Former British Empire countries to be requested to legalise homosexuality

The remaining Commonwealth countries will be asked to remove any legislation which prohibits homosexuality, an Australian MP has said.

The remaining Commonwealth countries will be asked to remove any legislation which prohibits homosexuality, an Australian MP has said.
The move comes as the leaders of the 53 countries will meet in Perth, Australia, for the annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Australian delegate Michael Kirby told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that the agenda includes a recommendation to legalise same-sex relationships.
The move is requested, in part, to curb the spread of HIV.

The countries represented at the summit account for 30 per cent of world's population but 60 percent of AIDS cases.
Currently, more than 40 of the 54 Commonwealth member states continue to punish same-sex behaviour with criminal sanctions. Over half the world's countries that criminalise homosexuality belong to the Commonwealth.

Penalties include life imprisonment in Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Uganda, Bangladesh and Guyana.
Despite Kirby's assertion, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell insists that the issue could be scrapped from the forthcoming agenda.

To ensure its inclusion, he is urging people to contact the Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma – at: secretary-general@commonwealth.int – to urge him to push the matter.

Speaking to PP.com, Tatchell said: "We hope this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will be the breakthrough; ending decades of silence and inaction by Commonwealth leaders concerning violations of LGBTI human rights."