a b Gloppen amp Rakner 2020 p 195 Giles 2010 p 388 Karimi amp Bayatrizi 2019 p 417 Rich et al 2020 State and Local LGBT Efforts ILGA 2020 pp 114 141 ILGA 2020 pp 31 38 a b Mignot 2022 p 117 Goldberg et al 2019 pp 377 378 Goldberg et al 2019 p 379 Schwartz 2015 p e299 Uganda passes a law making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ NBC News 22 March 2023 Retrieved 22 March 2023 a b c d Dupont 2019 The French connection Han amp O Mahoney 2018 pp 59 60 a b Han amp O Mahoney 2018 p 5 Goodman 2001 pp 679 680 Zinn 2020 pp 10 13 Karimi amp Bayatrizi 2019 p 424 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 49 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 pp 65 66 a b Han amp O Mahoney 2018 p 60 Kurimay 2020 p 175 Zinn 2020 p 11 a b Virgili 2021 p 141 Lemke 2020 Tolino 2020 Egypt Law 10 1961 a b c d Cichowitz et al 2018 Virgili 2021 pp 140 141 Virgili 2021 pp 130 133 a b Kane 2015 p 278 a b Goodman 2001 p 733 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 p 62 Marhoefer 2015 pp 123 124 a b Khan 2019 p 320 Khan 2019 pp 316 321 Goodman 2001 pp 705 732 733 Khan 2019 pp 317 320 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 p 68 Khan 2019 pp 321 322 Mignot 2022 p 114 a b c d Gupta 2012 p 614 Goodman 2001 p 732 Whisnant 2016 p 180 Beachy 2010 pp 804 805 Kane 2015 pp 283 284 Anabtawi 2022 p 388 Sinclair amp Ross 1986 pp 119 127 a b Arreola et al 2015 p 232 a b Hagopian et al 2017 Wirtz et al 2013 pp S21 S22 Theobald 2021 pp 46 47 Arimoro 2021 p 386 Kaoma 2018 p 53 Strenski 2020 pp 385 386 394 Ozsoy 2021 p 7 Zollner 2010 pp 211 212 Zollner 2010 pp 212 213 El Rouayheb 2009 pp 121 122 Zollner 2010 pp 194 195 a b Arimoro 2021 p 379 Asal amp Sommer 2016 pp 11 12 Kane 2015 pp 281 282 Asal amp Sommer 2016 p 87 Seo 2017 p 46 Giles 2010 pp 390 391 Tobin 2015 p 24 Kaoma 2018 p 177 Linhart 2005 p 252 Theobald 2021 p 47 Giles 2010 pp 389 390 Whisnant 2016 p 226 McEwen 2019 p 9 a b Dupont 2019 Social pacification and sexual conformity Vleugel 2020 p 326 Vleugel 2020 pp 299 301 326 Dupont 2019 Keeping the genie in the bottle Alexander 2018 The MVD s Objections to Decriminalization Tahmindjis 2005 p 13 Vleugel 2020 p 301 Goodman 2001 p 678 Han amp O Mahoney 2018 pp 64 83 Vleugel 2020 p 300 Tobin 2015 p 7 a b c Sibalis 1996 p 85 Leckey 2020 p 227 Marhoefer 2015 p 127 Sibalis 1996 pp 91 92 Whisnant 2016 p 32 Leckey 2020 pp 227 228 Alexander 2018 The Legal Argument for Decriminalization a b Hildebrandt 2014 p 241 Arimoro 2021 pp 382 383 Fize 2020 Protecting Britishness George 1995 pp 48 49 51 52 Arimoro 2021 pp 384 385 Schofield Philip 19 March 2014 Gloomy terrors or the most intense pleasure OUPblog Archived from the original on 2014 04 05 Retrieved 10 January 2022 Whisnant 2016 p 20 Tobin 2015 pp 13 14 Linhart 2005 p 251 Compare Global Views of Moral Issues Pew Research Center s Global Attitudes Project Archived from the original on 2022 02 05 Retrieved 13 January 2022 Tahmindjis 2005 p 14 Tahmindjis 2005 pp 12 13 Kaoma 2018 p 117 Jamaica Case Decided by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights Human Dignity Trust Retrieved 31 January 2022 Khan 2019 pp 314 316 ILGA 2017 p 7 Gallup 14 September 2007 LGBT Rights Archived from the original on 2022 02 05 Retrieved 12 January 2022 Kaoma 2018 pp 7 8 Sources Edit Books Edit Asal Victor Sommer Udi 2016 Legal Path Dependence and the Long Arm of the Religious State Sodomy Provisions and Gay Rights across Nations and over Time SUNY Press ISBN 978 1 4384 6325 4 Braun Tea 2020 Dignity in Diversity Dismantling the Criminalisation of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Using the Right to Dignity Human Dignity and