Gay Rights
There’s never been a better time to be gay, except in a handful of places where it’s become worse. Gay-rights activists have made historic gains in a fraction of the time it took the movements for civil rights and women’s rights. Two generations ago, the idea that homosexuals could marry was unthinkable. Today, same-sex marriage exists in more than two dozen countries. Until 1970, same-sex acts were legal in about 60 countries. Today, the number is roughly double that, leaving 70 nations where they are criminalized. On the other side of the ledger, Nigeria and Russia have raised penalties facing homosexuals in recent years. In Poland, schoolchildren are now being taught that being gay is a disease to be cured.
The Situation
Opposition to gay rights on religious grounds has dwindled in societies that have become more secular and urbanized. In Serbia, a patriarchal and conservative country, a lesbian became prime minister in 2017, and in Ireland a gay man won the same post. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to wed, bringing gay marriage to the 14 states where it was still banned. South America is shedding its machismo to emerge as a gay-friendly haven. The situation in Asia is varied. Though voters in Taiwan rejected same-sex marriage in a referendum in 2018, the vote was non-binding and the country is on course to become the first Asian country to legalize gay unions, in accordance with a court ruling in 2017. Buddhist Vietnam and Thailand are more tolerant than super-modern Singapore, which has kept a colonial-era sodomy law. Intolerance is the norm in former Soviet satellites, and persecution abounds in the Middle East and other places where Islam is dominant. In Chechnya, more than 100 men suspected of being gay were abducted and tortured by authorities in 2017, according to independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Where treatment is worsening, gay bashing often is a political tool. Russia’s law against gay “propaganda” is part of President Vladimir Putin’s war on U.S. and western European values. In Poland and Hungary, ruling nationalists stir up antipathy toward homosexuals to consolidate support among religious conservatives. Laws or proposed laws targeting homosexuals in Africa can divert attention from corruption and economic malaise.
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Ignoring the idiotic and ahistorical second sentence, the short article is a good synopsis.