LGBT+ rights Protest in front of Queen and PM at Commonwealth Day Celebration

LGBT rights campaigners protested outside Parliament during Commonwealth Day celebrations to objurgate homophobia in the member states.
Many Commonwealth countries continue to enact penal codes that were first introduced under the British Empire, and never repealed.
The protesters demanded decriminalisation in 37 of the 53 Commonwealth nations that still outlaw homosexuality, encircling one billion people. Nine of these countries have life imprisonment for gay sex and in parts of two, Nigeria and Pakistan, there is the death penalty.
In Jamaica they sentence 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, 14 years in Kenya, 20 years plus flogging in Malaysia, and 25 years in Trinidad and Tobago.
The protesters’ prime demands include that the Commonwealth decriminalise same-sex relations; prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; and protect LGBT+ people from hate crimes.
“LGBT+ issues have never been discussed, not even once, by Commonwealth leaders at any of their summits over the last six decades,” said Tatchell, a veteran human rights campaigner. “Surely, in 2018 the Commonwealth heads of government should address the state-sanctioned persecution of more than 100 million LGBT+ Commonwealth citizens?”
They also protested to stop torture to LGBT+ citizens who have been driven from their home countries after often violent persecution because of their sexuality or gender identity.
Abbey, who escaped Uganda, said he “came from hell, with cigarette burns in both my palms and on my legs, scars on my face which resulted from the constant beating. I went through every kind of human degradation.”
More than 30 Commonwealth nations have anti-gay laws, which has been identified Just by 9% of people with three-quarters of people either underestimating the issue or admitting they don’t know.

Member states outlawing homosexuality include Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Malawi, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Kiribati and Tonga.
“More than 100 million LGBT+ people living in Commonwealth counties have no legal protection against discrimination in employment, housing, education, health care and the provision of good and services. This makes a mockery of Commonwealth values and the human rights principles of the Commonwealth Charter.”
“The London summit is an opportunity to debate this issue and hear the voices of LGBT+ people from across the Commonwealth. It is time to end the unabated persecution,” insisted Tatchell.
> Shiuly Akter