International Law Brill pp 138 153 ISBN 9789004435650 Claassen Cheryl Ammon Laura 2022 Religion in Sixteenth Century Mexico A Guide to Aztec and Catholic Beliefs and Practices Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 1 316 51838 0 Dynes Wayne R Donaldson Stephen 1992 Homosexuality Discrimination Criminology and the Law Garland Pub ISBN 978 0 8153 0551 4 El Rouayheb Khaled 2009 Before Homosexuality in the Arab Islamic World 1500 1800 University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 72990 9 George Robert P 1995 Social Cohesion and the Legal Enforcement of Morals A Reconsideration of the Hart Devlin Debate Making Men Moral Civil Liberties and Public Morality Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 826024 0 Giles Geoffrey J 2010 The Persecution of Gay Men and Lesbians During the Third Reich The Routledge History of the Holocaust Routledge pp 385 396 ISBN 978 0 203 83744 3 Goldberg Naomi G Mallory Christy Hasenbush Amira Stemple Lara Meyer Ilan H 2019 Police and the Criminalization of LGBT People The Cambridge Handbook of Policing in the United States Cambridge University Press pp 374 391 ISBN 978 1 108 42055 6 Gloppen Siri Rakner Lise 2020 LGBT rights in Africa Research Handbook on Gender Sexuality and the Law ISBN 9781788111157 Han Enze O Mahoney Joseph 2018 British Colonialism and the Criminalization of Homosexuality Queens Crime and Empire Routledge ISBN 978 1 351 25618 6 Kane Melinda D 2015 Decriminalizing Homosexuality Gaining Rights through Sodomy Law Reform The Ashgate Research Companion to Lesbian and Gay Activism Routledge ISBN 978 1 315 61314 7 Kaoma Kapya 2018 Christianity Globalization and Protective Homophobia Democratic Contestation of Sexuality in Sub Saharan Africa Springer International Publishing ISBN 978 3 319 66341 8 Khan Tawseef 2019 Sexual orientation and refugee law how do legal sanctions criminalizing homosexuality engage the definition of persecution Research Handbook on International Refugee Law Edward Elgar Publishing pp 310 323 ISBN 978 0 85793 281 5 Kurimay Anita 2020 Queer Budapest 1873 1961 University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 70579 8 Marhoefer Laurie 2015 Sex and the Weimar Republic German Homosexual Emancipation and the Rise of the Nazis University of Toronto Press ISBN 978 1 4426 1957 9 Rich Timothy Dahmer Andi Eliassen Isabel 2020 Historical Views of Homosexuality Asia The Oxford Encyclopedia of LGBT Politics and Policy Oxford University Press Sibalis Michael David 1996 The Regulation of Male Homosexuality in Revolutionary and Napoleonic France 1789 1815 Homosexuality in Modern France Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 509303 2 Theobald Michael 2021 Paul and Same Sex Sexuality Who Am I to Judge Homosexuality and the Catholic Church De Gruyter ISBN 978 3 11 070518 8 Tobin Robert Deam 2015 Peripheral Desires The German Discovery of Sex University of Pennsylvania Press ISBN 978 0 8122 4742 8 Tolino Serena 2020 LGBTQI Rights in the Middle East and North Africa The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 008748 7 Virgili Tommaso 2021 Islam Constitutional Law and Human Rights Sexual Minorities And Freethinkers In Egypt And Tunisia Routledge ISBN 978 0 429 53509 3 Vleugel Vincent 2020 Culture in the State Reporting Procedure of the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies How the HRC the CESCR and the CEDAWCee Use Human Rights as a Sword to Protect and Promote Culture and as a Shield to Protect Against Harmful Culture PDF Intersentia ISBN 978 1 83970 006 4 Whisnant Clayton J 2016 Queer Identities and Politics in Germany A History 1880 1945 Columbia University Press