Brunei is the tip of queer inequality iceberg

Recent backlash has pushed Brunei to put on hold their decision to punish sodomy by death, a move with has been welcomed by the world. However, while this announcement was definitely a step in the right direction, the statement made by the Sultan failed to mention any change in the ruling to punish lesbian sex acts with 40 lashes or any shift in the 10-year jail time that homosexuals could face; this has mainly been overlooked by the press. In 70 UN member states, LGBTQ+ individuals are still classed as criminals with 26 countries giving 10 years to life. Further to this, several countries carry out corporal punishment including flogging for any act of homosexuality or ‘acts against nature’ and in 6 countries this even carries a death sentence (plus 5 which have the law in place but do not impose it).

It is easy to assume that the issue of LGBTQ+ discrimination is confined to the east or less developed countries, however, looking west, America is going backwards and Northern Ireland still lacks gay marriage rights. Under the veil of ‘Religion Exclusion’, several states have given services and businesses the power to discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals based on their own religious or moral beliefs, including mental health counsellors and adoption services. In New Hampshire and Wisconsin, there is no law discriminating on gender identity, although there are laws protecting sexual orientation. The separation of church and state is a principle engrained within the constitution but is increasingly ignored.

In Northern Ireland, religion is playing a key component in voting against gay marriage with the Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party, both conservative leaning, voting against the bill. Even when the motion for gay marriage won the majority of votes in Northern Ireland’s parliament, the DUP presented a ‘Petition of Concern’ to veto the result. The Petition of Concern is meant to safeguard minority groups, demanding cross-party agreement on motions passed. Whilst the vote remains a moral victory in Northern Ireland, it stands as a reminder that LGBTQ+ rights are not seen as equal to many right-wing politicians.

Although gay rights have come a long way in the western world in the legal sense, socially, they have stalled. Across the UK, the ‘No Outsiders’ scheme, developed to teach children about diversity, has faced backlash from a group of parents. Parents are protesting outside of the school and even removing their children from schools teaching the programme. The growth of protests follows a flood of misinformation from those organising the demonstrations. By representing different family dynamics through cartoon stories, the scheme hopes to teach tolerance from a young age. However, the protestors have accused the schools of teaching about sexual relations and the ‘gay agenda’.

The protests may sound like a radicalised minority but the intolerance is felt throughout the UK’s queer community. In February this year, a YouGov survey found that a large majority (95%) of the trans community stated that they do not feel comfortable in the UK and two thirds of respondents claimed that they felt worried about holding their partners hand in public. In the same survey, one in five people who identify as LGBTQ+ said have experienced hate crimes because of their sexuality and around 80% of these crimes were not reported by victims. It is easy to see why the LGBTQ+ community feel as they do when looking at the crime statistics.

Going deeper, between October 2017 and September 2018, 369 trans people were murdered worldwide, according to police figures. Almost half of those were in Brazil; 28 were in the US and one was in the UK. This year in the UK, we have already seen one transwoman murdered. Although this number is already shocking, it is unfortunately higher in reality as the police and family of the deceased often misgender the victim. Since 2015, in America, 74 of 85 transgender murder victims were misgendered during police investigations. To truly be able to measure the level of hate crime, it would be necessary for governments to introduce increased protections. Actress Laverne Cox has stated that when she was feeling suicidal, she carried a note, which listed her name, preferred pronouns and that she should be referred to as a woman in her death.

Although LGBTQ+ rights have improved over the last 50 years, there still seems to be a lack of equality between the treatment of heterosexual and queer people in the western world. The protest over Brunei’s stoning law demonstrated a great passion for the life of LGBTQ+ folk, however, after their government put the law on hold, there appears to be very little conservation surrounding these issues in a wider context. While the worldwide outrage at this law was heart-warming, it is saddening that the same fury is not shown for the LGBTQ+ community when trans-people are murdered and misgendered or; when a gay couple are scared to hold hands or; when parents hold protests against educating children about same sex relationships.

There have been large leaps on the road to queer equality, but there are so many more to be made. To lift up those who identify as LGBTQ+, the same passion and energy as found with the Brunei ruling, must be continued. The issue of queer rights must be become a prominent issue in politics, we cannot become complacent. Queer inequality is not a trend, but a lived reality for so many.