Orthodox Attitudes to Gay People Shift
THE GUARDIAN: A statement on homosexuality that has garnered more than 100 rabbinic signatures is a watershed for Orthodox Judaism

If you think the Christian world has a problem with gay people, you should try orthodox Judaism. For centuries homosexuality has been taboo; it's not what nice Jewish boys or girls do. The biblical proscription against "men lying with men as though with a woman" (Leviticus 20:13) is considered the very bedrock of Jewish morality. For traditional Judaism marriage is the highest state of social bonding – a true union of body and soul. Despite some odd exceptions in biblical and rabbinical literature, (Jeremiah is told by God to stay single, Ben Azzai, one of the greatest of the Mishnaic teachers, remains a bachelor by choice), even celibacy was frowned upon. Part of this opposition was no doubt based on a response to the cultural environment – pagan in the biblical era, Christian in the rabbinic one. But despite major shifts in sociological contexts, the ban against homosexuality was rigidly enforced throughout the centuries. Whilst in other areas the rabbis often showed great flexibility and understanding, this particular area remained off-limits.

In recent years, however, homosexuality, among even the most Orthodox sectors of Judaism, has become a growing feature of contemporary Jewish life. In both America and Israel – the world's two largest Jewish communities – it has not been uncommon for rabbis and others to "come out", often suffering the consequences that such a confession entails. Moreover, reports of homosexual relations between rabbi-teachers and their students have been a regular feature of news items in both communities. In Israel and the US these behaviours have been the subject of a number of feature and documentary films. Continue reading and comment >>> Mordechai Beck | Monday, August 09, 2010

Le maire de Reykjavik se travestit
20 MINUTES: Le nouveau maire de Reykjavik, le comédien Jon Gnarr, s'est rendu à la Gay Pride de Reykjavik travesti en femme avec rouge à lèvres, perruque blonde et sac à main jaune fluo.

Lorsque le maître de cérémonie a appelé l'anticonformiste élu islandais à venir sur scène jeudi soir, il est apparu vêtu d'une ravissante robe à fleurs recouvrant une poitrine généreuse en expliquant que «le maire n'avait pas pu venir». Père de cinq enfants, Gnarr, 43 ans, était devenu début juin à la surprise générale maire de la capitale islandaise après avoir remporté les élections avec un parti baptisé «Le Meilleur parti». Il avait promis d'être «avant tout un maire amusant». (+ vidéo) >>> | Vendredi 06 Août 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Reykjavik mayor attends gay pride in drag: Reykjavik's comedian-turned-politician mayor, Jon Gnarr, opened the Icelandic capital's gay pride festival this week in drag, in a blond wig and with bright red lipstick. >>> | Friday, August 06, 2010

Late-blooming Lesbians: Women Can Switch Sexualities as They Mature
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Women are embracing lesbianism in their thirties, according to research indicating that shifts in sexual orientation may be more widespread than previously thought.

Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi, who nine years before their wedding was married to a man. Photo: The Sunday Telegraph
While “late-blooming lesbians” are not uncommon in history – the married writer Virginia Woolf had an affair with the poet Vita Sackville-West – the phenomenon of mature women switching sexualities is now attracting academic scrutiny.

One study even indicates that as many as two-thirds of women who feel lesbian attractions may have changed their sexual orientation over time.

The findings appear to pose a challenge to the scientific consensus that a person's sexuality is determined more by their genes than environment.

Christan Moran, a researcher at Southern Connecticut State University in the US, said that many women who develop lesbian feelings in later life refuse to “come out” for fear of society’s reaction.

Women in long-term heterosexual relationships, especially those with children, face even greater problems reconciling themselves to their new identities, she said. >>> Matthew Moore | Sunday, July 11, 2010

Britain: Ruling for Gay Asylum Seekers
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the right of gay asylum seekers not to be deported if they could show that they faced persecution in their home countries. The court ruled unanimously in favor of two men — a Cameroonian who fled his country after being attacked by an angry mob, and an Iranian who was attacked and expelled from school when his sexuality was discovered — who had lost appeals against deportation in a lower court. The lower court judges had ruled that the men could live “reasonably tolerable” lives in their home countries if they concealed their sexuality. The Supreme Court said that “to compel a homosexual person to pretend” that his sexuality does not exist amounted to denying “his fundamental right to be who he is.” The coalition Conservative-Liberal Democrat government embraced the ruling, which reversed the policy of the former Labour government. [Source: The New York Times] John F. Burns | Wednesday, July 07, 2010