ISBN 978 1 939594 10 5 Zollner Barbara 2010 Mithliyyun or Lutiyyun Neo orthodoxy and the debate on the unlawfulness of same sex relations in Islam Islam and Homosexuality ABC CLIO pp 193 222 ISBN 978 0 313 37903 1 Journal articles Edit Alexander Rustam 2018 Soviet Legal and Criminological Debates on the Decriminalization of Homosexuality 1965 75 Slavic Review 77 1 30 52 doi 10 1017 slr 2018 9 ISSN 0037 6779 Anabtawi Samer 2022 Snatching Legal Victory LGBTQ Rights Activism and Contestation in the Arab World Arab Law Quarterly 36 4 5 383 421 doi 10 1163 15730255 bja10112 ISSN 1573 0255 Arimoro Augustine Edobor 2021 Interrogating the Criminalisation of Same Sex Sexual Activity A Study of Commonwealth Africa Liverpool Law Review 42 3 379 399 doi 10 1007 s10991 021 09280 5 ISSN 1572 8625 Arreola Sonya Santos Glenn Milo Beck Jack Sundararaj Mohan Wilson Patrick A Hebert Pato Makofane Keletso Do Tri D Ayala George 2015 Sexual Stigma Criminalization Investment and Access to HIV Services Among Men Who Have Sex with Men Worldwide AIDS and Behavior 19 2 227 234 doi 10 1007 s10461 014 0869 x ISSN 1573 3254 PMID 25086670 Awondo Patrick 2016 Religious Leadership and the Re Politicisation of Gender and Sexuality in Cameroon Journal of Theology for Southern Africa Beachy Robert 2010 The German Invention of Homosexuality The Journal of Modern History 82 4 801 838 doi 10 1086 656077 Cichowitz Cody Rubenstein Leonard Beyrer Chris 2018 Forced anal examinations to ascertain sexual orientation and sexual behavior An abusive and medically unsound practice PLOS Medicine 15 3 e1002536 doi 10 1371 journal pmed 1002536 ISSN 1549 1676 PMC 5856262 PMID 29547659 Dupont Wannes 2019 Pas de deux out of step Diverging chronologies of homosexuality s de criminalisation in the Low Countries Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies 22 4 321 338 doi 10 5117 TVGN2019 4 001 DUPO Fize William 2020 The Homosexual Exception The Case of the Labouchere Amendment Cahiers victoriens et edouardiens 91 Printemps doi 10 4000 cve 7597 ISSN 0220 5610 Goodman Ryan 2001 Beyond the Enforcement Principle Sodomy Laws Social Norms and Social Panoptics California Law Review 89 3 643 740 doi 10 2307 3481180 JSTOR 3481180 Gupta Kamil 2012 The Global Decriminalization of Homosexuality Criminal Law amp Justice Weekly 176 43 614 ISSN 1741 4555 Hagopian Amy Rao Deepa Katz Aaron Sanford Sallie Barnhart Scott 2017 Anti homosexual legislation and HIV related stigma in African nations what has been the role of PEPFAR Global Health Action 10 1 1306391 doi 10 1080 16549716 2017 1306391 PMC 5496073 PMID 28580879 Haskins Susan 2014 The influence of Roman laws regarding same sex acts on homophobia in Africa African Human Rights Law Journal 14 2 393 411 hdl 10520 EJC165015 Hildebrandt Achim 2014 Routes to decriminalization A comparative analysis of the legalization of same sex sexual acts Sexualities 17 1 2 230 253 doi 10 1177 1363460713511105 Hildebrandt Achim Trudinger Eva Maria Wyss Dominik 2019 The Missing Link Modernization Tolerance and Legislation on Homosexuality Political Research Quarterly 72 3 539 553 doi 10 1177 1065912918797464 Karimi Ahmad Bayatrizi Zohreh 2019 Dangerous positions Male homosexuality in the new penal code of Iran Punishment amp Society 21 4 417 434 doi 10 1177 1462474518787465 Leckey Robert 2020 Repugnant Homosexuality and Criminal Family Law University of Toronto Law Journal 70 3 225 244 doi 10 3138 utlj 2019 0051 Lemke Richard 2020 The association of the availability of offline gay scenes and national tolerance of homosexuality with gay and bisexual men s sexual online dating behavior Computers in Human Behavior 104 106172 doi 