Rainbow Flags and Olympic Ones

Report from Rio

Given all the camaraderie on display among the countries currently assembled in Rio, perhaps one can excuse the reporter who attempted to report about all the fun some of the gay athletes are having. According to the New York Times today, the Daily Beast thought it best to pull the story since it might not be a good idea if the citizens in some of the countries learned of the gayness of those who are representing them. Here is a list of some of the nations that are somewhat less liberal than ours should you be making travel plans.  The list is not exhaustive, by the way, since the story in the Times mentions that homosexuality is illegal in Tonga as well.

Yemen: According to the 1994 penal code, married men can be sentenced to death by stoning for homosexual intercourse. Unmarried men face whipping or one year in prison. Women face up to seven years in prison.

Iran: In accordance with sharia law, homosexual intercourse between men can be punished by death, and men can be flogged for lesser acts such as kissing. Women may be flogged.

Iraq: The penal code does not expressly prohibit homosexual acts, but people have been killed by militias and sentenced to death by judges citing sharia law.

Mauritania: Muslim men engaging in homosexual sex can be stoned to death, according to a 1984 law. Women face prison.

Nigeria: Federal law classifies homosexual behavior as a felony punishable by imprisonment, but several states have adopted sharia law and imposed a death penalty for men. A law signed in early January makes it illegal for gay people countrywide to hold a meeting or form clubs.

Qatar: Sharia law in Qatar applies only to Muslims, who can be put to death for extramarital sex, regardless of sexual orientation.

Saudi Arabia: Under the country’s interpretation of sharia law, a married man engaging in sodomy or any non-Muslim who commits sodomy with a Muslim can be stoned to death. All sex outside of marriage is illegal.

Somalia: The penal code stipulates prison, but in some southern regions, Islamic courts have imposed Sharia law and the death penalty.

Sudan: Three-time offenders under the sodomy law can be put to death; first and second convictions result in flogging and imprisonment. Southern parts of the country have adopted more lenient laws.

United Arab Emirates: Lawyers in the country and other experts disagree on whether federal law prescribes the death penalty for consensual homosexual sex or only for rape. In a recent Amnesty International report, the organization said it was not aware of any death sentences for homosexual acts. All sexual acts outside of marriage are banned. (The source for this information: ““Here Are the 10 Countries Where Homosexuality May be Punished by Death”, By Max Bearak and Darla Cameron, Washington Post, June 16, 2016.)

The Situation in Canada

Luckily for me, the subject came up just today in “Canada’s Newspaper of Record" which contains the following editorial: “Gay Canadians, and an Apology Due,” Globe and Mail, Aug. 12, 2016. Within it one finds this paragraph:

“The Globe reported on Thursday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will soon apologize to the many Canadians who were prosecuted, imprisoned, fired from jobs or otherwise persecuted because of their sexuality. The list ranges from those criminally charged prior to 1967, when justice minister Pierre Trudeau introduced legislation decriminalizing homosexual acts, to people expelled from the military, which until relatively recently did not allow homosexuals.”