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: UK: Decision on Gay Asylum Seekers is to be applauded and is long overdue >>> | Thursday, July 08, 2010

Police Recover Busabala Missing Head


SHE WIRED: Uganda LGBT Volunteer Found Beheaded: A volunteer for the LGBT advocacy group Integrity Uganda was found beheaded on a farm during a search for a missing priest. >>> SheWired Editors | Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Google was among a number companies which opposed a successful California initiative to legally define 'marriage' as exclusively a union between a man and a woman. Image: Google Images
Google Pays Gay Workers Extra
THE TELEGRAPH: Google has begun paying extra to its gay employees in the US to compensate them for additional taxes on their benefits.

The search engine giant yesterday adjusted the pay packets of employees in same sex relationships to offset income tax they have to pay on health insurance for their partners[.]

Gay couples have also been given the same rights as heterosexuals to take off from work for family or medical reasons, Cynthia Yeung of the Google's strategic development team said in a blog post.

The company has strong gay representation, with nearly 300 "Googlers' marched in San Francisco's 40th annual Pride parade on Sunday.

"We braved the rain in Boston, enjoyed the sun in New York, rode a trolley in Chicago and marched with the Israel Gay Youth Organization in Tel Aviv and Haifa," Ms Yeung said of Google workers taking part in such celebrations.

"Googlers will be participating in EuroPride, held in Poland this year, as well as many other parades, including Tokyo for the first time. And we'll be celebrating Pride season in Singapore too." >>> | Thursday, July 01, 2010

Minn. Pastor Likely to Keep Job Despite Gay Report
ASSOCIATED PRESS: MINNEAPOLIS — A Lutheran pastor ardently critical of allowing gays into the clergy is on leave from his Minneapolis church after a gay magazine reported his attendance at a support group for men struggling with same-sex attraction.

Church officials, however, said Wednesday that the Rev. Tom Brock likely will return to the pulpit at Hope Lutheran Church because he acted in accordance with his faith by attending the group.

A fixture on local cable access shows, Brock regularly broadcasts conservative views on homosexuality and criticizes the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for liberalizing its gay clergy policy.

Lavender Magazine published a story last week about Brock's quiet attendance of the Faith in Action meetings, written by a reporter who falsely posed as a member of the group.

"The fact that he said one thing publicly, and privately he's a homosexual — that's somewhat inconsistent," said Lavender president Stephen Rocheford. "This company has a policy not to out people. The one exception is a public figure who says one thing and does another."

The Lavender article never explicitly said Brock confessed to homosexual activity. It quotes him at one point talking about a recent mission trip to Eastern Europe, of which he says, "I fell into temptation. I was weak." >>> Patrick Condon | Thursday, June 24, 2010

Iraqi LGBT organisation. Image: Google Images
US and UK Failing to Take Iraq's Gay Pogrom Seriously
THE GUARDIAN: Both countries deny any Iraqi state involvement in anti-gay militias, but LGBT supporters suggest otherwise

Last week, 12 Iraqi police officers burst into a house in Karbala, beat up and blindfolded the six occupants and bundled them off in three vans, taking the computers they found with them. The house was then burned down by unknown people.

The house was a new "emergency shelter" run by the Iraqi LGBT organisation.

Two days later, one of the men turned up in hospital with a throat wound saying he'd been tortured. Iraqi LGBT has ordered those in its other two safe houses to move immediately.

The group says the police action is consistent with other state attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Iraq. It has information that the other five – two gay men, one lesbian and two transgender people – have been transported 100 miles north to the interior ministry in Baghdad, where they'll be interrogated (ie tortured) to find out more about the group. Then, going on past experience, they'll probably be handed to militias loyal to Shi'a clerics Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani and Muqtada al-Sadr (both of whom have called for homosexuals to be put to death) and their mutilated bodies will turn up later.

But it is also clear from past experience that there is unlikely to be a sustained international outcry from gay people, governments or others about this latest incident. >>> Paul Canning | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Le mariage gay autorisé en islande [sic]
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le texte a été approuvé à l'unanimité.

L'Islande, seul pays au monde dont le chef de gouvernement soit ouvertement homosexuel, a adopté vendredi une loi autorisant les personnes de même sexe à se marier. Le texte a été approuvé à l'unanimité.

