LGBTQ+

The LGBTQ+ community can be confusing to people both inside and outside of it. Hopefully in this article I will be able to give you a small insight into our bright and colourful community. Small disclaimer, I do not claim to be a complete expert in this area, nor do I have the same viewpoint being a white gay male in a largely accepting country, however I do believe that I have some knowledge which will enable me to enlighten you and maybe teach you something new!

What is LGBTQ

LGBTQ is an initialism that has been adopted into the mainstream as an umbrella term for use when labelling topics of sexuality and gender. The initials themselves stand for;

L stands for Lesbian which is when a female is attracted to other females.

G stands for Gay which is when a man is attracted to other men.

B stands for Bisexual which is when a person is attracted to both men and women.

T stands for Transgender which is when a person identifies as a different gender to the one they were assigned at birth.

Q stands for queer or questioning.

You may be wandering what the + stands for. There are some people that feel they do not fit into any of these labels. Some people do not label themselves as male or female, they refer to themselves as gender fluid, equally there are some people that feel like they have both a male and female persona, this is called being Bigender. In terms of sexuality, it is more accurate to think of it in terms of a sliding scale rather than a checkbox list. It has been scientifically proven that no-one is 100 percent either way. Someone may be 90 percent attracted to men and 10 percent attracted to women. Equally someone may be 40 percent attracted to men and 60 percent attracted to woman. Personally I am 95 percent attracted to men and only 5 percent attracted to women, sorry ladies!

The Global Picture

You may be interested to know, both as members of the LGBTQ+ community and as allies to our community, in what ways our rights and freedoms differ around the world.

To start off on a negative note let's look at the places where being LGBTQ+ is a criminal offence.

There are 11 UN member countries around the world where being LGBTQ+ is punishable by death. These include; Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. To put this in perspective, the total population of these countries makes up 6 percent of the world's population. That means that 6 percent of people on this Earth live in a country where LGBTQ+ people are killed for being themselves, which is a pretty shocking and saddening fact.

There are a further 59 UN member countries that criminalise LGBTQ+ people. These can be found on five out of the six continents of the world, the only one with none being Europe. Many of these are located in Africa and Asia, including places like Algeria, Egypt, Malaysia, Morocco, and Pakistan, as well as many nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific. In total, these countries make up 20 percent of the worlds population. Punishments can vary. In some countries there are fines or people are sent to labour camps. In other places, people are sent to prison with sentences varying from 6 months to life in some nations. Some nations are more severe. In Malaysia, if someone is caught participating in homosexuality they will be whipped as well as face 20 years in prison. If you ever hear yourself say 'Why do we need pride?' or 'We do not need to push for rights we have them already' think of the 25 percent of the population that live in a place that don't have these rights. This is what we march for. Both to celebrate how far we have come in the past 100 years, yet reminding people that we still have so far to go.

However it is not all doom and gloom. Moving onto the positives, 75 percent of the world's population do not get arrested for being homosexual! Yay! However, there is a significantly smaller amount of people that live in a nation where LGBTQ+ people have equal rights to heterosexual people. Altogether there are 20 UN member nations where people in the LGTBQ+ community have the same rights as Heterosexual people. These include; Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and Uruguay. This might sound like a lot, however these countries only make up 5 percent of the world population. This means that the same percentage of the world's population live in total equality in terms of sexual and gender freedom and people that live in countries where people are put to death for doing just that, which is pretty harrowing.

However, the world is moving forwards which is good news! As you may of heard in the news lately, India have just decriminalised homosexuality, which is fantastic news! This is the second nation to do so in 2018, with Trinidad and Tobago doing so earlier this year. Since 2010, 10 UN member nations have decriminalised homosexuality, which is a significant amount of progress. However we still have a fair way to go. When it does, the world will truly be a better place.

Thank you for reading, have a great day!

LGBTQ+ in the UK

In the grand scheme of things, it is not that long ago that homosexuality was illegal in the UK. We are very lucky that we as a community have the same rights as anyone else. However, this was not always the case.

Homosexuality was made illegal in England in 1533 with the passing of the Buggery Act. The text of the act described "buggery" as a "detestable and abominable vice" which was punishable by death. The last executions for homosexual acts happened in 1835, with capital punishment being replaced by life imprisonment in both England and Wales.

The first signs of acceptance of homosexual activity in terms of the law appeared in 1957, when the Wolfenden committee published a report based on three years of testimony from the police, psychiatrists, and gay men themselves. All but one of the 15 members agreed that homosexual acts between consenting men over the age of 21 should not be a matter for the law. However, it wasn't until 1967 that the Sexual Offences Act was published in England and Wales, decriminalising homosexual acts for consenting men over the age of 21. However it took another 13 years for Scotland to pass the same act in 1980 and another 2 years after that for Northern Ireland to do the same in 1982.

Through the 1970s gay rights organisations were springing up both locally and nationally, with the first London Pride taking place in 1972, where 2,000+ gay men and women marched. Things looked like they were slowly progressing and getting better, however in 1988 this all changed. The then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher introduced an amendment to the Local Government act which banned state schools from teaching and promoting the acceptability of homosexuality, seeing it as a 'pretend family relationship'. Section 28, as it was called, cause widespread outrage, sparking LGBT rights group Stonewall UK to be formed. Section 28 was repealed from Scottish law eventually in 2000, with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland following suit in 2003.

The United Kingdom took another step forward in 2004 when the Civil Partnership Act was passed, allowing same sex couples to enter into same sex unions with the same rights as married couples. However, there was still not full equality and many people continued to push for marriage equality in the UK. Finally on 29th March 2014, the Marriage (Same Sex Coupes) Act came into effect which legalised same sex marriage in England and Wales. Many gay couples were wed at the stroke of midnight and there was celebration all over England and Wales. In December 2014, Scotland also legalised gay marriage, leading to further celebration. However, Northern Ireland are yet to legalise marriage equality.

You would think, now we have the law behind us we are completely safe living in the UK. However, in some places this is not the case. There are reports that 44% of LGBT people that feel uncomfortable living in the UK, with 65% of LGBT people saying they avoid holding hands with their loved ones in public out of fear of being attacked either verbally or physically. You may find yourself asking why? Well in a recent survey, when asked 2 out of 5 LGBT citizens have experienced some form of homophobic attack, be it physical or verbal. However, what is even more shocking is the fact that 90% of these do not get reported to the police, as LGBT people are lead to believe that this is just 'the norm'. This is not the case! Side note; If you know someone in the LGBT community and hear them mention about a homophobic attack they have encountered recently, encourage them to contact the police. There are special units in the police that deal with cases of homophobic attack both verbal and physical.

Summary

Although there is much positive change both nationally and internationally, we still have a long way to go, not just in terms of the law. Although in the UK we have the law on our side we still have to push for acceptance. The brilliant P!nk once said "I think the best day will be when we no longer talk about being gay or straight. its not a gay wedding, its just a wedding. Its not a gay marriage its just a marriage". Although this should be the case, I feel we still have a fair way to go before this becomes the case. W