Bhutan; Bhutan’s Parliament has voted to legitimize same-sex relations, revising an existing law that sentenced what it deemed “unnatural sex.”The amendment was consented to Thursday by 63 out of 69 lawmakers, with six refrainings from voting. The law now ought to be approved by Bhutan’s king to become law.
The amendment revises two articles of the criminal code to define that “homosexuality between adults shall not be considered unnatural sex.” The penalty for engaging in prohibited sexual conduct is up to a year in prison. I haven’t stopped smiling since yesterday. I am eagerly awaiting His Majesty’s assent,” said Tashi Tsheten, a Bhutanese activist who has labored to transform the law. He said that the modification means LGBTIQ people in Bhutan will be capable to conduct a better and more noble life after confronting disgrace and discrimination for so long. Jessica Stern, executive director of the activist group OutRight Action International, said in a report that the vote in Bhutan was a “huge achievement.”
“For too long, the human rights of LGBTIQ people have not been recognized. Today, Bhutan selected to disclose a different story and create a different future for itself. It is both a piece of evidence to the determination of the LGBTIQ movement in Bhutan and a source of motivation for LGBTIQ movements across the continent and the world where such laws are still in effect,” Stern said. Bhutan is a small landlocked country with a population of 770,000 people located in the southern foothills of the Himalayan mountains, bridged between China to the north and India to the south.
Post Your Comments