Les 49 membres de l'Althing (parlement) se sont prononcés en faveur d'un texte de loi qui étend le champ d'application du mariage aux unions entre «homme et homme, femme et femme». Pays insulaire de 320.000 habitants où prévaut une grande tolérance sociale, l'Islande a élu Premier ministre en 2009 la social-démocrate Johanna Sigurdadottir, homosexuelle déclarée. >>> ATS | Vendredi 11 Juin 2010

Holy Hatred: Homosexuality in Muslim Countries
afrol NEWS: The majority of Muslim countries outlaw same-sex relationships. The seven countries in the world that carry the death penalty for persons presumed guilty of homosexual acts, justify this punishment with the Shari'a. Culture is not, however, always "against us and there are positive examples of same-sex relationships to be found in different Muslim cultures," she writes.

By Anissa Helie - I was born and raised in Algiers, of a French father and an Algerian mother. Having access to both cultures made me realize early on that racism as well as sexism were all-pervasive on both sides of the Mediterranean. It took me a few more years to come to the conclusion that homophobia was just as widespread.

Amnesty International counts at least 83 countries where homosexuality is explicitly condemned in the criminal code. Twenty-six of these are Muslim. This means that the majority of Muslim countries, including supposedly 'liberal' ones like Tunisia as well as dictatorships like Sudan, outlaw same-sex relationships. The seven countries in the world that carry the death penalty for persons presumed guilty of homosexual acts, justify this punishment with the Shari'a, or standard interpretation of Muslim jurisprudence. Though not always applied, the existence of the death penalty makes sexual minorities extremely vulnerable.

The state is not alone in practising repression. Communities and families have a part to play. In Indonesia, for example, homosexuality is not illegal. But in 1998 'Muslim militia' launched an anti-gay campaign on the island of Mindanao during which gay Muslims were terrorized, beaten up and ordered to leave or be castrated.

Jordan does not specifically outlaw homosexuality either. But that did not stop four Jordanians last year trying to kidnap their 23-year-old lesbian relative studying in the US, beating her and attempting to force her on to a plane bound for Jordan. The US police acted promptly and came to her rescue, but such an outcome tends to be the exception rather than the rule. Violence, harassment, persecution and extrajudicial or 'shame' killings are not uncommon. Sex and tradition >>> Anissa Helie, © afrol News | Undated

Dakar from Africa's Gay Capital to Centre of Homophobia
afrol NEWS: In colonial times, Senegal's metropolis Dakar was famous for its open and tolerated homosexual prostitution market, and as late as in the 1970s, as many as 17 percent of Senegalese men admitted having had homosexual experiences. Now, Dakar is West Africa's centre of gay oppression.

The government of Senegal has made it clear that homosexuality is un-African. Since 1965, same-sex activity has been punishable by up to five years imprisonment, but only during the last five years, Dakar's former visible gay community has had to go underground, risking punishment.



Dakar's gay history is the best example demonstrating that homosexuality is not un-African. Indeed, homosexuality has been a visible and well-known part of Wolof traditions, and only moralist opinions of the colonialists, later adopted by an increasingly dominant Muslim clergy, led to the suppression of this culture. >>> Staff Writers, afrol News | Friday, June 11, 2010

Love Fails to Conquer All as Malawi Gay Couple Separate
THE GUARDIAN: Steven Monjeza leaves Tiwonge Chimbalanga for a woman a week after the couple were freed from jail in Malawi

Steven Monjeza (left) said: ‘I want to live a normal life … not a life where I would be watched by everyone, booed and teased’ after leaving Tiwonge Chimbalanga. Photograph: The Guardian
They became an international cause celebre after being sentenced to 14 years in prison under Malawi's draconian laws against homosexuality.

But today the story of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, the first same sex couple to seek marriage in Malawi, took a further twist when it emerged that they had separated and one of the men now has a female partner.

Outrage over their convictions for gross indecency and unnatural acts last month gave way to relief when the country's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, freed them on "humanitarian grounds".

Their separation was called as a "tragedy" by one campaigner who blamed it on homophobic threats and abuse. Monjeza, 26, has begun a relationship with Dorothy Gulo, a 24-year-old from Blantyre.

Monjeza, who faced family hostility towards his previous relationship with Chimbalanga, said he no longer wanted to be associated with homosexuality.

"I have had enough," he said. "I was forced into the whole drama and I regret the whole episode. I want to live a normal life ... not a life where I would be watched by everyone, booed and teased."

Chimbalanga, 20, said Monjeza had found a female lover "to hurt" him. "But I am not worried. You cannot force love, and nobody forced him when we did our symbolic wedding in December."