10 1016 j chb 2019 106172 S2CID 210443272 Linhart Karin M 2005 Decriminalization of Homosexuality and Its Effects on Family Rights A German US American Comparison German Law Journal 6 6 943 965 doi 10 1017 S2071832200014048 McEwen Haley 2019 Suspect sexualities contextualizing rumours of homosexuality within colonial histories of population control Critical African Studies 11 3 266 284 doi 10 1080 21681392 2019 1670701 Mignot Jean Francois 2022 Decriminalizing homosexuality A global overview since the 18th century Annales de demographie historique 143 115 133 doi 10 3917 adh 143 0115 ISSN 0066 2062 Ozsoy Elif Ceylan 2021 Decolonizing Decriminalization Analyses Did the Ottomans Decriminalize Homosexuality in 1858 Journal of Homosexuality 68 12 1979 2002 doi 10 1080 00918369 2020 1715142 hdl 10871 120331 PMID 32069182 Schwartz Sheree R et al 2015 The immediate effect of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act on stigma discrimination and engagement on HIV prevention and treatment services in men who have sex with men in Nigeria analysis of prospective data from the TRUST cohort The Lancet HIV 2 7 e299 e306 doi 10 1016 S2352 3018 15 00078 8 PMC 4481876 PMID 26125047 Schwartz Michael 2021 Homosexuelle im modernen Deutschland Eine Langzeitperspektive auf historische Transformationen Homosexuals in Modern Germany A Long Term Perspective on Historical Transformations Vierteljahrshefte fur Zeitgeschichte 69 3 377 414 doi 10 1515 vfzg 2021 0028 Seckinelgin Hakan 2018 Same sex lives between the language of international LGBT rights international aid and anti homosexuality PDF Global Social Policy 18 3 284 303 doi 10 1177 1468018118795989 Seo Hyeon Jae 2017 Origins and Consequences of Uganda s Brutal Homophobia Harvard International Review 38 3 44 47 ISSN 0739 1854 Sinclair Ken Ross Michael W 1986 Consequences of Decriminalization of Homosexuality A Study of Two Australian States Journal of Homosexuality 12 1 119 127 doi 10 1300 J082v12n01 07 PMID 3841666 Strenski Ivan 2020 On the Jesuit Maronite Provenance of Lebanon s Criminalization of Homosexuality Journal of Law and Religion 35 3 380 406 doi 10 1017 jlr 2019 42 Tahmindjis Phillip 2005 Sexuality and International Human Rights Law Journal of Homosexuality 48 3 4 9 29 doi 10 1300 J082v48n03 03 PMID 15814499 Torra Michael Jose 1998 Gay Rights After the Iron Curtain The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs 22 2 73 88 ISSN 1046 1868 JSTOR 45289040 Wirtz Andrea L Kirey Anna Peryskina Alena Houdart Fabrice Beyrer Chris 2013 Uncovering the epidemic of HIV among men who have sex with men in Central Asia Drug and Alcohol Dependence 132 S17 S24 doi 10 1016 j drugalcdep 2013 06 031 PMID 23906993 Zinn Alexander 2020 Das sind Staatsfeinde Die NS Homosexuellenverfolgung 1933 1945 They are enemies of the state The Nazi persecution of homosexuals 1933 1945 PDF Bulletin des Fritz Bauer Instituts 6 13 ISSN 1868 4211 Reports Edit Human Dignity Trust May 2016 Breaking the Silence Criminalisation of Lesbians and Bisexual Women and its Impacts PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2019 06 03 Retrieved 11 January 2022 ILGA 28 September 2017 ILGA RIWI Global attitudes survey PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2018 01 13 Retrieved 11 January 2022 ILGA 14 December 2020 State Sponsored Homophobia report 2020 global legislation overview update PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2020 12 15 Retrieved 10 January 2022 Portals Human sexuality Law Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Criminalization of homosexuality amp oldid 1155554708, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.