He insisted that he did not resent Monjeza's decision. "I will also marry because there are lots of good men around. I will remain a gay," he told the [sic] Guardian. >>> Godfrey Mapondera in Blantyre and David Smith in Johannesburg | Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Hay Festival Video: 'It Breaks My Heart That We Can Still Out Anyone As Gay'
Watch Guardian video: Jeanette Winterson on identity, secrecy, David Laws – and why she hates being labelled as a 'lesbian author' >>> Natalie Hanman and Alex Healey | Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Gay Couple Keep Low Profile After Release from Prison in Malawi
THE TELEGRAPH: A gay couple from Malawi have kept out of the public eye after being pardoned and freed from prison, in what a relative said was a deliberate decision prompted by the conservative view of homo-sexuality in the southern African country.

Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were released on Saturday, hours after President Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned them without condition. But in giving his pardon, which he said was on "humanitarian grounds only," Mr Mutharika warned that homosexuality remained illegal in the country.

Activists said that they were searching for a safe house for the couple, fearing they could be attacked upon release.

The couple's lawyer, Mauya Msuku, said he had not seen either of the men since their release.

Maxwell Manda also said he had not seen Mr Chimbalanga, his brother-in-law. He said days earlier that Mr Chimbalanga wanted to leave Malawi upon his release. >>> | Monday, May 31, 2010

Elton John Concert Upsets Morocco's Muslim Politicians
THE TELEGRAPH: A concert by Sir Elton John has tested the limits of Morocco's drive for modernity, exposing the Muslim nation's complex and ambiguous attitudes toward homosexuality.

Islamists in the North African kingdom were outraged by the gay pop star's visit, while the royal palace, government and his many fans supported his appearance.

Authorities had beefed up security with thousands of police and plainclothes officers patrolling the concert. No violence was reported, despite calls from The Justice and Development Party, or PJD, Morocco's largest authorised Islamist group, for the show to be stopped.

"This singer is famous for his homosexual behaviour and for advocating it," said Mustapha Ramid, a leader and spokesman for the PJD, the country's biggest opposition party.

"We're a rather open party, but promoting homosexuality is completely unacceptable," he said.

Mr Ramid said that homosexuality was against Muslim values, and he feared the British singer would "encourage the phenomenon" and be a bad influence for Moroccan youth.

But in a sign of Sir Elton's popularity, several thousand of his fans appeared to know his lyrics by heart even though most people in this French and Arabic speaking country know little or no English.

Moroccan officials dismissed the calls to ban Sir Elton from performing. >>> | Thursday, May 27, 2010

MITHLY.NET: Elton JOHN au cœur d'un complot contre le Maroc ! >>> Par Stonewall

Related articles and videos here

Gay Magazine Launched in Morocco
THE GUARDIAN: Homosexuality is illegal in Morocco but the publishers of a gay magazine feel its launch is a sign of progress

With gay rights under attack across Africa, it might not seem the best time to launch a magazine for homosexual people there.
But the owners of Mithly believe the launch of the magazine in Morocco is a sign of progress in a country where most gay men and lesbians tend to keep their sexuality secret.

Since its launch last month, Mithly – the title is an Arabic word meaning "the same as me", signifying gay – has covered subjects including the controversy over Elton John playing at a music festival in the country, a study of suicide among gay Moroccans and a book by an Algerian transsexual named Randa. The Arabic-language publication has sold 200 copies so far.

The paper edition circulated informally because it lacked a distribution licence from the government, said Samir Bargachi, general co-ordinator of Kif-Kif, Morocco's only gay rights group and the magazine's publisher.

He told the website Afrik.com that Mithly could reduce the stigma of being gay. "For over five years now, there has been a debate surrounding homosexuality in Morocco. But the mainstream media has the tendency to sensationalise the subject. With Mithly, we have the opportunity to give the views of homosexuals, and the opportunity to interact directly with society." >>> David Smith and agencies | Thursday, May 20, 2010

Being Gay in Morocco
AFRIK.COM: Samir Bergachi is unstoppable. Barely 23 years old, the young Moroccan is simply not content to live his homosexuality openly in a country where it is considered as a crime. For the past 6 years, Samir has been running the first Moroccan gay association, kif-kif. And only a month ago, he caused a real stir: the launching of Mithly, the first gay magazine in the Arab world. Some find his initiatives inadmissible. Others admire his courage.

He founded and launched Mithly, the first gay magazine in the Arab world, on the first of April and has since made headlines both in Morocco and the Arab world. Samir Bergachi, general coordinator of Kif-Kif, — an association that fights for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Morocco, founded in 2004, — launched Mithly in order to offer homosexuals a mouthpiece. Moroccan conservatives, hostile to homosexuality, which to them is deviant, do not accept the emergence of what has been termed a journalistic UFO. The Moroccan state, on the other hand, considers homosexuality as a crime. Gay Moroccans are, hence, caught between the hammer of the judiciary and the anvil of Islamist wrath. It is for this reason that the offices of Mithly and Kif-Kif have been established in Madrid, Spain. Despite these difficulties, Samir Bergachi told Afrik.com that the independent press as well as rights associations have "welcomed" the magazine.

Hard copies of the first issue of the magazine were printed and distributed clandestinely in Rabat. But for now, those in charge of Mithly want to focus their efforts on the Internet version for the sake of convenience. The first issue devotes several pages to British pop singer Elton John, whose participation in the Mawazine Festival, scheduled to take place in Rabat from May 21 to 29, has aroused the ire of the Islamists, due to his homosexuality. The singer is expected to meet Kif-Kif activists before his performance. Samir Bergachi believes that there is an implicit recognition by the authorities of the gay movement in Morocco. "We won a battle," he exclaims. >>> Djamel Belayachi | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Offensive Number Plates Withdrawn from Auction
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Gay rights campaigners today welcomed a move by the car licensing authority to withdraw offensive number plates from an auction.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) pulled the plates F4 GOT and D1 KES, which were due to be among 1,600 auctioned later this week.

The agency decided to remove the plates which bear resemblance to the derogatory terms faggot and dykes, on grounds of "the clear potential offence".

Each of the private plates had a reserve price of £900.

They were due to go under the hammer at an auction in Broadway, Worcestershire. >>> Liam Creedon, PA | Sunday, October 04, 2009

Gay Penguins Book Is Most Banned
BBC: Authors, artists and musicians are due to gather at a library in San Francisco to protest against the banning of books in schools and libraries in the US.

The event, part of the 27th annual Banned Books Week, has been organised by the American Library Association.

Since 2001 bans on 3,736 books and other materials have been requested.

In recent years, And Tango Makes Three - based on a true story and centring on gay penguins in New York's Central Park Zoo - has had the most ban requests.

The book's authors are Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.

In a statement to the BBC on Friday, Mr Richardson said: "It's regrettable that some parents believe reading a true story about two male penguins hatching an egg will damage their children's moral development.

"They are entitled to express their beliefs, but not to inflict them on others."

Reasons given by organisations and individuals for their requests to get it removed from public shelves, include "anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group".

Other works featuring in the most-challenged books list for 2008 include Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Parents' concern >>> | Thursday, October 01, 2009

The Gay Sons of Allah: Wave of Homophobia Sweeps the Muslim World
To identify anyone trying to use homosexuality as an excuse to get out of military service, army doctors ask to see photos or videos showing the recruits engaging in sex with a man. And they have to be in the "passive" role. In Turkey being in the active role is considered manly enough not to be proof of homosexuality.

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: In most Islamic countries, gay men and women are ostracized, persecuted and in some cases even murdered. Repressive regimes are often fanning the flames of hatred in a bid to outdo Islamists when it comes to spreading "moral panic."

Bearded men kidnapped him in the center of Baghdad, threw him into a dark hole, chained him down, urinated on him, and beat him with an iron pipe. But the worst moment for Hisham, 40, came on the fourth day of his ordeal when the kidnappers called his family. He was terrified they would tell his mother that he is gay and that this was the reason they had kidnapped him. If they did he would never be able to see his family again. The shame would be unbearable for them.

"Do what you want to me, but don't tell them," he screamed.

Instead of humiliating him in the eyes of his family, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of $50,000 (€33,000), a huge sum for the average Iraqi family. His parents had to go into debt and sell off all of their son's possessions in order to raise the money required to secure his freedom. Shortly after they received the ransom the kidnappers threw Hisham out of their car somewhere in the northern part of Baghdad. They decided not to shoot him and let him go. But they sent him on his way with a warning: "This is your last chance. If we ever see you again, we'll kill you."

That was four months ago. Hisham has since moved to Lebanon. He told his family that he had decided to flee the violence and terror in Baghdad and that he had found work in Beirut. Needless to say he didn't disclose the fact that he is unable to live in Iraq because of the death squads who are out hunting for "effeminate-looking" men.

In Baghdad a new series of murders began early this year, perpetrated against men suspected of being gay. Often they are raped, their genitals cut off, and their anuses sealed with glue. Their bodies are left at landfills or dumped in the streets. The non-profit organization Human Rights Watch, which has documented many of these crimes, has spoken of a systematic campaign of violence involving hundreds of murders.

Restoring 'Religious Morals'

A video clip showing men dancing with each other at a party in Baghdad in the summer of 2008 is thought to have triggered this string of kidnappings, rapes, and murders. Thousands of people have seen it on the Internet and on their cell phones. Islamic religious leaders began ranting about the growing presence of a "third sex" which American soldiers were said to have brought in with them. The followers of radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, in particular, felt the need to take action aimed at restoring "religious morals."

In their stronghold, the part of Baghdad known as Sadr City, black-clad militiamen patrol the streets, on the lookout for anyone whose "unmanly appearance" or behavior would make it possible to identify them as being homosexual. Often enough long hair, tight-fitting t-shirts and trousers, or a certain way of walking were a death sentence for the persons in question. But it's not just the Mahdi army who has been hunting down and killing gay men. Other groups such as Sunni militias close to al-Qaida and the Iraqi security services are also known to be involved.

Homosexuals in Iraq may be faced with an exceptionally dangerous situation but they are ostracized almost everywhere in the Muslim world. Gay rights organizations estimate that more than 100,000 gay men and women are currently being discriminated against and threatened in Muslim countries. Thousands of them commit suicide, end up in prison, or go into hiding.

Egypts Starts to Clamp Down

More than 30 Islamic countries have laws on the books that prohibit homosexuality and make it a criminal offense. In most cases punishment ranges from floggings to life imprisonment. In Mauritania, Bangladesh, Yemen, parts of Nigeria and Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Iran convicted homosexuals can also be sentenced to death. >>> Juliane von Mittelstaedt and Daniel Steinvorth | Thursday, September 17, 2009

Editor-At-Large: After Turing, the Shameful Abuse of Gays Goes On
THE INDEPENDENT: It's become fashionable for politicians to say sorry – generally for events they have no control over. It's easier to demonstrate humility for a social injustice that happened more than half a century ago than to admit responsibility for handing Rover cars to a bunch of avaricious buffoons who presided over its demise, resulting in thousands of workers losing their jobs.

Belatedly, Gordon Brown has made a public apology for the "horrifying and utterly unfair" treatment of Alan Turing, the brilliant mathematician and code-breaker whose work undoubtedly helped to bring the Second World War to a swifter conclusion, and who made an important contribution to the development of computers.

Turing was gay, and after being convicted of gross indecency in 1952 he was offered chemical castration or a prison sentence. He submitted to the highly controversial medical procedure; however, his criminal record ensured he lost his security clearance and his job. He committed suicide two years later.

There's been a long campaign to clear Turing's name – more than 30,000 people signed a petition – so it's not as if the Prime Minister woke up one day and decided that this repulsive episode in the history of gay-bashing should be publicly atoned for half a century later. In 1999, Time magazine included Turing in its 100 most important people of the 20th century and some campaigners want him to be posthumously knighted.

I'm glad that Brown felt bad about what happened to Turing, but I wonder whether he spends any time considering the ongoing harassment of homosexuals in one of our former colonies, a country millions of Britons visit and one with very close ties to a large number of British citizens. I'm talking about Jamaica, where last week John Terry, a British diplomat, who was made a MBE for services to tourism, was found murdered at home in Montego Bay. A note attached to his body reportedly called him a "batty man", slang for homosexual.

Whether this particular murder was homophobically inspired or not, the context is not encouraging. The attitude of most Jamaicans towards gay men and women is prehistoric – in a survey last year, 70 per cent questioned said they didn't think homosexuals should be entitled to the same rights as other citizens; only 26 per cent disagreed with that. In a recent poll of Jamaicans, 96 per cent were against legalising sex between consenting males. The Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, has gone on record saying he would never allow gays in his cabinet. Popular musicians including Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Shabba Ranks, Elephant Man and Beenie Man have all had hits with lyrics that call for gays to be attacked and killed.

In 2006, Time called Jamaica "the most homophobic place on earth". Prominent gay activists have been murdered and homophobic attacks are routine. Homosexuality itself is not illegal, but sodomy is. Organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have long complained about the treatment of gays in Jamaica, to no avail. >>> Janet Street-Porter | Sunday, September 13, 2009